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Oracle Solaris vs Windows Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Windows Server
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
184
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Oracle Solaris is 2.8%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Server is 8.9%, up from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Zandile Mushi - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good security features and reliability
The tool is quite complex and difficult for anyone trying to use or study it. The complexity of learning the tool is an area of concern where improvements are required. Oracle Solaris' lighter and simpler version can be introduced. I feel that Oracle Solaris is a user-friendly tool because I am exposed to it.
NirajSingh - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly platform streamlining client connectivity
We are using Windows Server to connect our client software. We use it to access client systems and work on SQL databases Rather than purchasing and setting up infrastructure, we are using Windows Server, which obviously saves some costs. Windows Server is fulfilling our daily work-life purposes.…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The ability to manipulate the zones and the files within the zones from a global OS provides us flexibility that no other virtualization can match."
"Solaris' best feature is its stability."
"Its networking has helped me combine the power of a neural network with the benefits of virtualization to improve the AI's performance."
"We like that the virtualization is built in, so you don't have to spend extra money on buying licenses for a hypervisor."
"Oracle Solaris is pre-installed in our environment. Thus, it is simple to customize."
"Solaris's best features are high availability, robustness, and database hosting."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of setup."
"Oracle Solaris was the preferred operating system for their customers to run their databases on and to get the best performance. It performs well with Oracle applications. Additionally, there are some features inside that are called zones which are Linux containers."
"Windows Server is a stable and scalable solution."
"The product is reliable. It is powerful and we can make a lot of tools to work with it."
"It's quite stable."
"The GUI is familiar. Anyone who doesn't know how to use a file server can be taught to use the product in a few minutes."
"Every time they perform a new release, the solution gets better and better."
"We use this solution for hosting applications on the server."
"The installation was straightforward and easy."
"Its performance is very good, and it is stable. All applications are working perfectly, and there is no issue."
 

Cons

"Patching without downtime would be nice."
"There is an issue where Solaris doesn't give the correct figures for memory use when checked."
"The tool is quite complex and difficult for anyone trying to use or study it."
"Oracle Solaris can improve by supporting all the recent features that are in the market from other competitors."
"Currently, there are two variants, there's SPARC and there's x86. I would have wanted a scenario where they're all just one product."
"This product is not as flexible as other similar solutions on the market today."
"When we switch over to Solaris it was not easy because we had some troubles with the performance. Solaris is from Oracle and you would expect that it would run flawlessly, but we had some issues in sizing the previous Linux environment to the Solaris environment."
"The scalability of the solution can be improved."
"The product's user interface upgrades and firewall services need improvement."
"The stability needs to be improved."
"We encounter issues related to the product's UI when multiple users access the same machine."
"We have not had an issue with the stability of this solution. However, there could be some improvements."
"Microsoft needs to expand to integrate the Windows Server with Azure and Linux distribution to provide a simple container environment for running dockerized applications."
"The solution could improve by being more user-friendly."
"The solution could be cheaper."
"The solution should be less expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Solaris is highly priced compared to other solutions, but since it's a niche product, this is to be expected."
"It is a very expensive product."
"It is an expensive product. I rate the pricing a ten out of ten."
"The price is not good and needs to improve."
"As a private user or individual, I wouldn't recommend it to others, considering it is a costly product."
"If you buy Oracle hardware it's supported free with the hardware. If you're putting it on non-Oracle hardware, that is when you buy the support license, which is also very reasonable. It is $1000 dollars per year, so it's not overly expensive."
"This solution needs a license to use it."
"There should be an option to install the solution for free and just pay for the support. We purchased an annual license and the price could be better."
"I paid for a license to use Windows Server. It is a subscription-based license and it is purchased annually."
"It is an expensive product."
"Windows Server has medium pricing."
"We have perpetual licenses."
"We have multiple types of licenses. Some of them are on a yearly basis, and some of them are prepaid."
"There is an annual license required for this solution."
"We had to purchase the solution and also the licenses to go on each computer system."
"We have purchased a perpetual license to use the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Oracle Linux compare with Solaris?
When comparing Oracle Linux and Solaris, I believe that Linux is more secure and more flexible. It is also very suitable for enterprises that are already Oracle solution users. I found Linux to be ...
What do you like most about Oracle Solaris?
We use the solution as an internal operating system.
What needs improvement with Windows Server?
Sometimes the performance goes down, which might be due to the stability zone or network issues. It can also depend on our network.
What is your primary use case for Windows Server?
We are using Windows Server to connect our client software. We use it to access client systems and work on SQL databases.
 

Also Known As

Solaris 11, Solaris
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Siemens, IVV
Rakuten, Rackspace, Tyco
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Solaris vs. Windows Server and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.