What are the best open-source Unix like operating systems?

Question

14

Options
Considered

221

User
Recs.

Jul 18, 2022

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 12 OptionsWhy?

Best open-source Unix like operating systems	Price	OS Family	License
93 GNU/Linux	-	GNU/LInux	GNU GPL
74 OpenBSD	-	-	BSD, ISC and other permissive licenses
72 FreeBSD	-	UNIX (BSD)	BSD
-- DragonFly BSD	-	-	-
-- NetBSD	-	-	-

See Full List

11 Other Options Considered

OpenBSD

Top Pro

The most secure OS of all time

OpenBSD has a reputation for security that's well-earned. They don't enable services by default unless the user wants them, they have a transparent process, and highly reviewed programming. See More

Top Con

Poor installer

It works, but poorly. See More

LikableErnmas's Experience

Never come across anything more easily managed and well engineneered. It's minimal, has sane defaults, documentation is excellent and included, supports many architectures, etc. I use it on my laptop (IBM T42). See More

Specs

Based On:Berkeley Software Distribution

License:BSD, ISC and other permissive licenses

Package Manager:OpenBSD package tools

Developer:Theo de Raadt

See All Specs

Top Pro

Excellent documentation!

Everything is included when you install it. There are mans called 'intro' and 'afterboot.' Logging in you are greeted with welcoming mail and system news. Even a typo in the man-pages is considered a bug and they are ostensibly reviewed. See More

Top Con

Lacking Hyper-V support

Not good for running in a Windows Hyper-V virtual machine See More

SpiritedFulla's Experience

Very easy to install and upgrade. Clear, well-written documentation. See More

Top Pro

Customizable

It's an UNIX OS! See More

Top Con

Many programs are not available

Top Pro

Easy to install and maintain

Just keep pressing enter for 8 mins and get a well setup system. Upgrading is one command, also across versions. So easy to automate if need be. See More

See All

FreeBSD

Top Pro

Secure and stable

Top Con

Hardware support is lagging

PhilosophicalLugalIrra's Experience

using it as a server OS and being still happy with it See More

Specs

OS Family:UNIX (BSD)

Based On:Research Unix>Berkeley Software Distribution>

License:BSD

Default Desktop Environment:N/A

See All Specs

Top Pro

Large repository of precompiled packages and highly customizable ports

Top Con

Installing with "software source code ports" and software packages can not be mixed

Top Pro

Easy to install

Top Con

Not for everyday use as a Desktop

Top Pro

BSD license

Top Con

Too much hardware is not supported

Top Pro

Good documentation via the FreeBSD handbook

Top Pro

Customizable

You can customize EVERYTHING as its an UNIX OS! See More

See All

DragonFly BSD

Top Con

The promise hasn't become a reality, despite years of development. Linux is still the pragmatic choice for production use.

File system and scale-ability are still under development, after many years. See More

Specs

Based On:Research Unix>Berkeley Software Distribution>FreeBSD

NetBSD

Top Pro

Clean source code

It prioritizes source code cleanliness over anything. See More

Top Con

Lack of drivers

It lacks drivers for some new devices. See More

PersonableOrion's Experience

I like NetBSD's "academic" approach - rather do things correctly than rush them. If you want to get into kernel and/or device driver programming, there is probably no better OS to get started with. I gained most of my programming skills by dealing with NetBSD code about a decade ago, and I've been commended by clients for the clean code I designed for them on more occasions I can count since then. See More

Specs

Based On:Research Unix>Berkeley Software Distribution>

Official Supported Architectures:https://www.netbsd.org/ports/

Top Pro

It's real

Under NetBSD csh is csh not tcsh; also vi is real vi not elvis, nvi or vim. It's ideal for purists. See More

Top Con

portability?

It one of its main features however not all platforms are supported equally for example debian supports more platforms equally by providing its full software catalog to all official platforms. See More

Top Pro

Architecture portability

It's the most portable OS in the world when considering what architectures it can run on. It runs on very wide range of hardware, from toaster to satellites. This of course does not mean it supports drivers for many consumer facing products making it a difficult solution to just boot up and use when compared to other OSs. See More

Top Pro

Adheres to the standard

It adheres to traditional Unix and new defined standards. See More

Top Pro

It's open source

It's open source with a BSD License, which is much more business friendly than GPL. It's the real ancestor of Mac, that is being used nowadays. See More

See All

Illumos (Solaris)

Top Pro

Performance analysis and troubleshooting

illumos uses DTrace for performance analysis and troubleshooting. See More

Specs

OS Family:UNIX (Solaris)

Top Pro

ZFS file system

illumos uses ZFS as its file system. ZFS is also a logical volume manager besides being a combines file system. The main features of ZFS include: protection against data corruption, data compression, checking continuous integrity, high storage capacities support etc... See More

Top Pro

Zones

Zones provide an isolated environment to run applications in. Processes that run in zones are prohibited to interfere or monitor any other activity in the system. See More

Top Pro

Open Source

Illumos is completely free and open source. See More

See All

XNU Darwin (macOS)

Top Con

Not open source

macOS itself is not open source, but its kernel is. See More

Minix

Top Pro

Well-written C code (still the lingua franca - 2020)...

Top Con

lacking apps

It is lacking apps compared to other open operating systems See More

AdventurousRuaumoko's Experience

Excellent micro-kernel OS - good for learning, teaching and R&D. See More

Specs

OS Family:UNIX-like (Minix)

Top Pro

Excellent micro-kernel OS - good for learning, teaching and R&D.

Top Con

once under a restrictive license

Was once closed source unitl ~2000. See More

HumorousPolemos's Experience

The micro-kernel architecture is the way forward for operating systems. Linus Torvalds basically took Minix, rebadged it as a monolithic kernel, and stuck his name on it. Linux today is a somewhat bloated mess... Go figure. See More

Top Pro

Fault recovery

Top Con

NetBSD Userland is crashing

Top Pro

Excellent micro-kernel OS - good for learning, teaching and R&D.

See All

Minoca OS

Architectures:x86, ARM

Redox-OS

OS Family:UNIX-like (Redox)

GNU Hurd

OS Family:UNIX-like (Hurd)

macOS

Linux

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score 48 · Accepted Answer

GNU/Linux

Top Pro

A wide variety of distributions available

With a lot of variety, one can use the distribution that fits the type of work best because of the many choices that are given, instead of just one. See More

Top Con

Too much customization

To get features on par with OS X, you need to research packages, install them and configure them. Even then, it may not be as good as OS X. See More

SpiritedKiririsha's Experience

It is a very good operating system. I use it everyday. You may not feel comfortable with it for regular usage but you will soon be used to it. See More

Specs

OS Family:GNU/LInux

License:GNU GPL

Widget Toolkit:GTK, Qt, wxWidgets

Top Pro

Works great on older hardware

7-10-year-old Dell laptops can run Unix or Unix-like OSes very well, where Windows would grind/drag/vomit. See More

Top Con

Incompatible with a lot of applications

As Linux is not as popular as Windows or MacOS, some developers choose not to support Linux. See More

davidak's Experience

You have to invest some time to build your perfect system, but then it's perfect for you. See More

Top Pro

Package managers

You can install any library or package that you need (gcc, php, node) with just a couple of commands in the terminal. See More

Top Con

Issues with drivers if your hardware is not officially supported

Top Pro

Most Linux distributions are free

Top Con

Maintenance can be time-consuming

Top Pro

No telemetry, unlike Windows

Top Pro

Choose any type of desktop environment (or none)

Most Linux distributions support a range of desktop environments, be it plain old X, a tiling window manager or a fully fledged mammoth desktop like GNOME or KDE. See More

Top Pro

Most software is open source

Top Pro

Extremely fast

Can be made even faster by going GUI-free or using a lightweight window manager. See More

Top Pro

Lower chance of information loss

Linux has very few viruses. So there's almost no chance of getting infected by a virus. That's why you don't have to worry about getting infected by a virus and thus losing your data including your important programming files. See More

Top Pro

Flexibility

GNU/Linux handles desktop sessions differently than Windows. Users may customize their own sessions; in fact, a single user may use different desktop environments for different login sessions. See More

Top Pro

Access to really powerful terminals

Top Pro

UNIX-like

Nice, developer-friendly environment. See More

Top Pro

Familiarity with Linux is often required from a developer

Top Pro

Lots of development tools available

Top Pro

Large percentage of Linux users are developers

Top Pro

Hardly ever crashes

Top Pro

Follows the UNIX philosophy

The UNIX philosophy: 'Write programs that do one thing and do it well'. Since Linux itself follows this philosophy then it's very easy to start creating scripts and programs. See More

Top Pro

Most likely also your deployment target

Makes testing while developing easier. According to a September 2014 study by W3 Techs, *nix based servers are used on over 2/3 of websites. See More

Top Pro

Isn't "locked down"

Windows and MacOS tend to restrict what the user/developer can do with their PC while Linux empowers the user/developer so they can do whatever they need/want with their PC without unnecessary restrictions. See More

Top Pro

Sometimes it "just works"

Sometimes Linux tends to just work with little to no effort or troubleshooting required. Most of the times it doesn't, though. See More

Top Pro

Lower chance of data loss

Linux has very few viruses. So there's almost no chance of getting infected by a virus and thus losing your data including your important programming files. See More

Top Pro

Get works done

Get near each and every work done within the command line or terminal, it makes everything so simple as compared to any other os. See More

Top Pro

It's cool

Top Pro

Linux is the only reason I use computers.

No anticompetitive behaviour or personal telemetry lost, Linux has the SMALLEST carbon footprint than Microcrap and/or Crapple, and because of the "many eyes" paradigm; fixes, updates, and security is made available almost immediately. Because of it's compatibility with older hardware, your favorite computer gathering dust can be resurrected to be productive again. See More

See All

The Best 1 of 12 OptionsWhy?

My Recommendation for GNU/Linux

My Recommendation for GNU/Linux

A wide variety of distributions available

Too much customization

Works great on older hardware

Incompatible with a lot of applications

Package managers

Issues with drivers if your hardware is not officially supported

Most Linux distributions are free

Maintenance can be time-consuming

No telemetry, unlike Windows

Choose any type of desktop environment (or none)

Most software is open source

Extremely fast

Lower chance of information loss

Flexibility

Access to really powerful terminals

UNIX-like

Familiarity with Linux is often required from a developer

Lots of development tools available

Large percentage of Linux users are developers

Hardly ever crashes

Follows the UNIX philosophy

Most likely also your deployment target

Isn't "locked down"

Sometimes it "just works"

Lower chance of data loss

Get works done

It's cool

Linux is the only reason I use computers.

11 Other Options Considered

My Recommendation for OpenBSD

My Recommendation for OpenBSD

The most secure OS of all time

Poor installer

Excellent documentation!

Lacking Hyper-V support

Customizable

Many programs are not available

Easy to install and maintain

My Recommendation for FreeBSD

My Recommendation for FreeBSD

Secure and stable

Hardware support is lagging

Large repository of precompiled packages and highly customizable ports

Installing with "software source code ports" and software packages can not be mixed

Easy to install

Not for everyday use as a Desktop

BSD license

Too much hardware is not supported

Good documentation via the FreeBSD handbook

Customizable

My Recommendation for DragonFly BSD

My Recommendation for DragonFly BSD

The promise hasn't become a reality, despite years of development. Linux is still the pragmatic choice for production use.

My Recommendation for NetBSD

My Recommendation for NetBSD

Clean source code

Lack of drivers

It's real

portability?

Architecture portability

Adheres to the standard

It's open source

My Recommendation for Illumos (Solaris)

My Recommendation for Illumos (Solaris)

Performance analysis and troubleshooting

ZFS file system

Zones

Open Source

My Recommendation for XNU Darwin (macOS)

My Recommendation for XNU Darwin (macOS)

Not open source

My Recommendation for TrueOS

My Recommendation for TrueOS

Lack of software

OpenZFS

My Recommendation for Minix

My Recommendation for Minix