The best Linux Server dis­tri­bu­tions in an overview

There are several Linux Server dis­tri­bu­tions available for different purposes. Debian and Ubuntu are popular systems, but there are other smaller providers which are worth con­sid­er­ing. CentOS’s support is declining, but there are some young suc­cessors such as AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux who are ready to step in.

The path with Linux is not set out from the beginning. In this sense, it is different from Windows or Mac. Other operating systems present new versions at regular intervals and even­tu­ally dis­con­tin­ue support for the old systems. However, with Linux, the choice is up to the user. There is a kernel, some GNU tools, and hundreds of Linux dis­tri­bu­tions available. Some are not re­com­men­ded for every user as they may be better suited to specific re­quire­ments. In principle, every developer can set up and offer their own system thanks to the open source feature.

AlmaLinux is one of the earliest Linux server dis­tri­bu­tions. The first stable version has only been available since 2021. The dis­tri­bu­tion is main­tained and further developed by an open community and ori­gin­ated as a fork of Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux. AlmaLinux should replace CentOS at some point in the future and is free of charge.

AlmaLinux is known as the successor to CentOS. The de­velopers have ensured that the changeover will be carried out smoothly. Packages, con­fig­ur­a­tions, etc., can therefore be adapted easily. An advantage is the ac­cess­ib­il­ity and openness of the community. Anyone can con­trib­ute to AlmaLinux and optimise the operating system for them­selves. There are also no re­stric­tions on use or licenses. Support is guar­an­teed until 2029. AlmaLinux is limited to the es­sen­tials and includes Lib­reOf­fice, Mozilla Firefox, Python, Post­gr­eSQL, and MariaDB.

AlmaLinux does not have any known dis­ad­vant­ages. However, this could also be because it is one of the youngest Linux dis­tri­bu­tions and there are not many reviews available. We will see in time whether AlmaLinux can keep up with the older dis­tri­bu­tions. We do not know yet how fre­quently updates will be made available and how quickly problems will be solved. The de­pend­ency on sponsors is a small downside, however this is offset by its free avail­ab­il­ity.

AlmaLinux is primarily aimed at CentOS users who may be looking for al­tern­at­ives. The changeover is simple and it is very user-friendly. So, if you are looking for com­pletely free and reliable Linux server dis­tri­bu­tions, you will find what you are looking for with AlmaLinux.

Debian is one of the classics and long-time fa­vour­ites in Linux server dis­tri­bu­tions. The system has been around since 1993 and has a huge fan base worldwide, who use Debian and maintain the system. Debian is the basis for numerous other Linux dis­tri­bu­tions and is also being con­tinu­ously optimised by over 1,000 official de­velopers. The operating system is suitable for servers, desktops, and laptops.

The free avail­ab­il­ity paired with the stability and ver­sat­il­ity of Debian are its main ad­vant­ages. The operating system is reliable, supports numerous hardware ar­chi­tec­tures, and allows users to make in­di­vidu­al ad­just­ments. Debian offers more than 57,000 different packages. Despite this, the operating system is very light in com­par­is­on to others and does not take up too much memory.

Debian isn’t ne­ces­sar­ily suitable for beginners, as the in­stall­a­tion and setup is complex in com­par­is­on to other operating systems. Updates do not come at fixed intervals and are therefore difficult to plan. Personal Package Archives are also not supported. Lastly, the interface is clear, but not modern.

Debian is a reliable option for ex­per­i­enced de­velopers who are active in the software and hardware sector. For private users or beginners, other Linux dis­tri­bu­tions are probably better suited.

CentOS has been available since 2009 and is based on Red Hat En­ter­prise Linux (RHEL), but it is open source and free. The operating system is binary-com­pat­ible with RHEL and is very user-friendly. CentOS has always been ac­cess­ible and was con­sidered a suitable entry-level option for many users, es­pe­cially in com­par­is­on to other Linux server dis­tri­bu­tions. However, Red Hat has announced that support for CentOS will end in 2024. The successor, CentOS Stream, is not rated by many de­velopers, as it is more ex­per­i­ment­al and not fully com­pat­ible with RHEL. Un­for­tu­nately, it seems the new system operates more as a test en­vir­on­ment for the com­mer­cial system.

CentOS is a free entry-level solution that offers RHEL features. The operating system runs stably and is very secure thanks to strong mon­it­or­ing and regular Patches from the community. The overall support is also excellent.

Nev­er­the­less, CentOS is not suitable in the long term, as the operating system is going to be dis­con­tin­ued at some point in the future. Although many RHEL ap­plic­a­tions also run with CentOS, this may not always be guar­an­teed as the necessary cer­ti­fic­a­tions are missing.

At this point, CentOS is only suitable for beginners who want to get to know RHEL without paying for it. Other Linux dis­tri­bu­tions are re­com­men­ded for long-term projects.

Rocky Linux is the Linux dis­tri­bu­tion which will follow CentOS. The RHEL Clone is named after the late CentOS co-founder Rocky McGough and is also binary-com­pat­ible. Rocky Linux has only been available since 2021 and has a Gnome desktop en­vir­on­ment. Rocky Linux 8.5 relies on Secure Boot and is also operated by a community, making the system free of charge. Sponsors provide the necessary capital required.

The change from CentOS or RHEL to Rocky Linux is very simple. The operating system has an easy in­stall­a­tion and is very user-friendly. The system is suitable for Cloud and HPC and is con­sidered very stable and modern.

However, the question remains what the future will bring for Rocky Linux. The first reports are quite promising, but the next few years and sub­sequent updates will show us what the operating system can bring to the field of Linux server dis­tri­bu­tions.

CentOS users will be able to choose between Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux in the future. The former has got off to a good start and is more appealing with its smooth changeover and ac­cess­ib­il­ity.

Ubuntu is one of the largest and most popular Linux dis­tri­bu­tions on the market. The operating system has its roots in Debian, but it has become an equal com­pet­it­or. Further de­vel­op­ment has been taking place since 2005. The main dif­fer­ence between the two systems is the ac­cess­ib­il­ity of the newer system. Ubuntu is the re­com­men­ded al­tern­at­ive for private users.

The simple in­stall­a­tion and ac­cess­ib­il­ity are the main ad­vant­ages of Ubuntu. The operating system also works well on mobile devices. Ubuntu is known for a clear and regular update policy, so new versions can be planned. Ubuntu offers excellent com­pat­ib­il­ity with numerous providers through co­oper­a­tion with various hardware and software man­u­fac­tur­ers.

One downfall is the size of the operating system, as it takes up a lot of memory. Ubuntu uses some free software and com­mer­cial products. In­di­vidu­al cus­tom­isa­tions are only possible on a limited basis. Lastly, the system is not free, as it is sponsored by the London-based company Canonical.

Ubuntu is a good choice for users who are looking for a reliable operating system and prefer a simple setup. The switch from Windows is very easy with Ubuntu.

Flatcar was developed for in­fra­struc­tures which rely on Con­tain­ers. The German company Kinvolk’s project is open source and was created with the aim to provide a secure and user-friendly Cloud-native operating system. The company operates under the Microsoft umbrella. Flatcar was ori­gin­ally a fork of CoreOS and is therefore easier to un­der­stand for experts. There is also a paid Pro version of Flatcar.

Flatcar is one of the world’s best and most secure Linux dis­tri­bu­tions for handling Con­tain­ers. An active community ensures im­prove­ments are being made con­stantly and advice is always available. The operating system offers several tools for targeted Kuber­netes ap­plic­a­tions.

The spe­cial­isa­tion also means that Flatcar is not the best choice for all users. Although the operating system also works as a CoreOS successor, it is mainly re­com­men­ded for ex­per­i­enced admins.

Flatcar is aimed at ex­per­i­enced CoreOS users and is a heavy-duty Container Dis­tri­bu­tion.

Photon OS from VMware has also been developed for the use of Con­tain­ers and is open source. Docker, Rocket, Pivotals Garden, and various others are supported with Photon OS. The operating system is very min­im­al­ist­ic and supports the ARM64, x64, and Raspberry Pi ar­chi­tec­tures.

The size fits with their min­im­al­ist approach. Photon OS is both space-saving and fast. The most common Container formats are supported. The system is optimised for running on VMware platforms and for this reason, it is a good addition that can be in­tro­duced without any issues.

Compared to the many other Linux server dis­tri­bu­tions, Photon OS is rather small and offers only a few ad­di­tion­al features.

Photon OS is mainly intended for users who work with VMware and need a useful add-on for working with Con­tain­ers.

openSUSE Leap is one of the several operating systems from SUSE S.A. and has an in­ter­na­tion­al developer community. Since 2015, it has been used as a server operating system and for desktops. Instead of DEB packages, the software is delivered as RPM. openSUSE Leap offers either Gnome or KDE as the default desktop and relies on YaST as an ad­min­is­tra­tion tool. There are regular updates which can be installed every few months.

openSUSE has es­tab­lished itself as an al­tern­at­ive to Debian or Ubuntu and it should be taken seriously. The operating system is very user-friendly and has good doc­u­ment­a­tion. It is also very stable and includes some pre-installed programs like Lib­reOf­fice, Mozilla Firefox, and Flatpak.

Un­for­tu­nately, many programs are not available for openSUSE Leap. Therefore, the system is not always up to date. The operating system is also rather mediocre visually.

openSUSE Leap performs very well when dealing with older hardware. No un­pleas­ant surprises are to be expected thanks to its re­li­ab­il­ity and stability. However, those who value the latest Kernel versions might prefer one of the other Linux dis­tri­bu­tions.

TrueNAS Core is the successor to the popular FreeNAS from iXsystems. The operating system for Network Attached Storage is based on FreeBSD and is suitable for hardware which is com­pat­ible with 64-bit, VM, or public cloud. It also includes the latest version of the OpenZFS file system. There is a free Core Version and an En­ter­prise option which is chargeable and offers ad­di­tion­al features.

TrueNAS Core supports all popular operating systems such as Windows and Apple. Although the Core version is free, it can also be used by busi­nesses. The storage system is very user-friendly and quite secure. Snapshots and Clones can be created in unlimited amounts. The system is open source and is also supported by a large community.

The resource re­quire­ments for TrueNAS Core are high compared to others, therefore, the operating system is only suitable for ap­pro­pri­ately equipped Kernels.

TrueNAS Core is a good choice for many; in­di­vidu­als or busi­nesses which have large storage needs will find a suitable option in this operating system.

There are many different factors to consider when choosing the right Linux variant for your needs. Linux offers several dis­tri­bu­tions for servers, desktop, or other ap­plic­a­tions in the pro­fes­sion­al and private sphere. The Linux dis­tri­bu­tions pre­vi­ously mentioned are used by IONOS as they are the most reliable operating systems on the market. Finally, if you are looking for a suitable web hosting solution and are unsure whether a Cloud Server, VPS, or Dedicated Server is the right choice, you will find a com­pre­hens­ive overview in our article ‘Web hosting: Server Com­par­is­on’.