TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Debian OS

Score7.4 out of 10

30 Reviews and Ratings

What is Debian OS?

Debian OS is an open source operating system.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about Debian OS.
View all reviews

Stable and Easy Linux

Incentivized
Osama KhanView profile
Support Specialist in Information Technology at NurulQuran (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We wanted to run several websites on a single Virtual Machine. We wanted the OS to be easy to use and economical. Also, it should not use a lot of RAM. It should be mature, stable, and not crash. Most importantly, the OS should be compatible with our applications like WordPress.

Pros

  • Fast
  • Uses less RAM
  • Easy to use

Cons

  • More documentation
  • Easier to install

Return on Investment

  • Cost Effective
  • Easier to install applications

Other Software Used

WordPress, CloudPanel

Debian OS - The best Linux OS out there in the market

Incentivized
Eldhose K ShibuView profile
IT Infrastructure Analyst in Engineering at The Mustard Seed (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Debian OS in our org in two different aspects. One for the servers that powers most of our websites and the next is on the staff laptops. We try to avoid as much as cost on licenses and any unwanted fess so we opted Debian OS. Its very good on our servers and helps us to run all our websites and application using the Apache web server. The staff computers are also using this Linux flavor since its easy to use and manage the machines.

Pros

  • Security
  • Easy of use
  • updates
  • Application support

Cons

  • OS support
  • support to modern applications
  • Initial kernel loading time

Return on Investment

  • Meets all business needs
  • Easy to customize
  • No licensing fees, so we don't have to pay anyone for using the OS

Alternatives Considered

Ubuntu, Xubuntu and CentOS Linux

Other Software Used

CentOS Linux, Linux/Windows Cloud Server, Linux Mint

Debian OS is excellent!

Incentivized
Jon Daley
Owner in Engineering at Lime Daley (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I have used Debian OS since I inherited a personal desktop in 1995. I now run it on multiple computers at home, and my kids are more familiar with XFCE than Windows... I also use it on all of my web servers for my business. There have been a few hiccups over the years, though mostly were due to kernel issues that I would have seen on any distribution.

I used to run the "testing" distribution, but have migrated to the "stable" distribution, not because it is more stable, but I just want to spend less time upgrading.

I highly recommend Debian OS - very little "extra" cruft, and I have made lots of old hardware work that had been rejected by others as "too slow", but just needed a simpler OS on it.

Pros

  • easy to use
  • easy to install
  • open source software

Cons

  • sometimes I have trouble with drivers; took me a while to figure out that my HDMI TV was overriding my onboard sound card.

Return on Investment

  • Having no software cost for my business has made me much more profitable, and I never need to worry about a license expiring and crippling features.

Alternatives Considered

Ubuntu and CentOS Linux

Debian OS --- A complete and stable operating system

Incentivized
Moris MendezView profile
Ing. de Sistemas Informaticos in Legal at Corte Suprema de Justicia (5001-10,000 employees employees)

Pros

  • The stability of the operating system is excellent, that is, it manages resources very well
  • the support from the international community is among the best there can be
  • The wide catalog of tools, applications, programs with which it has support makes you have confidence that you will always find a solution to your need
  • The security it offers makes those who try it do not want to leave

Cons

  • The installation could include suggested partitioning schemes for those beginning users or those who have their first approach with Debian OS
  • offer encryption of the home partition or the entire hard drive by default
  • an improved visual package manager and if it could be native it would be very well received

Most Important Features

  • Stability is undeniable by far the best
  • short lapses between updates are a big plus
  • Debian OS has an unrivaled resource management of our machines

Return on Investment

  • we have always had a positive impact being a stable operating system helps to meet our goals
  • the security that Debian OS offers is a quality that contributes to our objectives
  • everything that helps productivity and efficiency in our work has a positive balance in the fulfillment of the objectives that we set ourselves

Alternatives Considered

CentOS Linux, Ubuntu Linux and Fedora Linux

Other Software Used

CentOS Linux, Fedora Linux, Ubuntu Linux, PostgreSQL, PhpStorm

Debian - so predictable and 'boring', that you'll love it! It fits like a well worn glove.

Incentivized
Verified User
Employee in Information Technology (1-10 employees employees)

Pros

  • The APT package manager is dead simple to use, and the APT repositories contain pretty much every package you can think of. If there's something missing from the standard repositories, there's a good chance a third-party repository can be added to fill the gap.
  • Debian OS releases are often considered, "boring". But that's a good thing! The Debian developers do not make changes for change's sake and this means new releases are very predictable and intended to cause as little drama as possible.
  • Debian is such a widely used and popular Linux distribution, that practically all Linux software vendors officially support it.
  • The Debian community is huge, especially when you consider Ubuntu is derived from it. If you need help with anything, you'll usually find it has been asked before and already has a resolution.

Cons

  • Official documentation is lacking in certain areas. Whilst the Debian Administrator's Handbook is actually rather good, the official Debian Wiki is rather old and tired, outdated for many topics, and seemingly difficult to contribute to. In contrast to, say, the Arch Wiki, it's a world apart.
  • Debian's bug and issue tracker is painful to use! It's a very dated system and I'm sure this must discourage a lot of people off from using it properly. I would love to see this moved to something more streamlined, easier to use, and less foreboding.

Most Important Features

  • New major releases only come out every two years or so, and each is supported for a number of years with updates. This makes maintenance and patching a breeze!
  • It's rock solid, stable and reliable. It just keeps chugging along, for years on end, no matter what hardware it runs on.
  • It's one of the gold standards of Linux distributions, along with RedHat and its forks. Easy to find knowledgable people to administer and work with it.

Return on Investment

  • Debian's absolutely free of charge - giving us an enterprise-grade OS for zero cost and zero licensing headaches.
  • Standardising on a single distribution (Debian) for the majority of our servers, and Debian derivative (Ubuntu) for our workstations, has meant knowledge of our systems can be re-used in many parts of our business.
  • Its ability to run on a large variety of hardware, and do so for free, makes it possible for us to offer bespoke solutions to customers at very attractive pricing.

Alternatives Considered

Ubuntu Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS Linux

Other Software Used

Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Proxmox VE

Usability