illumos
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 24 of 87 operating systems by recommenders
Open source Solaris descendant that people run on servers, home servers and ZFS storage, valued for zones and Solaris features. One critic reports stock builds lacked DHCPv6 prefix delegation.
Open source Solaris descendant that people run on servers, home servers and ZFS storage, valued for zones and Solaris features. One critic reports stock builds lacked DHCPv6 prefix delegation.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 95%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 21 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Still actively developed Solaris lineage
“Illumos is still actively developed, open source, and can trace its lineage back to actual unix.”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “LearnixOS” “Illumos is a traditional operating system that goes from the kernel to the systemd layer”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SmartOS” “fun to see Illumos heart still beating inside”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Oxide computer 3D rack guided tour” - Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “illumos”
Zones for containers and isolation
“we have benefitted tremendously from features (ZFS, SMF, FMA, Zones, bhyve, etc.)”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “illumos” “Illumos had a really nice stack for running containers inside jails and zones”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “I got hacked: My Hetzner server started mining Monero” “Zones provide full security isolation.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “SmartOS” - Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “A Love Letter to FreeBSD”
Viable modern option for servers
“The BSD/Illumos OSs are used quite frequently as the base OS for high end commercial/enterprise network, SAN, NAS etc. solutions.”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “A Love Letter to FreeBSD” “a real modern viable option over Linux (and *racle Solaris) for server hardware”
Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “What Sun got wrong” “I really enjoy working with illumos on my home server”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “illumos” ZFS and Solaris features
“I used to do something like this but with ZFS on an OpenSolaris / Illumos storage server”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Immutable Software Deploys Using ZFS Jails on FreeBSD” “we have benefitted tremendously from features (ZFS, SMF, FMA, Zones, bhyve, etc.)”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “illumos”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Seen as behind the times
“these always seemed simultaneously ahead and behind the times”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “illumos”
Other operating systems people recommend
The four most recommended other operating systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 87 operating systems, rankedWhat people said
21 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a real modern viable option over Linux (and *racle Solaris) for server hardware”
“Illumos also doesn't overcommit, if you want the more modern OS descended from Solaris.”
“OpenBSD and Illumos don't allow overcommit at all”
“stock illumos could not manage the DHCPv6 prefix delegation required by my connection”
“fun to see Illumos heart still beating inside”
“it works just fine on FreeBSD and illumos”
“are great and install about as easily as FreeBSD, on desktop and server systems with Ethernet”
“Zones provide full security isolation.”
“Illumos is a traditional operating system that goes from the kernel to the systemd layer”
“we have benefitted tremendously from features (ZFS, SMF, FMA, Zones, bhyve, etc.)”
“I like Solaris(well, illumos/Tribblix etc) but when I install something I install a version that includes the LX (Linux) zones”
“impressed that illumos is still going strong”
“these always seemed simultaneously ahead and behind the times”
“I really enjoy working with illumos on my home server”
“It was the future OS most fails to understand.”
“Illumos is still actively developed, open source, and can trace its lineage back to actual unix.”
“Illumos had a really nice stack for running containers inside jails and zones”
“illumos zones sound quite appealing”
“The BSD/Illumos OSs are used quite frequently as the base OS for high end commercial/enterprise network, SAN, NAS etc. solutions.”
“the time has never been better to switch to *BSD and illumos where true freedom awaits”
“I used to do something like this but with ZFS on an OpenSolaris / Illumos storage server”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.