SUSE Linux
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 25 of 63 Linux distributions by recommenders
Recommended as an easy-to-install Linux distribution with a long history, especially in enterprise and European public-sector discussions. Critics say it is not mainstream and that it can be complicated to use.
Recommended as an easy-to-install Linux distribution with a long history, especially in enterprise and European public-sector discussions. Critics say it is not mainstream and that it can be complicated to use.
35 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 28
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 28 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 28 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 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
Easy to install and use
“Yes. It was as easy to use as Windows was like 30 years ago. It's still easy to use.”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech” “I remember SUSE not being harder to use then any other desktop distribution.”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech” “I had good memories of how was easy to install stuff with YaST”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “AMD Am386 released March 2, 1991” - Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Gentoo Linux 2025 Review”
- Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech”
- Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great”
Respected enterprise distro with support
“If your answer doesn't include either Debian, Red Hat, Canonical or Suse it is probably the wrong choice.”
Comment from 7 Dec 2025 in “The state of Schleswig-Holstein is consistently relying on open source” “SuSE is about the 2nd most used distro in the enterprise”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “EQT eyes potential $6B sale of Linux pioneer SUSE, sources say” “they offer much better support compared to Canonical”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “Bazzite: Operating System for Linux gaming” Seen as European digital sovereignty option
“it would sound like a good deal for the Netherlands and Luxembourg/Germany if Netherlands would uses SUSE”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “US sanctions force The Netherlands off Microsoft and toward alternative NixOS” “demand all EU government systems transition to SUSE or compatible forks in the next 10 years”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “US sanctions force The Netherlands off Microsoft and toward alternative NixOS” “an already existing industry proven OS the EU already has domestically”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “US sanctions force The Netherlands off Microsoft and toward alternative NixOS” Stable with good packaging
“Ditto with SuSE, which had a golden stability.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “KDE Plasma 6.7 Released” “had really nice packaging and media artworks”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to use or complicated
“uniquely complicated for no good reason”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “France to ditch Windows for Linux to reduce reliance on US tech” “I had been struggling with Suse”
Comment from 30 Jun 2026 in “Knoppix”
Other Linux distributions people recommend
The four most recommended other Linux distributions, 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 560 | 493 | 53% | 12 | 10 yrs116 owners | — |
| Debian | 552 | 191 | 74% | 13 | 10 yrs62 owners | Approved |
| NixOS | 454 | 112 | 80% | 13 | 2 yrs69 owners | Approved |
| Fedora Linux | 437 | 131 | 77% | 12 | 2 yrs72 owners | Approved |
| SUSE LinuxThis page | 28 | 7 | 80% | 10 | 28 yrs4 owners | Approved |
What people said
31 of the 39 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“That right there convinced me I had something different, something special in my hands.”
“About 5 years, Mandrake and SuSE with KDE around 1996 were already quite good.”
“I bent over backwards for ubuntu, suse, fedora over the years.”
“the issue you described has happened to me on: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Fedora SuSE”
“had really nice packaging and media artworks”
“demand all EU government systems transition to SUSE or compatible forks in the next 10 years”
“it would sound like a good deal for the Netherlands and Luxembourg/Germany if Netherlands would uses SUSE”
“an already existing industry proven OS the EU already has domestically”
“I had been struggling with Suse”
“Ditto with SuSE, which had a golden stability.”
“Suse and a few others are fine too.”
“I remember SUSE not being harder to use then any other desktop distribution.”
“Yes. It was as easy to use as Windows was like 30 years ago. It's still easy to use.”
“Suse is easy to use, just not mainstream.”
“uniquely complicated for no good reason”
“Distros like Suse and Ubuntu made Linux "click, click, click, it's installed" more than two decades ago.”
“SuSE is about the 2nd most used distro in the enterprise”
“It's the only commercial distro I could ever stomach, in fact I really like it”
“I'd sooner use Berry, Kylin, or SUSE”
“I had good memories of how was easy to install stuff with YaST”
“alongside SuSE, both kind of ignored nowadays”
“a SUSE handbook with a GUI, which was totally useless”
“it definitely wasn't ready for use”
“I was done with MS forever (except at work)”
“Switch to SUSE (with a desktop that supports Active Directory), Collabora and what not.”
“SuSE was a great way to get up and running with Linux”
“it just worked on my self build PC”
“let's not forget SUSe from Germany”
“If your answer doesn't include either Debian, Red Hat, Canonical or Suse it is probably the wrong choice.”
“they offer much better support compared to Canonical”
“having gotten frustrated with Windows, Suse, Fedora, FreeBSD”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.