Best Operating Systems in 2026
Updated
Choosing an operating system means matching applications and workloads to the devices and deployment models you need to support. Compare app compatibility, CPU architectures, and device types, then consider built-in management and deployment models for operational fit. Support lifecycle, free-plan availability, and paid-from pricing add practical details for planning. OPNsense, pfSense, and Ubuntu Server are among the options shown, alongside AlmaLinux OS and CentOS Stream. Use the listed attributes to assess where each system may fit across your environment, from the architectures and device types in use to the management and support requirements you need to accommodate.
45ranked
22free plans on this page
$2.08/molowest paid tier
11 Oct 2026last checked
Operating Systems, one module each.A lit port is something its maker publishes; 4 of 4 with a known API signal have a public API.
- 01 OPNsense API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3Free
- 02 SUSE Multi-Linux Manager API yesDOCS 6.9
- 03 Tizen API yesDOCS 6.9
- 04 Wind River Conductor API yesDOCS 6.8
- 05 MX Linux FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 06 pfSense FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 07 Photon OS FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 08 postmarketOS FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 09 Solus FREE yesDOCS 5.9Free
- 10 Ubuntu Server FREE yesDOCS 5.9$2.08/mo
- 11 AlmaLinux OS FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 12 Alpine Linux FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 13 Amazon Linux FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 14 Apache NuttX FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 15 CentOS Stream FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 16 Debian FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 17 Fedora CoreOS FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 18 Fedora Linux FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 19 FreeRTOS FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 20 Gentoo Linux FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 21 Kali Linux FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 22 Kubuntu FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 23 Linux Mint FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 24 Lubuntu FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
- 25 Manjaro Linux FREE yesDOCS 5.8Free
Compare all 25 in a table
| # | Platform | Score | Free plan | From | Free plan | Paid from | Device types | CPU architectures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OPNsense | 7.3 | Free plan | Yes | ||||
| 2 | SUSE Multi-Linux Manager | 6.9 | No | Servers; virtual machines; cloud instances; edge systems | AMD64/Intel 64 (x86-64), Arm (AArch64), IBM POWER (ppc64le), IBM Z (s390x) | |||
| 3 | Tizen | 6.9 | Yes | IoT, TV, mobile, wearable | ARMv7l, AArch64, x86_64 (reference build artifacts) | |||
| 4 | Wind River Conductor | 6.8 | Yes | |||||
| 5 | MX Linux | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Desktop and laptop computers; removable USB media for live operation | 64-bit only for MX-25 official releases | |
| 6 | pfSense | 5.9 | Free plan | Yes | ||||
| 7 | Photon OS | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Bare-metal systems, virtual machines, Raspberry Pi, cloud instances | x86_64, ARM64/aarch64 | |
| 8 | postmarketOS | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | phones, tablets, laptops, Chromebooks, single-board computers, x86_64 EFI systems | aarch64, armv7, x86_64, riscv64 | |
| 9 | Solus | 5.9 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Personal computers (desktop and laptop hardware) | x86-64 (64-bit) | |
| 10 | Ubuntu Server | 5.9 | Free plan | $2.08/mo | Yes | servers, virtual machines, cloud instances, IoT/edge devices | amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x | |
| 11 | AlmaLinux OS | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Servers, workstations, virtual machines, cloud instances, containers, Raspberry Pi devices, WSL environments | x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, s390x; some releases also list x86_64_v2 and i686 userspace | |
| 12 | Alpine Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Physical computers, Raspberry Pi, routers, servers, virtual machines, cloud images, containers and chroots | aarch64, armhf, armv7, loongarch64, ppc64le, riscv64, s390x, x86, x86_64 | |
| 13 | Amazon Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | EC2 instances; Docker container workloads | x86-64 (x86-64v2); 64-bit ARM (aarch64, ARMv8.2+crypto; Graviton2 or later on EC2) | |
| 14 | Apache NuttX | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Development boards and embedded devices; simulator targets are also documented | ARM, ARM64, AVR, AVR32, 8051, CEVA, ESP32 Xtensa, Intel x86/x86_64, MIPS, m68k, RISC-V, SPARC, SuperH, TriCore, Xtensa, Z80 | |
| 15 | CentOS Stream | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Servers, workstations, cloud instances, and containers | CentOS Stream 10: AMD/Intel 64-bit (x86_64_v3), ARM 64-bit (ARMv8.0-A), IBM Power (POWER9), IBM Z (z14) | |
| 16 | Debian | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Personal computers; cloud virtual machines | amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x; i386 supported as a co-architecture for 32-bit software on amd64; armel upgrades only | |
| 17 | Fedora CoreOS | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | servers; bare-metal systems; virtual machines; cloud instances | x86_64; aarch64; s390x; ppc64le | |
| 18 | Fedora Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Desktop computers, laptops, servers, cloud virtual machines, IoT devices | x86_64, aarch64; Fedora CoreOS also supports s390x | |
| 19 | FreeRTOS | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Microcontrollers and small microprocessors | 40+ processor architectures, including RISC-V and ARMv8-M | |
| 20 | Gentoo Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | desktop PCs, servers, embedded and small systems, single-board computers | Alpha, AMD64 (x86_64), ARM, ARM64, HPPA (PA-RISC), IA64, MIPS, PPC, PPC64, RISC-V 64-bit, SPARC64, x86 (i486/i686) | |
| 21 | Kali Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | |||
| 22 | Kubuntu | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Desktop PCs, laptops | AMD64 (x86-64) | |
| 23 | Linux Mint | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | desktop computers, laptop computers | ||
| 24 | Lubuntu | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Desktop PCs and laptops; project homepage also mentions Raspberry Pi | ||
| 25 | Manjaro Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Yes | Workstations, laptops, phones and selected embedded devices | x86; ARM |
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