Debian vs KaiOS
| Debian | KaiOS | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Free trial | No | No |
| Paid from | Free | — |
| Open source | No | No |
| Platforms | Linux, self-hosted | Linux |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Device types | Personal computers; cloud virtual machines | Smart feature phones; non-touch mobile phones |
| CPU architectures | amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x; i386 supported as a co-architecture for 32-bit software on amd64; armel upgrades only | — |
| Support lifecycle | Debian 13: five years, including three years of full Debian support through August 9, 2028 and LTS through June 30, 2030 | Published active baselines include KaiOS 2.5.3 and 3.1 through June 30, 2027, and 2.6 and 4.0 through June 30, 2029. KaiOS separately describes at least three years of support for versions 2.6.x and 4.x. |
| Built-in management | APT package installation, removal, and distribution upgrades | — |
| App compatibility | Debian packages (.deb); APT package manager | HTML5/web apps; packaged apps can use privileged APIs; hosted apps run content from a web server; app updates/distribution through KaiStore |
| Deployment models | Physical computer installation; live boot from CD, DVD, or USB; OpenStack and QEMU cloud images; Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Azure images | Installed on OEM/ODM smart feature phones |
Both are listed in Best Operating Systems. On Inferse, Debian scores higher on our published basis.