Best Photon OS Alternatives in 2026
Updated
20 platforms from operating systems ranked against Photon OS on the same published basis.
- 1Photon OS vs OPNsense
- 2Photon OS vs pfSense
- 3Photon OS vs Ubuntu Server
- 4Photon OS vs AlmaLinux OS
- 5Photon OS vs CentOS Stream
- 6Photon OS vs Debian
- 7Photon OS vs Fedora Linux
- 8Photon OS vs Kubuntu
- 9Photon OS vs Manjaro Linux
- 10Photon OS vs Nix
- 11Photon OS vs Rocky Linux
- 12Photon OS vs HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software
- 13Photon OS vs MX Linux
- 14Photon OS vs SUSE Multi-Linux Manager
- 15Photon OS vs Raspberry Pi Imager
- 16Photon OS vs Amazon Linux
- 17Photon OS vs Apache NuttX
- 18Photon OS vs ChromeOS
- 19Photon OS vs elementary OS
- 20Photon OS vs Fedora CoreOS
Photon OS alternatives compared
| # | Platform | Score | Free plan | From | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OPNsense | 7.3 | Free plan | — | API, self-hosted, Web |
| 2 | pfSense | 5.9 | Free plan | — | Linux, self-hosted, Web |
| 3 | Ubuntu Server | 5.9 | Free plan | $2.08/mo | Linux, self-hosted |
| 4 | AlmaLinux OS | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted, Windows |
| 5 | CentOS Stream | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted |
| 6 | Debian | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted |
| 7 | Fedora Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted |
| 8 | Kubuntu | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux |
| 9 | Manjaro Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux |
| 10 | Nix | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows |
| 11 | Rocky Linux | 5.8 | Free plan | Free | Linux, self-hosted, Windows |
| 12 | HPE Morpheus VM Essentials Software | 5.4 | No | $50/mo | Linux, self-hosted, Web |
| 13 | MX Linux | 5.4 | Free plan | Free | Linux |
| 14 | SUSE Multi-Linux Manager | 5.3 | No | — | API, Linux, self-hosted, Web |
| 15 | Raspberry Pi Imager | 5.2 | No | — | Linux |
| 16 | Amazon Linux | 5.1 | No | — | Linux |
| 17 | Apache NuttX | 5.1 | No | — | — |
| 18 | ChromeOS | 5.1 | No | — | Web |
| 19 | elementary OS | 5.1 | No | — | Linux |
| 20 | Fedora CoreOS | 5.1 | No | — | Linux |
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Questions about Photon OS alternatives
What is the best alternative to Photon OS?
OPNsense, number 1 in operating systems with a score of 7.3 out of 10. The others here: pfSense, Ubuntu Server, AlmaLinux OS and 16 more.
What is the best free alternative to Photon OS?
OPNsense is the best-ranked alternative with a free plan. 12 of the 20 alternatives here publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
How are these alternatives ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes, open and connectable first: a public API, open-source code, the depth of its documentation and a free tier to try it on. Model lists are sorted by the figure in their title, exactly as each provider publishes it.