Stability and reliability. It’s one of the few operating systems to deploy in production environments and trust that it will run for long periods without unexpected issues or breaking changes. The conservative release cycle ensures that packages are thoroughly tested, which is especially valuable for servers and critical workloads. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some stability comes at the cost of having older packages. Hardware support can also lag behind newer distributions, especially for very recent devices. Additionally, while it’s flexible, initial setup and configuration can feel less user-friendly compared to more polished, out-of-the-box distributions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Debian's stability, performance, and overall user experience are the features I value most. I use it as the operating system for my homelab environment, where it runs multiple Docker containers, media services, cloud storage, monitoring tools, and automation scripts. Even under continuous workloads, the platform remains responsive and resource-efficient, delivering excellent performance on both modern and older hardware. From a UI/UX perspective, Debian provides a clean and predictable administration experience, while its package management system simplifies software installation and maintenance. The extensive documentation and active community support also make it easier to manage and troubleshoot systems efficiently. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Debian's primary drawback is that its focus on stability can result in older software packages compared to more cutting-edge Linux distributions. While this improves reliability and long-term performance, it sometimes requires using backports, containers, or external repositories to access newer features. The onboarding experience can also be challenging for users who are new to Linux, as some administrative tasks require command-line knowledge and familiarity with Linux system management. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What many people appreciate most about Debian is its stability and reliability. It’s thoroughly tested, straightforward to maintain, and offers excellent package management through apt, along with a huge software repository. I also like that it’s developed by the community rather than being driven by a single company. For these reasons, it’s a popular choice for servers, because it tends to “just work” and stay consistent over time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

A common criticism of Debian is that its stable releases often include older software versions, which means you might not receive the newest features as quickly as you would with some other Linux distributions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like most about Debian is its incredible stability and reliability. Once you set it up, it just runs, often for years without needing major intervention. The package management with apt is clean and dependable, and knowing that every package has gone through strict testing gives me a lot of confidence when running it in production. The initial setup was quite straightforward. The Debian installer is very reliable and gives you excellent control over partitioning and package selection of essential services. It took me about two to three hours per server. The documentation is also excellent, which made the whole process smooth. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The main drawback is that the packages in the stable repositories are often quite outdated. For some modern applications and development tools, you either have to compile from source, use backports, or add third-party repositories, which can compromise the system stability. That's the main trade-off for such a stable OS. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Debian only includes free software with an OpenSource License, which is absolutely fascinating. The stability of the Operating System is one of the fundamental pillars of the distribution, a quite important point when it comes to having a 100% functional OS. A little further, Debian's security system is honestly worthy of admiration, always publishing updates with the necessary patches, which speaks well of the team in charge. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

For some very specific hardware devices, there is NO compatibility with the Drivers developed by the Debian Support team, in which case one must resort to Drivers developed by third parties or by the developers of said hardware themselves. For some users who prefer to configure updates automatically in Debian, they must always be done manually (It is not a major issue, but some Juniors spend some time without executing the respective commands to upgrade the OS). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I mainly use Debian because I find it to be beginner-friendly and the most stable one, so I don't have to worry about tweaking things if something breaks unexpectedly. I like that it's more secure compared to Windows or even Mac and offers low-level control over the system, allowing me to customize every part to my needs. The thing I like the most about Debian is its stability, as it behaves a lot more stably compared to other distros. I also appreciate Debian's immense software repos and its advanced package manager. The initial setup of Debian was pretty easy, probably the easiest OS installation I've ever seen, as it handles the process really well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The Debian often relies on outdated but tested software to maintain its stability, which can limit the options when wanting to experiment with the latest software, kernels, and drivers. Also, managing graphics card drivers could be improved; installing and updating NVIDIA drivers is often very complicated. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I really appreciate Debian's package manager and the strong community support behind it. It's great because it treats a lot of packages as first-class citizens, which ensures we always have the latest versions of the software we need for development and hosting. Also, Debian's regular updates contribute to its security, which is something we rely on for our virtual machines. The initial setup was pretty standardized, similar to other Linux distributions, which made it useful for us right from day one. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find that when Debian reaches end of life, we don't receive any more security updates for legacy virtual machines, so we're forced to update. While it's not specific to Debian, it still affects us. Also, while other distributions like Alpine are lighter and smaller in size, they often miss many packages which makes Debian the choice for us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like the stability and reliability of Debian; once the VM is created and a Debian operating system like Ubuntu Server is installed, I can rest easy for months without having to touch it. It also simplifies server management for me with fewer surprise critical updates compared to Windows. Additionally, I appreciate that the system is 'clean', without unnecessary applications installed, and that I can choose to install only what is necessary during the installation. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Perhaps sometimes it is a bit too "conservative" in the sense that you end up with slightly outdated packages compared to other distros. Also, some configurations are not exactly user-friendly and a computer science background is still needed. The initial configurations such as network settings, services, and permissions, especially for those coming from Windows environments, are quite challenging. Everything is done from the terminal when talking about Ubuntu server, and therefore problems can also arise there. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Stable, less need for reboots. In terms of pricing it is free and open source, lots of support via forums and easy out-of-box experience. It has a lot of cross compatability with other systems. I have not yet explored its Ai capabilities yet, these are not features which have been promoted on the OS to me, but if i was to run an LLM server i might use debian. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It requires a lot of manual input to configure it how you want it, wheras linux mint for example is an easier fresh out the box experience for a windows user. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that Debian offers rock-solid stability; once a server is set up, it just works without needing constant attention. The apt package manager is great because it makes installing and updating software painless, and the massive repository means almost everything I need is available out of the box. The community support is excellent, with extensive documentation for virtually any issue. Debian strikes the best balance between stability and flexibility, which makes it ideal for production environments where downtime directly impacts business operations. I appreciate its stable, low-overhead server environment for always-on production workloads. The lack of licensing costs and minimal resource consumption keep infrastructure expenses low while maintaining reliability. Its package management and long-term support cycles help avoid unexpected breakages during updates, which is critical for running tracking platforms, redirect servers, and Docker stacks that need near-100% uptime. I also love that Debian simplifies reproducibility, making spinning up new instances with the same configuration straightforward, which is very helpful when scaling infrastructure quickly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The main downside is that Debian's stable branch ships with older package versions, which sometimes means you need to manually compile or pull from backports to get newer software. This can be time-consuming when a project requires a recent version of a tool or library. The initial setup can also feel less user-friendly compared to distros like Ubuntu, especially for server configurations that require manual tweaking out of the box. Additionally, the release cycle is slow, so you sometimes end up waiting a long time for major updates to land in stable. None of these are dealbreakers, but they do add friction in fast-moving environments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.