--- title: Slackware Reviews meta_title: 'Slackware Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 33 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Slackware works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 33 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-07' parent_category: name: IT Infrastructure url: https://www.g2.com/categories/it-infrastructure --- # Slackware Reviews **Vendor:** Slackware **Category:** [Operating Systems](https://www.g2.com/categories/operating-system) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 33 ## About Slackware Slackware is a longstanding Linux distribution renowned for its simplicity, stability, and adherence to Unix-like principles. Developed by Patrick Volkerding in 1993, it is the oldest actively maintained Linux distribution. Slackware offers a comprehensive operating system suitable for various applications, from desktop workstations to server environments. Key Features and Functionality: - Simplicity and Stability: Slackware emphasizes a straightforward design, minimizing unnecessary modifications to upstream software to ensure a stable and reliable system. - Comprehensive Software Selection: It includes a wide array of software packages, such as the X Window System, development tools, networking utilities, and popular desktop environments like KDE and Xfce. - Flexible Package Management: Slackware utilizes a simple package management system that allows users to install, upgrade, and remove software packages without automatic dependency resolution, granting greater control over the system. - Manual Configuration: The distribution relies on plain text configuration files and shell scripts, enabling users to fine-tune their systems according to specific requirements. Primary Value and User Solutions: Slackware's primary value lies in providing a clean, stable, and flexible Linux environment that closely mirrors traditional Unix systems. It caters to users who prefer manual configuration and a deep understanding of their operating system, making it ideal for advanced users, system administrators, and those seeking a customizable and dependable platform. By avoiding unnecessary modifications and automation, Slackware empowers users with full control over their systems, ensuring a tailored computing experience. ## Slackware Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **stability** of Slackware, enjoying its compatibility and minimal bugs for a hassle-free experience. (2 reviews) - Users value the **knowledgeable and helpful community support** of Slackware, enhancing their overall experience and stability. (1 reviews) - Users appreciate the **stability and compatibility** of Slackware with various software packages, ensuring a reliable experience. (1 reviews) - Users value the **straightforwardness and stability** of Slackware, finding it efficient and reliable for their needs. (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users face **installation issues** due to manual dependencies and outdated documentation, complicating the process for beginners. (2 reviews) - Users find the **command line requirements** of Slackware challenging, needing extensive manual configuration and building from source. (1 reviews) - Users note a **lack of support** due to insufficient documentation and an outdated package manager, challenging for beginners. (1 reviews) - Users find the **outdated package manager** and insufficient documentation to hinder their overall experience with Slackware. (1 reviews) - Users face **challenging skill requirements** as manual dependency installation can complicate package management for novices. (1 reviews) - Usage Difficulty (1 reviews) ## Slackware Reviews ### 1. Exceptionally Stable and Reliable Distro **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rabindra K. | Network Security Administrator, Computer & Network Security, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 08, 2025 **What do you like best about Slackware?** As a user of slackware distro I find it very stable and compatible with most of the software packages i have been using, unlike other OS there are few bugs and stable releases that are the best thing i like about Slackware. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Sometime you get stuck with some of the software issue as their dependency should be install manually and if you are not familiar with it then you might get stuck with package installation part. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** With my experience I can say that it hash helped me to uplift my knowledge in Linux based OS as it has some of the simple and reliable environment which helped me to do manual configuration and scripts that helped me to sharpen my Linux foundation skills as well. ### 2. A Blast from the Past, Still Rocking Today **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Idongesit S. | English Teacher, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 18, 2025 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Honestly, I think Slackware's biggest strength is its straightforwardness - it's a no-nonsense Linux distro that gets the job done without any fuss. I also appreciate how stable it is, and the community is really knowledgeable and helpful. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** To be honest, I find the documentation a bit lacking, and the package manager can be a bit outdated compared to some other distros. Also, the installation process can be pretty manual, which might not be ideal for beginners. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Slackware's solving the problem of overly complex Linux distros, you know? It's giving me a lightweight, stable, and customizable system that I can really control. It's benefiting me by letting me focus on what I need to do, without all the bloat and unnecessary features getting in the way. Plus, it's teaching me a lot about Linux fundamentals! ### 3. Rock-Solid and Proven—It Just Works **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Slavik K. | Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 20, 2026 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Stable and backed by a long history, it’s not experimental—it just works. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Occasionally, the program lacks updates, and hardware support is limited—especially for more exotic devices. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Main operating system driver. ### 4. Slackware Linux Experience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Networking | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 03, 2021 **What do you like best about Slackware?** It is easy to configure. It is suitable for new user to linux. It is suitable for academy use. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** There is not include a new package manager like APT. There is not new version of slackware linux available about 5 years ago. **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** To release a new version of slackware, **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use slackware to ip routing. I also use for a web server with php, mysql and apache. ### 5. A more automated and user friendly experience **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shivi S. | Product Specialist, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 08, 2025 **What do you like best about Slackware?** It's best if a person value a "do it yourself " approach. It serve in any capacity from desktop workstation to machine room server. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** You have to learn to configure quite a lot thing by hand and you will probably have to learn to build programs from source at some point. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Slackware aim is to design stability and simplicity. A person should give one chance to it. It provides security in higher level. It neutrality as it does not depend on a package manager so a person enjoys much more. Installs only what you want to unnecessarily things are not there so provides best speed and run fast. ### 6. Amazing low Weight Distro **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nitin G. | Principal Engineer, Medical Devices, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 29, 2023 **What do you like best about Slackware?** A lightweight OS with fully customizable libraries can be tweaked as needed. A good amount of documentation helps developers to design their code accordingly. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Lack of support from forums sometimes, and no dedicated entperise version which can helps the willing customers to get the additional on-call support and customization as needed. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** A lightweight Operating system helps deploy the same in many Aerospace and Medical applications. Other competitors' OS is pretty vast and challenging to customize, which is possible in Slakcware. It helps deliver a fast and custom product with minimal resources and efficient processing. ### 7. Slackware: Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Dhriti S. | Engineer-II, Software Development, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 12, 2023 **What do you like best about Slackware?** The Slackware is extremely user friendly, anybody with basic or no knowledge can use it. The reboot of the installer is really fast. It follows its motto " Keep it simple " to the best. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** The initial setup requires assistance. When there is heavy loading it gets crashed a lot. So the developers might have come up with loads of enhancements or updates. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Only the initial setup is tiresome. Once the setup is done it runs smoothly. It has been consistent in establishing a connection between server and desktop. And mainly helps in mapping the network of various devices. ### 8. Real Linux distro either for home or business use. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Zenón M. | System administrator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 27, 2021 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Simplicity, everything is under your control, one of the fewer systemd free distributions, real school to master Linux. Stability, rock solid, had almost no downtime. You can choose what to install, from a very basic (but complete) server with only ssh access, to a full fledged system with all the bells and whistles. It's a 100% hands on distribution. Learned a ton just being using it, and still using it, there's something new to learn every day. Slackware motto is "Keep it Simple", and everything goes accordingly to that motto. Performance wise, it runs in a variety of hardware, from a humble ARM based Raspberry Pi, to a top of line desktop or laptop. What I like the most, is the fact that all my data belongs to me, there's no cloud connectivity to anyone, unless you add it. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** The only downside (not for me anyway), everything is manual,there are no fancy graphical interfaces for everything, you have to use the console, package and dependency management is not perfect, but does the job. Sometimes, you will have to build your own packages from source, track and fulfill any dependency. **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** Hopefully, you have a good knowledge of Linux and bsd init style layout before switching to Slackware. Be ready to read, a lot (strongly recommend "The Revised Slackware Book Project" and "Slackware Linux Essentials") Man pages are your friend. The console is your friend, learn to use it. Forget about fancy graphical interfaces for configuration purposes. Be ready to build your own packages from source. Be ready to build your own custom kernel. Get to know your hardware, you will need this to determine how to make it work (ie, what kernel module to load, or build and install if not available out of the box). **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Solved all needs (file sharing, instant messaging, dns, email, proxy and web server) Once installed and configured, runs smoothly, almost setup and forget (unless something critical arises). ### 9. Slackware is the best DIY for Linux out there **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Orlando M. | Chief Information Security Officer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 18, 2021 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Slack configuration of all the layers of security and audit. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** The first time its kinda hard to know how to do several configurations. **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** Ok, so the first time its going to be the hardest one; the key to success is to keep in mind that customization could be hard if you do not know what do you need and what do you want to do, so map these things first and after you have completed a mind map of this, you can start to review packages, installations, and configurations. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Slack its outs internal security first option for the company. ### 10. Excellent distribution **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Massimo Z. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 10, 2021 **What do you like best about Slackware?** I started using linux in 1992 with yggdrasil, after a short time I switched to Slackware 1.0 in 1993. I immediately appreciated the simplicity and efficiency, as well as bsd style init scripts. From 1993 until today I use this distribution for my workstation and my laptop, with docker and all the tools that allow me to manage all my clients' workloads. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Several packages need to be compiled, but there is still slackbuilds.org which contains a large number of references **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Efficient and robust installations, with large uptime ... ( sometimes years ... ) ### 11. Can communicate well with the team. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Consumer Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 01, 2021 **What do you like best about Slackware?** You can easily reach out with workmates/ colleagues. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** None so far. I can easily can communicate well with the team. **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** Will recommend it to my next company. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Team huddles, inputs, insights. Its is always announced via slackware. ### 12. Slackware : The most stable and powerful Linux on the Planet **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Syafril R. | Post Sales - System Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 12, 2020 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Details, stability, powerful, cover all linux basic, fully documented, helpful community, one of the recommended linux distro for first starter, customization availability, easy to learn, opensource, one of the most old linux distribution that still exist, support for the universal driver, from old till new, compatibility with most of hardware exist, in one word for slackware is : Complete ! **What do you dislike about Slackware?** its not easy to learn slackware for beginners without knowing the basic, so you need to focus to read the manual and learn every single details from the documentation to get close to slackware, if you get the point you will love it, let the time guide you to used for it **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** if you want to have slackware, first rule is you must read all the basic of using it, on my experience firstime i learned i was stuck in the console, since all i know the OS is all about GUI, so i start to learn how to have GUI on my OS, but it takes time since im not cheating on the google to ask " how to start GUI on the linux console", but after i fread the documentation i found out that you just need to type "startx" to start the gui, and you can have the various type of gui, just you need to installed it first on your system before you have it. in simple words, it was adventurous to learn slackware for beginner, but its fun and worthed. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** i used slackware since 10th version, for the first i dont know a lot about shell script and networking feature, after i learned it, slackware covers all the need for regular OS need, from scripting, multimedia to office it works, and more of that i can use slackware to play games without LAG that i found when i play it with the commercial OS in the same PC, i learned a lot about kernel and configure the kernel based on my hardware spec, so i can get the optimum hardware function without having resource hunger like the commercial OS did. overall Slackware cover all you need from an Operation System. ### 13. Slackware is a Linux OS which can actually help you to learn the bash, scripting, and solve issues. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** George K. | System Administration, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 27, 2020 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Is the perfect OS for learning Linux OS.. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** It does not have any GUI to do the installation. So if you are not experience Linux before, you have to follow the documentation line by line **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** All kinds of problem. I realized how easy is to modify the kernel and have your own kernel. ### 14. Take it if you can bite it **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Olle L. | Python Team Lead, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2019 **What do you like best about Slackware?** I cannot be precise at pointing out at something specific because the whole system is made as good as it is possible. It is flexible, it has a great community, it has a bunch of packages and it teaches you to be better in administration and still think before typing. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** It is time-consuming to set up the system you want :D But still I'd rather spend some time installing/making packages to have a solid and reliable working station. Though I had a problems with xfce window manager (does it count?) **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** I tried not that many distributives (around 5-6) but ended up with Slackware for its stability, documentation and community. You can make your system be anything you like but you need to know what you're doing. Btw, Slackware team, thank you for your great impressive work! :) **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used to have Slackware as my working station since university time, so all programs I've developed, all applications I used to have for listening to music, reading docs, working with graphics I had to learn how to install, make it work. Then at work, we had couple of servers with this distributive and to me, it was much easier to set up apache, virtual hosts, DB settings because by that time I knew the os structure. I control the system and no one else, that's what I realized and along with that you have to understand you are responsible for every step you do, so it would be better to read/learn a bit before diving into a slackware ocean. ### 15. Daily driver and server OS **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stanislav A. | CEO, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 31, 2019 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Best thing about Slackware is the stability - install once and forget. Stable or current is beside the point. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Less repos then other OSes. Some niche software needs to be compiled from source. And some - you just can't get. **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** If you install ubuntu, you will know ubuntu. If you install Arch, you will know Arch. If you install Slackware, you will know Linux. It's not the user friendlest os ... but I will not change it if possible. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Building servers due to the long term stability. Daily driver due to current branch which gets current software update. ### 16. Used slack from previous employments **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Catherine T. | Fba, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2019 **What do you like best about Slackware?** This is much easier to understand and use. User-friendly software. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Nothing much. I like them in future use. Just use slack in your future business **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** A must try and keep software **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** You can talk to ur boss easily. Can document all the info needed. Its serves as ur notepad and office all at once. Very useful ### 17. Slackware Storage & DHCP server **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Igor M. | VMware Enterprise | Linux Engineer, Computer Software, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2019 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Unix-like philosophy, very high security, speed, straight forward, doc pages, stability **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Missing of some needed packages, which are included in Ubuntu, CentOS etc. **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** Learning Linux and Unix, of course! Consider the best option - learn Slackware! **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Problems in low security, organization. Better security, easier administration. ### 18. The best learning distro **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 31, 2019 **What do you like best about Slackware?** I started out with Slackware, to its core it Still rings true - you learn red hat you Learn red hat, you learn suse you Learn suse - if you learn Slackware you learn linux **What do you dislike about Slackware?** The only thing really lacking is a good package management system **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** Learning and development ### 19. Great distrobution, love JR "Bob" Dobbs **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gabriel Y. | Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 19, 2019 **What do you like best about Slackware?** Simplicity, good user community, lots of platforms supported. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Can be difficult to use, some packages harder to install than others. **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** Give it a shot - can be more intimidating than other distro's like Debian but worth the extra work. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** We used it as a lightweight Windows replacement at a small non profit - we had donated hardware but it was older and didn't want to spend money on legit Windows software that would have run slowly anyway. ### 20. Slackware enable me manually manage my system package. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Adenike O. | Information Technology Specialist, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 25, 2018 **What do you like best about Slackware?** STABILITY - For every new release ,Slackware has been able to include the stable versions of all included software programs. This ensures that save for the mandatory security and bug fixes, users get to compile and install the latest versions of their preferred software themselves. SIMPLICITY - Slackware is amongst the now very few Linux distributions still offering users a simple , configurable system . I love how I am able to edit plain text configuration files on my Slack. PRIVACY - We are in the era of cloud integrations. However , Slackware does not offer cloud integration ,ensuring I am not sharing my personal data with software firms. **What do you dislike about Slackware?** Slackware does not currently provide me with automatic dependency resolution and this will probably be the case for some time to come.Also in order for me to install add-on software with Slackware , I have to search and install additional dependencies by myself ,manually. **Recommendations to others considering Slackware:** I endorse Slackware for server based functions. Basically I see Slackware as secure ,rock-solid and simple and these are properties I appreciate from a server installation. **What problems is Slackware solving and how is that benefiting you?** I currently make use of Slackware on my workstation at my office ; operating a LAMP stack for development and system administration purposes. I never experience downtime and for the few occasions I encountered any downtime ; it was due to power cut. ## Slackware Discussions - [Is Slackware a good distro?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-slackware-a-good-distro) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [what is the best way to have OS selection Startup with slackware on the list ?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-way-to-have-os-selection-startup-with-slackware-on-the-list) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Why Slackware?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/why-slackware) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [Is Slackware still relevant 2020?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-slackware-still-relevant-2020) - 1 comment - [View Slackware pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/slackware/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=5§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-12+11%3A14%3A34+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=80e4ab26-ba49-4358-bf05-44bc9773519b&secure%5Btoken%5D=9c025cb9278b7c9bfe02a2218773ef84e6ec86f75b736812d6fbc756483bbab9&format=llm_user) ## Slackware Features **Memory Management - Operating System** - RAM management - App Management - File Management **Device Management - Operating System** - I/O management **Backup and Recovery - Operating System** - Data backup **Error Detection - Operating System** - System operations monitoring **Additional Functionality** - Generative AI - Data Security - User Interface - Resource Allocation - System Updates - For Developers - AI Copilot - Desktop Interface ## Top Slackware Alternatives - [Debian](https://www.g2.com/products/debian/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (221 reviews) - [Gentoo](https://www.g2.com/products/gentoo/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (37 reviews) - [CentOS](https://www.g2.com/products/centos/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (409 reviews)