Debian vs Photon OS
| Debian | Photon OS | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Free trial | No | No |
| Paid from | Free | — |
| Open source | No | No |
| Platforms | Linux, self-hosted | Linux |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Device types | Personal computers; cloud virtual machines | Bare-metal systems, virtual machines, Raspberry Pi, cloud instances |
| CPU architectures | amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x; i386 supported as a co-architecture for 32-bit software on amd64; armel upgrades only | x86_64, ARM64/aarch64 |
| Support lifecycle | Debian 13: five years, including three years of full Debian support through August 9, 2028 and LTS through June 30, 2030 | Security updates as needed; non-security package updates described in legacy FAQ as quarterly; no fixed duration verified |
| Built-in management | APT package installation, removal, and distribution upgrades | tdnf package manager; Photon Management Daemon; RPM OSTree; Network Configuration Manager |
| App compatibility | Debian packages (.deb); APT package manager | Docker and other container formats; Kubernetes; RPM packages via tdnf; RPM OSTree |
| Deployment models | Physical computer installation; live boot from CD, DVD, or USB; OpenStack and QEMU cloud images; Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Azure images | Bare metal; VMware hypervisors; ISO installation; OVA appliance; AWS AMI; Google GCE image; Azure VHD; Raspberry Pi image |
Both are listed in Best Operating Systems. On The Geeks Club, Debian scores higher on our published basis.