These tables compare free software / open-source operating systems. Where not all of the versions support a feature, the first version which supports it is listed.

General information

Name License Kernel type Kernel programming language Kernel thread support OS family Oldest non-EOL version Forks AROS Exokernel C AmigaOS Darwin, OpenDarwin Hybrid C, C++ 1:1 BSD, Unix, Unix-like, OS X PureDarwin DragonFly BSD Hybrid C 1:1 BSD, Unix-like eCos RTOS C, C++ RTOS E/OS Monolithic ASM, C 1:1 BeOS, Unix-like FreeBSD Monolithic with modules C 1:1 BSD, Unix-like 13.5 DragonFly BSD FreeDOS Monolithic C DOS 1.1 FreeRTOS RTOS C RTOS Genode Microkernel C++ 1:1 Genode GNU (Hurd kernel) or Monolithic (Linux-libre kernel, fork of Linux kernel, and other kernels which are not part of the GNU Project) C 1:1 Unix-like 2.4 on Linux-libre kernel (not on Hurd kernel) Linux Haiku Hybrid C, C++ BeOS TiltOSOpenHarmonyMulti-kernel (inc. add-ons, alongside custom add-ons not part of OpenHarmony project)Various (C, C++, Rust, Cangjie)1:1, M:N, POSIXHarmonyOS (without AOSP), LiteOS3.0.1 LTSOniro OS, HarmonyOS (NEXT) HelenOS Microkernel C M:N own/original House Haskell own/original Inferno C Plan 9 OzInferno KolibriOS Monolithic ASM MenuetOS L4, Fiasco, Pistachio Microkernel C++ L4 Linux Monolithic with modules C 1:1 Unix-like 4.4 elks MenuetOS Monolithic ASM own/original KolibriOS MINIX Microkernel C Unix-like NetBSD Monolithic with modules C 1:1 BSD, Unix-like 7.0 OpenBSD NuttX RTOS C RTOS OniroMulti-kernel (inc. add-ons, alongside custom add-ons not part of Oniro project)Various (C, C++, Rust, Cangjie)1:1, M:N, POSIXOpenHarmony3.2 LTS OpenBSD Monolithic C 1:1 BSD, Unix-like 6.4Dragon MirOS OpenSolaris Monolithic with modules C 1:1, M:N Unix illumos Microkernel C, C++, Assembly, Makefile, IGOR Pro OS/2-like Plan 9 Hybrid C 1:1, 1:M Cothread style. own, Unix informed Inferno, Plan B, 9front ReactOS Hybrid C, C++ Windows-like RedoxOS Microkernel Rust Unix-like RISC OS Monolithic (with cooperative multitasking) ARM assembly, C, BBC BASIC RISC OS RISC OS 6 RTEMS RTOS C and ASM with native support for other languages including C++ and Ada POSIX, RTEID/ORKID, uITRON RTOS 4.7.1 Syllable Hybrid C, C++ 1:1 Unix-like, BeOS, AmigaOS, POSIX TempleOS Monolithic HolyC, C, C++ Commodore 64-like Name License Kernel type Kernel programming language Kernel thread support OS family Oldest non-EOL version Forks

Supported architectures

Namex86, i386, x86 SMPXenIA-64x86-64PowerPCPowerPC SMPSPARC32SPARC SMPAlphaMIPSARMXScaleM68kPA-RISCOpenRISCElbrusLoongArchSuperHz/Architecture others hosted mode Linux FR-V, Cell, ETRAX CRIS, M32R, Xtensa, h8, s390, SuperH UML, coLinux, MkLinux, Itanium Linux-on-Linux, wombat FreeBSD PC98 OpenBSD NetBSD ns32k, VAX, hppa, M68010, mipseb, mipsel, sh3eb, sh3el, sparc64 DragonFly BSDDragonFly Frequently Asked Questions vkernel OpenSolaris illumos Darwin, OpenDarwin L4/DarwinOpenHarmonyOniro MINIX FreeDOS Genode RISC-V Linux Haiku RISC-V KolibriOS MenuetOS GNU FR-V, Cell, ETRAX CRIS, M32R, Xtensa, h8, s390, SuperH UML, Itanium Linux-on-Linux ReactOS RISC OSGenodeL4, PistachioGenode Plan 9 See lguest, vx32 AROS i386-linux, i386-freebsd Syllable Inferno AMD Am29000, Texas Instruments OMAP Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Plan 9, OS X, Solaris, Irix, UnixWare, HP-UX, Internet Explorer FreeRTOS AVR, PIC, MSP430, HCS12, 8052, MicroBlaze, Cortex-M3, H8S eCos CalmRISC, ColdFire, FR-V, h8, Matsushita AM3x, Nios II, NEC V8xx Microsoft Windows, Linux RTEMS Xen Blackfin, Nios II, Coldfire, Texas Instruments C3x/C4x, H8S Linux, Solaris, Cygwin, FreeBSD, multiple CPU simulators HelenOS E/OS TempleOS QEMU, VirtualBox, etc. Name x86, i386, IA-32 x86 SMP Xen IA-64 x86-64 PowerPC PowerPC SMP SPARC32 SPARC SMP Alpha MIPS ARM XScale M68k PA-RISC OpenRISC Elbrus LoongArch SuperH z/Architecture other hosted mode

Supported hardware

General

Name ATA SATA SCSI USB 3.0 USB 2.0 USB 1.1 FireWire PCMCIA/PC card AGP Nvidia official driver IA-32 Nvidia official driver IA-64 Nvidia official driver AMD64 ATI official driver x86 ATI official driver x86-64 ATI r200 free software driver ATI r300 free software driver Nvidia free software driver Audio TV tuner, video editing, or webcam Linux 2.6.31+ , nv(2d only), nouveau(3d with mesa) FreeBSD 8.2+ OpenBSD 5.7+ 2d only 2d only NetBSD 8.0+ DragonFly BSD OpenSolaris, illumos Darwin, OpenDarwin OpenHarmonyOniro MINIX FreeDOS USB with DOS – Limited support for some devices provided by third-party driver. Genode Haiku KolibriOS MenuetOS GNU ReactOS – Very limited support. RISC OS TV tuner L4, Fiasco, Pistachio Plan 9 AROS own 2D only Syllable Inferno FreeRTOS eCos RTEMS HelenOS E/OS Name ATA SATA SCSI USB 3.0 USB 2.0 USB 1.1 FireWire PCMCIA/PC card AGP Nvidia official driver IA-32 Nvidia official driver IA-64 Nvidia official driver AMD64 ATI official driver x86 ATI official driver x86-64 ATI r200 free software driver ATI r300 free software driver Nvidia free software driver Audio TV tuner, video editing, or webcam

Networking

Name Networking support NE2000/RTL8029 RTL8139 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet Wireless LAN Bluetooth IrDA Linux FreeBSD OpenBSD NetBSD DragonFly BSD OpenSolaris, illumos Darwin, OpenDarwin OpenHarmonyOniro MINIX FreeDOS Genode Haiku KolibriOS MenuetOS GNU ReactOS L4, Fiasco, Pistachio Plan 9 AROS Syllable Inferno FreeRTOS eCos RTEMS HelenOS E/OS Name Networking support NE2000/RTL8029 RTL8139 Gigabit Ethernet 10 Gigabit Ethernet Wireless LAN Bluetooth IrDA

Network technologies Name Firewall TCP/IP IPv6 IPX PPP PPPoE DHCP Bridge TUN/TAP SSH OpenVPN Linux netfilter iptables/nftables FreeBSD IPFW2, IPFilter, PF OpenBSD PF NetBSD IPFilter, NPF, PF DragonFly BSD IPFW2, PF OpenSolaris, illumos IPFilter Darwin, OpenDarwin IPFW OpenHarmonyOniro MINIX FreeDOS Genode software IP routing Haiku None KolibriOS None MenuetOS None GNU netfilter iptables/nftables (with Linux-libre and Linux kernel) ReactOS L4, Fiasco, Pistachio Plan 9 ipmux AROS Syllable Inferno ipmux FreeRTOS eCos RTEMS HelenOS E/OS Name Firewall TCP/IP IPv6 IPX PPP PPPoE DHCP bridge TUN/TAP ssh OpenVPN

Supported file systems

NameBcachefsBFSFAT16, dosfs; FAT32, vfatNTFSExt2Ext3XFSReiserFSUFSUFS2HFSHFS+MINIXfsISO 9660UDFNFSSMBFSRAM disk, tmpfsZFSOther special file systems Linux 9P, FUSE, sysfs, configfs, Reiser4, JFS, Btrfs, UnionFS, Ext4 FreeBSD FUSE, nullfs, UnionFS NetBSD PUFFS, LFS, EFS OpenBSD AFS DragonFly BSD HAMMER, nullfs, PUFFS OpenSolaris, illumos SMB (native), QFS Darwin, OpenDarwin OpenHarmony Ex4, F2FS, EROFS, HMDFSOniro Ex4, F2FS, EROFS, HMDFS MINIX FreeDOS Genode Extensible VFS layer Haiku KolibriOS MenuetOS GNU ReactOS L4, Fiasco, Pistachio Plan 9 Fossil, Venti, most system services AROS SFS, AFFS Syllable AFS Inferno kfs, most system services FreeRTOS eCos MMFS, ROMfs, JFFS2, YAFFS RTEMS TarFS, TFTP FS, IMFS, miniIMFS HelenOS locfs, exFAT E/OS NameBcachefsBFSFAT16, dosfs; FAT32, vfatNTFSExt2Ext3XFSReiserFSUFSUFS2HFSHFS+MINIXfsISO 9660UDFNFSSMBFSRAM disk, tmpfsZFSOther special file systems

Supported file system features Name RAID quota Resource access control encryption other special file system features Linux Unix, ACL, MAC LVM, EVMS FreeBSD Unix, ACL, MAC GEOM, snapshots, background fsck, user-mountable file systems OpenBSD Unix NetBSD Unix, Veriexec Snapshots, Journaling DragonFly BSD Unix HAMMER, Snapshots, Checksumming, Deduplication OpenSolaris, illumos Unix, ACL, MAC Solaris Volume Manager, ZFS, snapshots, transparent data repair Darwin, OpenDarwin Unix, ACL OpenHarmonyRBACHMDFS, Access token managerOniroRBACHMDFS, Access token manager MINIX Unix FreeDOS Genode Per-process virtual file-system layer KolibriOS MenuetOS GNU Unix ReactOS L4, Fiasco, Pistachio Plan 9 Unix-like, no root snapshots, venti archival storage, per-process namespace, user-mountable file systems AROS Syllable Unix 64-bit, journaling, extended file attributes Inferno Unix-like, no root per-process namespace, user-mountable file systems FreeRTOS eCos RTEMS HelenOS E/OS Unix Name RAID quota Resource access control encryption other special file system features

Security features

Operating systemMandatory access controlSoftware executable space protectionOperating system-level virtualizationVirtualisationUserspace protectionOthersLinuxIPFilter, Iptablesgrsecurity, RSBACFreeBSD TrustedBSDIPFW, PF, IPFilterDarwinIPFWOpenBSD PFOpenSolaris, illumosTrustedBSDKVM IPFilterRBACOpenHarmonyappverifyRBACOniroappverifyRBAC Plan 9 Inferno

See also

Berkeley Software Distribution Comparison of operating systems Comparison of Linux distributions Comparison of BSD operating systems Comparison of kernels Comparison of file systems Comparison of platform virtualization software Comparison of DOS operating systems List of operating systems Live CD RTEMS Unix Unix-like

References

External links