AlmaLinux OS vs Kali Linux
AlmaLinux OS
almalinux.orgKali Linux
kali.orgSide by side
| Figure | AlmaLinux OS | Kali Linux |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Operating Systems | 9.0 (#1) | 8.8 (#4) |
| Founded | The Foundation says it was founded in March 2021 to own and manage AlmaLinux OS. | 2013 |
| License | The distribution compilation is licensed under GPLv2, while included packages retain their individual upstream licenses; unique non-OS software may use GPLv3 and libraries may use MIT. | Kali-specific infrastructure and integration code is released under GNU GPL v3, while individual packages can have separate licenses and some non-free packages exist. |
| Rating on Microsoft Store | 4.9 out of 5 from 10 ratings | 4.5 out of 5 from 13 ratings. |
| Rating on TrustRadius | 8.9 out of 10 from 13 reviews | 7.3 out of 10 from 30 reviews. |
| Support | Community support is available through forums, chat, and Reddit, while commercial support is offered by listed providers including Cybertrust Japan and TuxCare. | Official support covers Kali operating system and packaging issues, not penetration testing or tool usage support. |
| System requirements | The installation guide specifies at least 1.5 GB RAM, 10 GB disk space minimum and 20 GB recommended, plus an 8 GB USB drive minimum. | A headless SSH installation can use 128 MB RAM and 2 GB disk, while the default Xfce desktop target is at least 2 GB RAM and 20 GB disk. |
| What it does | AlmaLinux OS is a community-governed enterprise Linux distribution designed for stable production workloads and binary compatibility with RHEL. | Kali Linux is a Debian-based operating system for penetration testing, security auditing, forensics, reverse engineering and vulnerability work. |
Plans
In their own words
AlmaLinux OS
AlmaLinux OS is a free, open-source, community-owned enterprise Linux distribution designed for binary compatibility with RHEL. The project presents it as an option for users who need enterprise Linux without a commercial license agreement, including people seeking a CentOS Linux replacement. It can run on servers, workstations, virtual machines, cloud instances, containers, Raspberry Pi devices and Windows Subsystem for Linux environments. ISO downloads cover x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le and s390x architectures. The project also provides cloud images, OCI, Docker and UBI-compatible container images, Vagrant images, and live media with several desktop choices. A WSL image provides a terminal environment on Windows. The Foundation publishes security and bug-fix errata, and packages are GPG-signed and verified by default when installed. OpenSCAP, SCAP Workbench, OVAL streams and CIS tooling are available for auditing or hardening systems. Community support is available through forums, chat and Reddit; commercial support is offered separately by listed providers. The project plans stable updates and security patches for 8.x until 2029 and 9.x until 2032.
Kali Linux
Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution for advanced penetration testing and security auditing. It includes tools and configurations for computer forensics, reverse engineering, vulnerability detection, and other information security work. Its listed tools include Aircrack-ng, Burp Suite, Hydra, John the Ripper, Metasploit Framework, Nmap, sqlmap, and Wireshark. Kali is intended for experienced penetration testers and security specialists; its documentation assumes Linux familiarity. It supports bare-metal installs, virtual machines, cloud, containers, ARM devices, USB or DVD live environments, and Windows Subsystem for Linux. A Live USB can run without changing the host operating system, and persistence volumes can be encrypted. Users can build custom ISO images with metapackages and live-build. Network services are disabled by default, Bluetooth is blocklisted, and packages and repositories are signed. Kali is free of charge, though its non-free section includes some tools that are not open source. It follows a rolling release model, with fresh official point-release images generated quarterly. Kali NetHunter is a free and open-source Android penetration testing platform with a Kali container, desktop experience, app, and app store.