Kali Linux vs Manjaro Linux
Kali Linux
kali.orgManjaro Linux
manjaro.orgSide by side
| Figure | Kali Linux | Manjaro Linux |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Operating Systems | 8.8 (#4) | 8.4 (#6) |
| Spec score · Linux Distributions | 8.8 (#2) | 8.4 (#3) |
| ARM support | Official images and scripts support more than a dozen ARM devices, including Raspberry Pi, PineBook, ODROID and BeagleBone hardware. | The project publishes ARM images for devices such as phones and embedded hardware. |
| Company facts | LinkedIn lists OffSec as privately held, founded in 2006, headquartered in New York and employing 201–500 people. | LinkedIn lists Manjaro Linux as a Berlin-based nonprofit founded in 2011 with 11–50 employees. |
| System requirements | 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. | The About page recommends at least 4 GB of memory, 30 GB of disk space and a dual-core processor. |
| What it does | Kali Linux is a Debian-based operating system for penetration testing, security auditing, forensics, reverse engineering and vulnerability work. | Manjaro is an Arch-based Linux distribution that aims to make Arch’s power more accessible to newcomers and organizations. |
Plans
In their own words
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.
Manjaro Linux
Manjaro Linux has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.