Kali Linux vs Pop!_OS
Kali Linux
kali.orgPop!_OS
system76.comSide by side
| Figure | Kali Linux | Pop!_OS |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Operating Systems | 8.8 (#4) | 8.0 (#16) |
| Spec score · Linux Distributions | 8.8 (#2) | 8.1 (#6) |
| Company legal name | Crunchbase lists the maker’s legal name as OffSec Services Ltd., also known as Offensive Security. | The product is made by System76, Inc. |
| Customization | Public live-build recipes allow users to create heavily customized Kali ISO images. | Users can choose single- or dual-panel layouts, move panels to any screen edge, and create themes with custom fonts and icons. |
| Purpose | Kali Linux is a Debian-based distribution for advanced penetration testing and security auditing. | Pop!_OS is a Linux operating system designed to be productive and personal. |
| Rating on Trustpilot | 3.2 out of 5 from 2 reviews. | 4.4 out of 5 from 401 reviews for System76 |
| Self-hosting | Kali is distributed as installable images and can be rebuilt locally with Debian live-build scripts and public Git repositories. | Pop!_OS is distributed as installable ISO images for user hardware rather than as a hosted service. |
| Support | Official support covers Kali operating system and packaging issues, not penetration testing or tool usage support. | System76 offers documentation and says its support team can help owners of System76 computers through support tickets. |
| 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. | Installation documentation lists 64-bit x86 or ARM architecture, at least 4 GB RAM, and 20 GB storage; 8 GB RAM is recommended. |
| What it does | Kali Linux is a Debian-based operating system for penetration testing, security auditing, forensics, reverse engineering and vulnerability work. | Pop!_OS is a Linux operating system built by System76 for productive, customizable desktop computing. |
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.