The Most Popular BSD Operating System, Ranked
Voting rules: Choose the system you think is the most popular!
Updated on May 16, 2024 06:32
The world of BSD operating systems offers a unique set of flavors tailored for various needs, from robust network servers to friendly desktop environments. Understanding which version suits specific purposes can be daunting given the diverse options available. A ranked list based on user votes provides clarity and aids in making informed decisions, reflecting current trends and user satisfaction within the community.
By participating in the voting, users contribute to a dynamic listing that continuously adjusts to new insights and preferences. This process not only empowers users to share their experiences but also helps newcomers in selecting an operating system that best aligns with their requirements. Eager insights derived from such rankings can influence future developments and enhancements in the BSD community.
What Is the Most Popular BSD Operating System?
-
168votesFreeBSD is one of the most popular and widely used BSD operating systems. It is known for its stability, reliability, and advanced networking capabilities. It is used by many large companies, including Netflix, Juniper Networks, and WhatsApp.FreeBSD is a highly advanced and powerful Unix-based operating system that is known for its efficiency, stability, and security. It is based on the BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) version of UNIX and is developed by a worldwide community of volunteers. FreeBSD follows the open-source model, allowing users to freely modify, distribute, and use the system according to their needs.
- Multiplatform Support: Runs on a wide range of platforms including x86, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and more.
- Networking: Offers excellent networking capabilities, including support for TCP/IP protocols, IPv6, and network virtualization technologies like Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
- Security: Provides robust security features, including built-in firewall capabilities, Mandatory Access Control (MAC), and file system encryption.
- Performance: Optimized for high performance and efficiency, making it suitable for both desktop and server environments.
- Scalability: Scales well across different hardware architectures and can handle heavy workloads.
-
271votesOpenBSD is another popular BSD operating system known for its security and advanced cryptography features. It is widely used in firewall and router applications.OpenBSD is a widely popular BSD operating system known for its focus on security, correctness, and code simplicity. It was initially released in 1996, making it one of the oldest active BSD projects. OpenBSD aims to provide a secure and reliable platform for a wide range of system configurations.
- Security: OpenBSD has numerous security features built-in, including address space layout randomization (ASLR), secure memory management, and strong cryptography.
- Code auditing: OpenBSD is known for its rigorous code auditing process, which helps identify and fix potential security vulnerabilities.
- Security-focused development: The development team follows strict security practices, ensuring that potential vulnerabilities are addressed promptly.
- Proactive stance: OpenBSD developers actively work on identifying and fixing security issues, rather than just reacting to them.
- Packet filter firewall: OpenBSD includes the pf firewall, a robust and flexible packet filtering solution.
-
323votesNetBSD is a highly portable BSD operating system that can run on a wide range of hardware platforms, including embedded systems, servers, and desktops.NetBSD is a free, open-source Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It is known for its portability, scalability, and capability to run on a wide range of hardware architectures, including embedded systems and supercomputers.
- Portability: Supports over 50 hardware platforms.
- Stability: Emphasizes correctness and reliability.
- Security: Includes built-in security features.
- Package system: Uses pkgsrc, a framework for building and managing software packages.
- Compatibility: Binary compatibility across different NetBSD releases.
-
49votes
Software: The DragonFly Project Screenshot: VulcanSphere · BSDDragonFly BSD
Matthew DillonDragonFly BSD is a popular BSD operating system designed for high-performance computing and clustering. It is known for its scalability and advanced file system features.DragonFly BSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system based on the FreeBSD 4.x branch. It was created by Matthew Dillon in 2003 with the goal of improving performance and scalability over other BSD variants.- Kernel Type: Monolithic
- Package Management: Basic (pkgsrc available)
- File System: Hammer2 (default), Hammer (previous)
- Process Model: Multi-threaded
- Security Features: FLY (Kernel ASLR), dports (security updates)
-
55votesTrueOS is a popular desktop-oriented BSD operating system based on FreeBSD. It features a user-friendly interface and a wide range of pre-installed software.TrueOS is a free and open-source BSD operating system derived from FreeBSD. It was originally created by iXsystems in 2016 as the successor to PC-BSD. TrueOS prioritizes ease of use, stability, and security, making it an ideal choice for both desktop and server environments.
- Based on: FreeBSD
- Initial release: 2016
- Architecture: 64-bit
- Package manager: pkg
- Desktop environment: Lumina Desktop, GNOME, KDE Plasma
-
617votesMidnightBSD is a desktop-oriented BSD operating system derived from FreeBSD. It is known for its ease of use and user-friendly interface.
-
710votesGhostBSD is another desktop-oriented BSD operating system based on FreeBSD. It features a pre-configured desktop environment and a wide range of pre-installed software.GhostBSD is a user-friendly and elegant BSD operating system based on the widely-used FreeBSD. It aims to provide an intuitive, familiar, and easy-to-use desktop experience for both newcomers and experienced BSD users.
- Based on: FreeBSD
- Desktop Environment: MATE
- Package Management: pkg
- Init System: OpenRC
- File System: ZFS, UFS, and FFS
-
85votesHardenedBSD is a security-focused BSD operating system that is based on FreeBSD. It features advanced security features such as Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) and exploit mitigation techniques.HardenedBSD is a security-enhanced variant of FreeBSD, a popular BSD operating system. It is designed to provide a more secure computing environment by implementing various exploit mitigation techniques and security features. HardenedBSD aims to protect users against a wide range of attacks including buffer overflows, privilege escalation, and code injection.
- Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR): Randomizes the memory addresses of key system components to make it harder for attackers to predict their locations.
- Control Flow Integrity (CFI): Detects and prevents deviations from the intended control flow of programs, mitigating various code-reuse and information leakage attacks.
- Process Memory Protections: Hardens process memory protections to prevent common exploitation techniques such as stack smashing and heap overflows.
- Role-based Access Control (RBAC): Enables fine-grained access control by assigning roles to users and defining their permissions accordingly.
- Address Sanitizer (ASAN): Detects memory errors and undefined behavior in programs at runtime, aiding in the identification and prevention of software vulnerabilities.
-
912votes
FreeBSD-based NAS systems
FreeBSD FoundationThere are many popular NAS systems that are based on FreeBSD, including FreeNAS, NAS4Free, and TrueNAS. These systems are widely used for file sharing, data backup, and media streaming.FreeBSD-based NAS systems are network-attached storage solutions that utilize the FreeBSD operating system as their foundation. FreeBSD is a popular open-source Unix-like operating system known for its stability, performance, and flexibility. NAS systems built on FreeBSD leverage these qualities to provide robust and efficient file storage and sharing capabilities for both personal and business use.- Hardware Compatibility: Wide range of hardware support
- Performance: High-performance file transfer speeds
- Scalability: Support for large storage capacities and expandability
- Security: Advanced security features and permissions management
- Data Protection: RAID-based redundancy and data mirroring
-
101votesPC-BSD is a desktop-oriented BSD operating system based on FreeBSD. It features a user-friendly interface and a wide range of pre-installed software. It has now been superseded by TrueOS.PC-BSD is a popular Unix-like operating system based on the BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) platform. It is designed with the goal of providing a user-friendly and intuitive desktop experience for personal computers.
- Easy Installation: PC-BSD features a user-friendly installer that simplifies the installation process.
- Desktop Environment: It provides a choice of popular desktop environments, including KDE, GNOME, Xfce, and LXDE.
- Software Manager: PC-BSD includes a software manager that makes it easy to install, update, and manage applications.
- PBI System: PC-BSD includes a unique package management system called PBI (Push Button Installer), which allows for easy and secure installation of software applications.
- Warden: Warden is a built-in tool in PC-BSD that simplifies the management and deployment of FreeBSD-based jails for application isolation.
Missing your favorite system?
Graphs
Discussion
Ranking factors for popular system
-
**User base and community support** A larger and more active user base implies that the BSD operating system has a higher popularity. A strong community support ensures easy access to resources, forums, mailing lists, and user groups where users can interact, ask questions, and help each other.
-
**Documentation and resources** Availability of comprehensive and up-to-date documentation, such as handbooks, man pages, tutorials, and guides, are crucial for users to understand and effectively use the BSD operating system.
-
**Software availability and compatibility** A popular BSD operating system should have a wide range of software available in its repositories, which are updated regularly. In addition, it should have good compatibility with commonly used hardware and software.
-
**Ease of installation and use** A user-friendly installation process, including an easy-to-use graphical installer, is an important factor in assessing the popularity of a BSD operating system. Similarly, ease of use and user-friendly interface contribute to its popularity.
-
**Stability and reliability** A stable and reliable operating system is essential for its popularity. Users prefer a BSD OS that is proven to be stable and reliable, with minimum downtime and crashes.
-
**Security features** A popular BSD operating system should prioritize security and provide regular security updates and patches. It should also have a robust security model, secure defaults, and various tools and features for hardening the system.
-
**Performance** Users appreciate a BSD OS with efficient resource management and good performance on various hardware configurations, including older and low-spec systems.
-
**Development and maintenance** A well-maintained BSD operating system with a consistent release cycle and an active development community is vital for its popularity. Support from companies or organizations also plays a role in the development and maintenance of the OS.
-
**Customizability and flexibility** A popular BSD operating system should be customizable and flexible to cater to various user preferences and requirements.
-
**License and cost** The type of license and cost of the operating system may also influence its popularity. An open-source, free, and permissive license generally attracts more users and developers.
About this ranking
This is a community-based ranking of the most popular BSD operating system. We do our best to provide fair voting, but it is not intended to be exhaustive. So if you notice something or system is missing, feel free to help improve the ranking!
Statistics
- 2144 views
- 166 votes
- 10 ranked items
Voting Rules
A participant may cast an up or down vote for each system once every 24 hours. The rank of each system is then calculated from the weighted sum of all up and down votes.
More information on most popular bsd operating system
BSD or Berkeley Software Distribution is a family of free and open-source operating systems derived from the Research Unix source code, developed at the University of California, Berkeley. BSD operating systems are known for their reliability, security, and robustness, making them popular choices for servers and embedded systems.
There are several BSD operating systems, including FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD, and others. Each has its unique features and target audience, but they all share a common heritage and philosophy. FreeBSD, for example, is a general-purpose operating system that emphasizes performance and scalability, while OpenBSD focuses on security and code correctness. NetBSD aims to be portable and run on a wide range of hardware platforms, while DragonFly BSD has a unique architecture that emphasizes multiprocessing and clustering.
The popularity of BSD operating systems varies depending on the context and the audience. For example, FreeBSD is widely used in web hosting and cloud computing, while OpenBSD is popular for firewalls and network security. NetBSD is used in embedded systems and appliances, while DragonFly BSD is a niche operating system for high-performance computing and storage. Overall, BSD operating systems have a dedicated user base and a rich ecosystem of software and tools, making them a viable alternative to other operating systems.
Explore other rankings
Check out some of the other recommended rankings on StrawPoll and make your voice heard.
