Software Alternatives & Reviews

OpenBSD VS FreeBSD

Compare OpenBSD VS FreeBSD and see what are their differences

OpenBSD logo OpenBSD

FREE, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating system

FreeBSD logo FreeBSD

FreeBSD is an advanced operating system for x86 compatible (including Pentium® and Athlon™)...
  • OpenBSD Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-10-17
  • FreeBSD Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-29

OpenBSD videos

Intro to most secure OS OpenBSD with sexiest Manjaro DeepIn Linux

More videos:

  • Review - Why I Switched From Arch Linux to OpenBSD
  • Review - Product Review - OpenBSD 6.3

FreeBSD videos

FreeBSD 12 Review - Used as my daily OS

More videos:

  • Review - A Look and brief introduction to FreeBSD 12.1
  • Review - I tried FreeBSD! - here's what I think of it

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to OpenBSD and FreeBSD)
Linux
35 35%
65% 65
Operating Systems
34 34%
66% 66
Linux Distribution
32 32%
68% 68
Security & Privacy
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare OpenBSD and FreeBSD

OpenBSD Reviews

Best free Linux router and firewall distributions of 2023
These systems are not intended for routers. They are general-purpose operating systems and should not really be used as routers. Similar to OpenBSD and VyOS, you will have to configure everything by hand without a Web Interface. It's easy to make a mistake and leave a hole that exposes internal systems to attackers.
Source: teklager.se

FreeBSD Reviews

Best free Linux router and firewall distributions of 2023
OpenBSD and FreeBSD are actively developed and are very capable, but these systems require a high level of understanding of operating system internals and low-level networking to be used as routers.
Source: teklager.se
Avoid The Hack: 11 Best Privacy Friendly Operating Systems (Desktops)
With "Linuxulator," FreeBSD has compatibility with Linux binaries. Linuxulator can run unmodified Linux binaries without using virtual machines or emulation. Additionally, FreeBSD has tens of thousands ported libraries and applications.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, FreeBSD should be more popular than OpenBSD. It has been mentiond 21 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

OpenBSD mentions (13)

  • Can't import bookmarks in Firefox
    Thank you. I appreciate the answer. I was grokking the openbsd.org website for quite a while and didn't see anything like this. Source: 5 months ago
  • fw_update: yes//SHA256.sig: No such file or directory
    I seem to be able to ping openbsd.org, as I see 64 bytes from... continuously. However, when I try to install software such as doas pkg_add vim I get Can't find vim. Source: 5 months ago
  • Configuring a simple router with OpenBSD
    OpenBSD is a security-first Unix-like operating system belonging to the BSD family of operating systems. It is best known for the OpenSSH project founded in 1999 under the OpenBSD umbrella which has garnered widespread adoption beyond OpenBSD, including the infamous Linux operating system and even Microsoft Windows (since Windows 10). - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Why Artix?
    There are Gentoo variants with precompiled binary packages and backward compatibility. Redcore , Calculate, Pentoo, Funtoo and others. By OpenBSD I mean. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Help, Installing OpenBSD for first time.
    (unable to get list from openbsd.org, but that is OK). Source: about 1 year ago
View more

FreeBSD mentions (21)

  • I've never used FreeBSD and have some questions
    Aside from being UNIX based, what similarities does it share with Linux? Both have monolithic kernels. Source based build systems are offered (ports, which are like the portage system on Gentoo) as well as binary build systems (pkg, which is like apt, yum, pacman, etc.) Both offer a lot of free software, though more licenses are compatible with FreeBSD like CDDL, which is not compatible Linux. Both let you... Source: 5 months ago
  • FreeBSD turns 30 today!
    There's no mention of a birthday on their site, and its footer says 1995-2023. That must be just the site, because Wikipedia tells me FreeBSD's initial release was indeed, but not quite, 30 years ago, November 1st 1993. Still no birthday. Source: 10 months ago
  • Computer
    I'm not the right person to ask this -- I just run it on whatever I happen to have. But I think sleep and wifi (for example) have issues with different hardware, so you'd have to do your homework. The FreeBSD handbook on freebsd.org is always very helpful to me. You can try it out with a live cd / thumbdrive to see how much supported hardware you've got. My Lenovo X1 from a couple years ago works for what I... Source: 11 months ago
  • Can SGI’s Enthusiast Community Bring IRIX Back to Life?
    People are still actively working on Illumos. The last change was yesterday morning. * https://illumos.org People are still actively working on MirBSD. There's a CVS commit account that can be followed on the FediVerse. * http://www.mirbsd.org It's DragonFly BSD, not Dragon BSD, and the irony of that is that you missed FreeBSD, which is of course still going. * https://dragonflybsd.org * https://freebsd.org As... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • X220 and beer. A lovely combo, especially with FreeBSD.
    A open source free and stable Unix-like operating system. Read more at http://freebsd.org. Source: 11 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing OpenBSD and FreeBSD, you can also consider the following products

Deep Instinct - Deep Instinct is revolutionizing cyber security, offering advanced cyber security solutions that harness the power of deep learning analytics with unprecedented deep machine learning and AI prediction models.

Arch Linux - You've reached the website for Arch Linux, a lightweight and flexible Linux® distribution that tries to Keep It Simple. Currently we have official packages optimized for the x86-64 architecture.

Ubuntu - Ubuntu is a Debian Linux-based open source operating system for desktop computers.

Linux Mint - Linux Mint is one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions and used by millions of people.

BioCatch - Seamless and secure online experiences are built with BioCatch behavioral biometrics. We’re more than just fraud prevention. Our solution powers your digital growth.

Debian - Debian is a free distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system.