Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PureOS VS NixOS

Compare PureOS VS NixOS and see what are their differences

PureOS logo PureOS

A user friendly, secure and freedom respecting OS for your daily usage

NixOS logo NixOS

25 Jun 2014 . All software components in NixOS are installed using the Nix package manager. Packages in Nix are defined using the nix language to create nix expressions.
  • PureOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-20
  • NixOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12

PureOS videos

PureOS 8.0 - Based on Debian 10 Buster and Using GNOME 3.30 as Default Desktop Environment

More videos:

  • Review - Is PureOS Really a Secure and Private OS?

NixOS videos

First Impression of the NixOS Installation Procedure

More videos:

  • Review - Introduction to NixOS - Brownbag by Geoffrey Huntley
  • Review - NixOS 18.03 - A Configuration-focused GNU+Linux Distro

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PureOS and NixOS)
Mobile OS
100 100%
0% 0
Front End Package Manager
Mobile SDK
100 100%
0% 0
Package Manager
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

PureOS Reviews

The 10 Best Immutable Linux Distributions in 2024
Why it’s on the list: PureOS offers a great balance of immutability and usability. While not fully immutable, it incorporates many immutable principles, particularly in handling software updates and system stability.
The 5 Best Privacy-Focused Operating Systems
PureOS is a privacy-focused Linux distribution developed by Purism, a company committed to user privacy and open-source software. It comes pre-installed on Purism's Librem laptops and is designed to provide a secure and privacy-conscious computing environment.
Open Source Mobile OS Alternatives To Android
It’s more of a Linux-based smartphone rather than a Linux-based smartphone OS, but I believe that the convergent PureOS should be able to run on other devices with some tweaks.
Source: itsfoss.com
Top 15 Best Security-Centric Linux Distributions of 2020
PureOS is a user-friendly Debian-based distribution built with a focus on user privacy and security by Purism – the company behind Liberem computers and smartphones.
Source: www.tecmint.com

NixOS Reviews

The 10 Best Immutable Linux Distributions in 2024
Why it’s on the list: NixOS uses the Nix package manager, which treats packages as isolated from each other. This unique approach to package management virtually eliminates “dependency hell”.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NixOS seems to be a lot more popular than PureOS. While we know about 246 links to NixOS, we've tracked only 13 mentions of PureOS. 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.

PureOS mentions (13)

  • Laptops with Linux
    Librem 14 by Purism, can't recall the specifics for this one; sorry*. I do remember that we owe PureOS to them. Source: about 1 year ago
  • I am losing my mind while protecting my online privacy
    Another option is PureOS, and you might even consider buying privacy-oriented hardware, such as the Libram product line of computers, laptops, smartphones from Purism, which is just one among many manufacturers in this market. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Are there any useable Linux phone Os besides Ubuntu Touch
    There's ClearOS https://www.clearos.com/products/clearos-editions/clearos-mobile and PureOS https://pureos.net/ which the Librem 5 uses. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • GNOME is on which tablets or phones?
    Check following link. You can order gnome phone here. Https://pureos.net/. Source: over 2 years ago
  • How to keep Debian FSF "approved"?
    If you can actually use a FSF distribution (you don’t need proprietary drivers) you can use PureOS from Purism. It is based on Debian and up streams all their work back to it. https://pureos.net/. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

NixOS mentions (246)

  • I use NixOS for my home-server, and you should too!
    As we covered in my last post, NixOS is a amazing Linux distribution for creating stable and declared environments. Now while this is amazing for a desktop setup, it is also perfect for a home-server or home-lab. - Source: dev.to / 29 days ago
  • Colima k8s nix setup
    Nix is a cross-platform package manager. It uses the nix programming language. Nix and NixOs are often used in the same context, but while the first is a package manager, the latter is a linux distribution based on nix. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • NixOs - Your portable dev enviroment
    Today I want to talk to you about Nixos. What is it? Nixos is a declarative and reproducible OS, partly taking the words used on their own page. What does that mean? - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Nix – A One Pager
    Software developers often want to customize: 1. Their home environments: for packages (some reach for brew on MacOS) and configurations (dotfiles, and some reach for stow). 2. Their development shells: for build dependencies (compilers, SDKs, libraries), tools (LSP, linters, formatters, debuggers), and services (runtime, database). Some reach for devcontainers here. 3. Or even their operating systems: for... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Tools for Linux Distro Hoppers
    Hopping from one distro to another with a different package manager might require some time to adapt. Using a package manager that can be installed on most distro is one way to help you get to work faster. Flatpak is one of them; other alternative are Snap, Nix or Homebrew. Flatpak is a good starter, and if you have a bunch of free time, I suggest trying Nix. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PureOS and NixOS, you can also consider the following products

Android - Android is an open source mobile operating system initially released by Google in 2008 and has since become of the most widely used operating systems on any platform.

GNU Guix - Like Nix but GNU.

LineageOS - Operating system for smartphones and tablet computers, based on the Android

Homebrew - The missing package manager for macOS

GrapheneOS - GrapheneOS is an open source privacy and security focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.

asdf-vm - An extendable version manager