macOS vs. Ubuntu

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
macOS
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
macOS is the graphical operating system for Apple desktop devices.N/A
Ubuntu
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Ubuntu Linux is a Linux-based operating system for personal computers, tablets and smartphones. There is also a Server version which is used on physical or virtual servers in the data center.N/A
Pricing
macOSUbuntu
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
macOSUbuntu
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
macOSUbuntu
Considered Both Products
macOS
Chose macOS
macOS just makes sense to me. Each OS has its pros and cons.. macOS works for me. It's well designed, intuitive, and efficient. But it's not cheap... well, macOS is basically free, but you need the hardware to run it, and the hardware isn't cheap. Pick the right tool for the …
Ubuntu

No answer on this topic

Features
macOSUbuntu
Operating System
Comparison of Operating System features of Product A and Product B
macOS
9.5
4 Ratings
12% above category average
Ubuntu
-
Ratings
File Management9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
Software Application Management9.84 Ratings00 Ratings
System Update Frequency9.84 Ratings00 Ratings
Operating System Security9.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
macOSUbuntu
Small Businesses
Ubuntu
Ubuntu
Score 8.5 out of 10
Android
Android
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
macOSUbuntu
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(4 ratings)
9.4
(47 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(3 ratings)
9.5
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(6 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
macOSUbuntu
Likelihood to Recommend
Apple
Macs, macOS, and the appropriate Mac applications really shine in ease of use. Specifically, the system's media-handling features are excellent. The developer frameworks (libraries) are excellent and provide easy programmatic access to the operating system's features. macOS is very stable and is built on a solid foundation of a Unix kernel. The Swift programming language is very approachable, and macOS supports many scripting and programming languages, opening up a wide variety of coding libraries.
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Canonical Ltd
If somebody whishes to be an IT professional, learning the basics of Linux is amust. Ubuntu [Linux] is one of the most beginner-friendly, widely supported, easy-to-use-relative-to-the-fact-that-its-still-linux OS on the market. As somebody who learned the basics of UNIX/LINUX on Ubuntu, it was a very good experience. It is customizable, has a lot of improvements over the years, and live up to be a viable alternative to any modern OS in 2021 as well.
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Pros
Apple
  • Unified hardware and software drivers
  • Power users can have full access if needed
  • Upgrade cycles are so easy with OS transfer
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Canonical Ltd
  • PACKAGE MANAGEMENT. You can update everything - OS installed software, you name it with either a few clicks in a GUI or a single command.
  • No bloatware.
  • No need for antivirus software.
  • Certainly the price is right.
  • My 83 year old grandmother has been using it - and because of this I rarely need to provide tech support. But I still visit my grandmother.
  • You can choose from a variety of user interfaces or rock it in the terminal.
  • Generally speaking, Ubuntu is as polished an OS as any you might pay for.
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Cons
Apple
  • upfront costs to getting the most benefit from macOS requires you to purchase a Macbook...this is expensive
  • it's windows snapping function just isn't as good as Windows OS
  • as good as the M chips are, gaming just isn't a big strong suit
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Canonical Ltd
  • The repository system could be a little better, as some of the software needed is not easily available there.
  • Ubuntu sometimes does not play nicely or easily with some modern firmwares.
  • Some people report slow responses with newer versions of Ubuntu, although we have not experienced any.
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Likelihood to Renew
Apple
Its simply the best operating system
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Canonical Ltd
While it works, we're finding that SNAP is getting more and more annoying, so we're probably going to migrate to Debian.
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Usability
Apple
I'm sure I'm biased. I've been using a Mac for 30+ yrs. I am significantly more productive on a Mac than on any other platform. It comes down to some personal preference and familiarity, but I just think the interface is more intuitive and streamlined
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Canonical Ltd
I gave it 10 out of 10 because it allows me to do the work I need on a server, such as running a website and database, and making developments. In addition, thanks to its easy and useful interface during installation, it can be easily installed. In addition, thanks to its easily accessible documents, when a problem occurs, it can be solved easily and quickly.
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Reliability and Availability
Apple
macOS tends to be very reliable, and Apple distributes updates as needed to patch known vulnerabilities or issues. It is very seldom that a macOS-based system is unavailable, and if that happens, the cloud-based storage and identity management support make it very easy to slot in a loaner machine while the user's primary machine is repaired.
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Performance
Apple
The Apple Silicon hardware allows macOS to perform very well, with rapid response. Local processing for Apple Intelligence-related items is quite fast, and the response is impressively complete. Our experience with integrations to other enterprise systems is that the other system is usually the bottleneck in the process, rather than macOS.
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Apple
No answers on this topic
Canonical Ltd
We did not use the managed commercial support, but instead relied on community forums and official documentation. Ubuntu is very well documented across both instructional documentation from the developers themselves as well as informal support forums [ServerFault, YCombinator, Reddit]. It's easy enough to find an answer to any question you may have
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Implementation Rating
Apple
No answers on this topic
Canonical Ltd
It was all pretty much automatic for our use cases. It integrates nicely with Laravel Forge, which is our primary use case.
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Alternatives Considered
Apple
Just that simplicity of day to day activities and management. It's basically zero hassle with the ability to scale and power up if needed
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Canonical Ltd
Windows 10: Expensive, with more security problems, more difficult to keep updated and less variety of free / open source applications. Its use encourages bad information security practices. OpenSuse Linux: A different distribution at source (Suse Linux), use of rpm packages (with fewer repositories and incompatible with Ubuntu Linux dpkg packages), and whose main objective is to be a "testing ground" for its paid version / professional, SUSE enterprise Linux.
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Scalability
Apple
macOS is very easily deployed with central MDM/DDM management systems. There are several of these available to select, depending on the amount and type of deployment needed. We use Jamf Pro to support a "zero touch" deployment model, which makes it almost as easy to deploy 100 endpoints as 10 (other than delivery and unboxing).
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Canonical Ltd
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Apple
  • Apple supports their hardware longer than most manufacturers, which is good.
  • Apple's hardware is more expensive than similar equipment competition, which is bad but offset somewhat by its longevity.
  • Apple in an Apple world works great.
  • Apple in a Windows world has some work to do to get things talking.
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Canonical Ltd
  • Systems administration with Ubuntu is easy with little deep knowledge about it. Docs and community publications are great resources for any task you need to perform on any Ubuntu server and the organization can save several salaries of specialized sys admins in favor of more active roles.
  • Having been an Ubuntu user for many years personally, setting up new Ubuntu servers on my organization came with zero cost for me. I just deployed one instance from my hosting/cloud provider and started working right after it was running, no need to ask support or hire new staff for these tasks.
  • Replacing paid options with Ubuntu have also saved thousands of dollars on Windows Server licenses. I've migrated Windows/SQL Server based systems to Ubuntu/MySQL/PostgreSQL several times during my career and saved about USD 5000/year in licenses to many of them.
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ScreenShots