Choosing a VPS Operating System: Ubuntu, Debian or AlmaLinux

One of the first questions when ordering a VPS is which operating system to install. The list shows Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux and others, and a newcomer often sees no real difference. In fact, this choice decides which commands you will use for years, how long you will receive security updates and which tutorials will apply to you. Here is a practical comparison of the three most popular options.

Ubuntu: the most tutorials and the largest community

Ubuntu is based on Debian and developed by Canonical. LTS releases such as 22.04 and 24.04 come out every two years and get five years of standard security updates, extendable through Ubuntu Pro. On a server, always pick an LTS release, because interim releases are supported for only nine months. Ubuntu's main strength is popularity: a large share of online guides for Docker, Node.js or Python frameworks are written for it, and packages are fairly recent, which suits modern web apps.

Debian: stability and a small footprint

Debian is one of the oldest independent distributions and is run by a volunteer community rather than a company. Stable releases arrive roughly every two years and are supported for around five years in total, first by the security team and then by the LTS project. Packages are carefully tested and sometimes older than Ubuntu's, but they rarely cause trouble. A minimal Debian install uses very few resources, making it a great fit for a 1-2 GB VPS, and most Ubuntu instructions work on it unchanged.

AlmaLinux: a member of the RHEL family

AlmaLinux is a free distribution binary-compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, created after CentOS in its classic form was discontinued. Each major version is supported for about ten years. It uses dnf, firewalld and has SELinux enabled by default. SELinux adds real protection, but beginners often hit the "files are there but Nginx cannot read them" problem. The fix is to set the correct file context, not to disable SELinux. Some commercial software and control panels target RHEL-compatible systems specifically.

Check exact end-of-life dates on each project's official site before installing, as they vary by version.

First steps after installation

cat /etc/os-release

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install unattended-upgrades
sudo dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low unattended-upgrades
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH && sudo ufw allow 80,443/tcp && sudo ufw enable

# AlmaLinux
sudo dnf upgrade -y
sudo dnf install dnf-automatic
sudo systemctl enable --now dnf-automatic.timer
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# AlmaLinux: SELinux context for a custom web root
sudo dnf install policycoreutils-python-utils
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_content_t "/srv/www(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /srv/www

Recommendations for real situations

A private clinic in Samarkand ordering a Laravel booking system from a developer who knows Ubuntu should simply use Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: no learning curve and years of updates. A Tashkent training center running only a Telegram bot and a small landing page on a 1 GB VPS benefits from Debian's light footprint. A manufacturer whose accounting software vendor supports only RHEL 9 or compatible systems gets exactly that, for free, with AlmaLinux 9.

Common mistakes

The most frequent mistakes are choosing a non-LTS or nearly end-of-life release, picking a system only because it is the newest while ignoring the team's experience, and mixing different systems across servers in one project. When ordering a VPS at sayt.uz you choose from the listed systems, and you can ask about reinstall options through the cabinet or support. Decide based on project requirements, team experience and support lifetime, and any of these three will serve as a solid foundation.