openSUSE began in 2005 when Novell, which had bought SUSE, opened its development to the community. In 2015 the project split into two editions: Tumbleweed, a tested rolling release, and Leap, a fixed release built from SUSE Linux Enterprise sources. Leap is known for the YaST configuration tool, Btrfs with Snapper snapshots by default, and the openQA automated testing system.
openSUSE Leap
The stable, regularly released community edition of openSUSE, built from the same sources as SUSE Linux Enterprise.
- Active project
- Latest 16.0Oct 2025
- Supported 1 version
At a glance
- Type
- Linux distribution
- Developer
- openSUSE Project (sponsored by SUSE)
- Based on
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
- First release
- 4 Nov 2015
- Release cadence
- Minor release about once a year
- OS family
- Linux
- Package format
- RPM (Zypper)
- Init system
- systemd
- Default desktop
- KDE Plasma or GNOME (chosen at install)
- Admin tool
- YaST (Cockpit/Myrlyn in Leap 16)
- Rolling sibling
- openSUSE Tumbleweed
- License
- Free software
- Website
- opensuse.org
Newest release
openSUSE Leap 16.0
Released 1 Oct 2025
Support status
Release history
| Version | Released | End of life | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16.0 | 1 Oct 2025 | 31 Oct 2027 | Supported |
| 15.6 | 12 Jun 2024 | 30 Apr 2026 | End of life |
| 15.5 | 7 Jun 2023 | 31 Dec 2024 | End of life |
| 15.4 | 9 Jun 2022 | 7 Dec 2023 | End of life |
| 15.3 | 2 Jun 2021 | 31 Dec 2022 | End of life |
| 15.2 | 2 Jul 2020 | 4 Jan 2022 | End of life |
| 15.1 | 22 May 2019 | 2 Feb 2021 | End of life |
| 15.0 | 25 May 2018 | 3 Dec 2019 | End of life |
| 42.3 | 26 Jul 2017 | 1 Jul 2019 | End of life |
| 42.2 | 16 Nov 2016 | 26 Jan 2018 | End of life |
| 42.1 | 4 Nov 2015 | 17 May 2017 | End of life |
| 13.2 | 4 Nov 2014 | 17 Jan 2017 | End of life |
| 13.1 | 8 Jan 2014 | 3 Feb 2016 | End of life |
| 12.3 | 13 Mar 2013 | 29 Jan 2015 | End of life |
| 12.2 | 5 Sep 2012 | 15 Jan 2014 | End of life |
| 12.1 | 16 Nov 2011 | 15 May 2013 | End of life |
| 11.4 | 10 Mar 2011 | 5 Nov 2012 | End of life |
| 11.3 | 15 Jul 2010 | 20 Jan 2012 | End of life |
| 11.2 | 12 Nov 2009 | 12 May 2011 | End of life |
| 11.1 | 18 Dec 2008 | 14 Jan 2011 | End of life |
| 11.0 | 19 Jun 2008 | 26 Jul 2010 | End of life |
Release data: endoflife.date and vendor announcements, checked 13 Nov 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Support timeline
The 12 most recent releases, from release day to the end of support.
- Active support
- Today
16.0
15.6
15.5
15.4
15.3
15.2
15.1
15.0
42.3
42.2
42.1
13.2
History
Milestones
- 2005Novell launches the openSUSE project
- 2015openSUSE Leap 42.1 is built from SUSE Linux Enterprise sources; Tumbleweed becomes the rolling edition
- 2018Leap 15.0 aligns its version number with SLE 15
- 2025Leap 16.0 is released, based on SLES 16
openSUSE Leap guides
Frequently asked questions
What is the latest version of openSUSE Leap?
The newest openSUSE Leap release is openSUSE Leap 16.0, released on 1 Oct 2025.
Which openSUSE Leap versions are still supported?
As of 13 Nov 2026, 1 version is supported: openSUSE Leap 16.0 (until 31 Oct 2027).
Is openSUSE Leap 15.6 still supported?
No. openSUSE Leap 15.6 reached end of life on 30 Apr 2026 and no longer gets free security updates. Upgrade to openSUSE Leap 16.0.