Whonix is a free, open-source desktop operating system built for anonymity, based on Debian and the hardened Kicksecure project. It ships as two virtual machines, a Gateway and a Workstation, that run inside VirtualBox or KVM on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Official website whonix.org
Our take
Whonix forces every connection through Tor by splitting your system into a gateway and a workstation, so an app that gets compromised still cannot leak your real IP. That design is its strength and its cost: you run it inside a VM, everything is Tor-slow, and it is overkill for ordinary browsing. Reach for it when isolation from IP leaks genuinely matters; for a portable anonymous session on a borrowed machine, Tails fits the job better.
GitHub at a glance
Whonix/derivative-maker
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Whonix alternatives
Qubes OS Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system
Tails Tails: Portable, encrypted and secure through the Tor network
Fedora Workstation Fedora Workstation: User friendly and easy to setup
Ubuntu Ubuntu: User friendly and easy to setup
openSUSE Tumbleweed openSUSE Tumbleweed is a rolling-release Linux distribution that defaults to Btrfs with Snapper snapshots, letting you boot into a previous system state if an update breaks something. Available with KDE, GNOME, or Xfce.
Arch Linux Arch Linux is a minimal, rolling-release Linux distribution built around a do-it-yourself philosophy. You assemble the system yourself from a bare base, choosing every component, and keep it current with the pacman package manager.