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.
Whonix
Encrypted Easy Set up Tor 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.