Best Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) for Windows
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Compare the Top Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) for Windows as of October 2025
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What are Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) for Windows?
A real-time operating system (RTOS) is a specialized OS designed to process data and execute tasks within strict timing constraints. Unlike general-purpose operating systems, RTOS platforms prioritize predictability and determinism, ensuring tasks are completed within guaranteed time frames. They are widely used in embedded systems, robotics, aerospace, automotive electronics, medical devices, and industrial automation where delays could compromise safety or functionality. RTOS platforms often provide lightweight kernels, task scheduling, inter-process communication, and resource management optimized for reliability and low latency. By enabling consistent, time-critical performance, RTOS software ensures that mission-critical applications run smoothly under real-world conditions. Compare and read user reviews of the best Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) for Windows currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.
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FreeRTOS
FreeRTOS
Developed in partnership with the world’s leading chip companies over a 15-year period, and now downloaded every 170 seconds, FreeRTOS is a market-leading real-time operating system (RTOS) for microcontrollers and small microprocessors. Distributed freely under the MIT open source license, FreeRTOS includes a kernel and a growing set of IoT libraries suitable for use across all industry sectors. FreeRTOS is built with an emphasis on reliability and ease of use. With proven robustness, tiny footprint, and wide device support, the FreeRTOS kernel is trusted by world-leading companies as the de facto standard for microcontrollers and small microprocessors. With detailed pre-configured demos and Internet of Things (IoT) reference integrations, there is no need to determine how to setup a project. Quickly download, compile, and get to market faster. Our partner ecosystem provides a breadth of options including community contributions and professional support. -
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Mbed OS
Arm
Arm Mbed OS is a free, open-source IoT operating system that includes all the necessary features to develop IoT products. The OS includes everything you need to develop smart, connected products on Arm Cortex-M based hardware, including machine learning capabilities, security, connectivity stacks, an RTOS kernel and drivers for sensors and I/O devices. Arm Mbed OS is designed for the Internet of Things. It is integrated with connectivity, machine learning, networking, and security stacks and is supported with software libraries, development hardware, tutorials and examples. From hardware to the cloud, Mbed OS supports more than 70 silicon, module, cloud, and OEM partners, optimizing your developer choice. By using the Mbed OS API, your application code can remain clean, portable, and simple, while taking advantage of security, communications and machine learning. The integrated solution reduces development cost, time, and risk. -
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RT-Thread
RT-Thread
Welcome to the RT-Thread initiative on SourceForge! RT-Thread is a community-led, open-source Real-Time Operating System. It boasts an extensive feature set, compatibility with over 600 ready-to-use software packages and a broad spectrum of components, and supports all mainstream chip architectures. It also includes a proprietary IDE, the RT-Thread Studio, to assist engineers in quickly embarking on embedded and IoT development. Designed with scalability in mind, RT-Thread is a flexible option for various IoT applications, thanks to its Nano version tailored for resource-limited applications. We invite you to join us on this thrilling journey and help shape the future of IoT and RTOS! -
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SCIOPTA
SCIOPTA
The SCIOPTA architecture is specifically designed to provide excellent real-time performance and small size. Internal data structures, memory management, interprocess communication and time management are highly optimized. SCIOPTA is a pre-emptive real-time kernel. Interrupts can be serviced at any time, even inside the kernel. SCIOPTA is a message based real-time operating system. A powerful set of system calls is available to control the resources. Standardized processes and interprocess communication result in clear system designs and are easy to write, to read and to maintain. As processes are communicating with well defined messages and processes can be grouped into modules, SCIOPTA systems are very well suited for team work in big projects. The time-to-market will be reduced dramatically. SCIOPTA is designed on a message based architecture allowing direct message passing between processes. Messages are mainly used for interprocess communication and synchronization. -
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Deos
DDC-I
Deos™, DDC-I’s safety-critical time and space partitioned real-time operating system (RTOS) that has been verified to the guidance of DO-178C/ED-12C Design Assurance Level A (DAL A) for Avionics Applications, supports ARINC 653 APEX, rate monotonic scheduling (RMS), and is targeted at the FACE Safety Base Profile. It has been field proven as a safety-critical RTOS since its first verification and audit to DAL A by Transport Canada in 1998, and it has been certified and is flying in 10’s of thousands of aircraft. Since the initial verification, it has continually evolved throughout the last two decades with new processors and features in subsequent baselines, and it has been successfully audited by the world’s various governmental certification authorities (FAA, ENAC, JAA, EASA, CAAC, and others) and airframe and Avionics Supplier Designated Engineering Representatives (DERs). -
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INTEGRITY RTOS
Green Hills Software
INTEGRITY uses hardware memory protection to isolate and protect embedded applications. Secure partitions guarantee each task the resources it needs to run correctly and fully protect the operating system and user tasks from errant and malicious code, including denial-of-service attacks, worms, and Trojan horses. To help developers jumpstart product development, Green Hills Software offers an extensive array of middleware integrated and validated for INTEGRITY, including FFS, FAT, NFS, and journaling file systems, IPv4/IPv6 host and routing networking stacks, FIPS 140-2 certified Suite B enabled embedded encryption library, and more. Each of these middleware packages has been pre- integrated and tested to run seamlessly with and take full advantage of INTEGRITY’s advanced RTOS capabilities. For selected industries, Green Hills Software offers platforms that provide a completely integrated ecosystem. Each platform includes the INTEGRITY RTOS as well as development tools. -
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Azure RTOS
Microsoft
Azure RTOS is an embedded development suite including a small but powerful operating system that provides reliable, ultra-fast performance for resource-constrained devices. It’s easy-to-use and market-proven, having been deployed on more than 10 billion devices worldwide. Azure RTOS supports the most popular 32-bit microcontrollers and embedded development tools, so you can make the most of your team’s existing skills. Easily connect to cloud and local networks, develop durable flash file systems, and design elegant user interfaces. Code that has been certified to meet stringent industry safety and security standards. Clean, clear code is easier to use and maintain and can lower total cost of ownership. Most safety-related certifications require you to submit the complete source code for your software, including the RTOS. -
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PikeOS
SYSGO
PikeOS offers a separation kernel-based hypervisor with multiple partitions for many other operating systems and applications. It enables you to build smart devices for the Internet-of-Things (IoT) according to the quality, Safety and Security standards of your industry. Due to its separation kernel approach, PikeOS is the first choice for systems which demand protection against Cyber-Security attacks. In addition to the broad usage within millions of IoT and edge systems, it has also been deployed within various high critical communication infrastructures. PikeOS brings together virtualization and real-time by means of unique and never seen before technologies. It allows you to migrate numerous complex embedded circuit boards in to a single hardware. It does not stop when it comes to new hardware concepts such as Big-SoCs with multiple heterogeneous processor cores. PikeOS runs on several architectures, supporting processors that come with a memory management unit (MMU). -
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Zephyr
Zephyr
From simple embedded environmental sensors and LED wearables to sophisticated embedded controllers, smart watches, and IoT wireless applications. Implements configurable architecture-specific stack-overflow protection, kernel object and device driver permission tracking, and thread isolation with thread-level memory protection on x86, ARC, and ARM architectures, userspace, and memory domains. For platforms without MMU/MPU and memory constrained devices, supports combining application-specific code with a custom kernel to create a monolithic image that gets loaded and executed on a system’s hardware. Both the application code and kernel code execute in a single shared address space.
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