AlmaLinux vs Amazon Linux comparison

AlmaLinux and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. AlmaLinux is ranked #17 with an average rating of 10.0, while Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.9. Additionally, 100% of AlmaLinux users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users who would recommend it.

AlmaLinux

Read 4 AlmaLinux reviews

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1,487 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Amazon Linux

Read 20 Amazon Linux reviews

703 Views
408 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

AlmaLinux

Amazon Linux

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 4, 2026

Amazon Linux and AlmaLinux are both designed for Linux-based server environments. Amazon Linux has a slight advantage due to its AWS integration and robust security, whereas AlmaLinux stands out with its compatibility and community support, offering a compelling choice for those prioritizing open-source engagement.

Features: Amazon Linux provides seamless integration with AWS infrastructure, frequent updates, and strong security measures, making it suitable for cloud computing. AlmaLinux offers enterprise-level stability, compatibility with RHEL, and strong community support, making it appealing for diverse deployment scenarios beyond AWS.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Amazon Linux offers straightforward deployment within AWS, supported by reliable AWS customer service. AlmaLinux provides flexible deployment across various hosting environments, leveraging community support. These distinct approaches cater to different organizational needs for hosting solutions.

Pricing and ROI: Amazon Linux, integrated with the AWS pricing model, can provide cost efficiencies for AWS-based users, but may incur higher costs outside the AWS ecosystem. AlmaLinux is freely available, with no licensing costs, leading to a cost-effective solution that can enhance ROI by reducing operational expenses. This distinction highlights their differing value propositions.

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

AlmaLinux

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

17th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

4.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Amazon Linux

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

16th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Featured Reviews

reviewer2797887

Owner

Reliable long-term hosting has reduced server migrations and lets me focus on projects

One area for improvement with AlmaLinux is the use of SELinux to secure and harden my server, which I find to be a complicated beast. Better documentation on that part could be useful, although there is a lot of material out there. I choose a nine because nothing is ever perfect. For example, coming from Ubuntu, I found their firewall software easy to use, while with AlmaLinux's entire ecosystem, I always have to look up how to use firewall-cmd. These are just little preferences. I cannot think of anything else AlmaLinux could improve; it serves me well, and I have not been missing anything.

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SAURAB K GANGURDE

Senior AWS Consultant at Quantum Integrators

“Amazon Linux delivers automated security updates— including live kernel patching in AL2023—ensuring protected workloads with minimal manual effort and zero-downtime patching.”

One improvement for Amazon Linux would be stronger support for running it outside AWS. Although Amazon provides local VM images for VirtualBox and VMware, they are intended mainly for development and testing. Unlike Ubuntu, Debian, or Red Hat, Amazon Linux is not designed or fully supported as a production OS in on-prem or hybrid environments. Expanding official support outside AWS would offer more flexibility for teams that maintain mixed infrastructure. Another area for improvement is the community ecosystem. Compared to Ubuntu or Red Hat, Amazon Linux has a smaller community and fewer third-party resources or tutorials. A larger ecosystem would make troubleshooting and adoption easier. Finally, improving backward compatibility between Amazon Linux 2 and Amazon Linux 2023—especially around package management (DNF vs yum) and updated toolchains—would simplify upgrades for teams managing large fleets.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The long-term support provided by AlmaLinux helps my business by ensuring that we do not have to renew our servers every four to five years."

"AlmaLinux provides free updates and security, unlike Red Hat, where support must be purchased separately."

"The most valuable feature I find in AlmaLinux is the binary compatibility with RHEL and the long-term stability, which makes it a predictable, rock-solid system behavior, while also having small and safe packaging for subsystems or systems that run twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week."

"Positively, I can say that AlmaLinux has brought a sense of stability, and besides the security patches, we also noticed better virtualization for our use cases."

"I find Amazon Linux valuable for its direct functionality; the best features include the core capabilities that make it suitable for our operations."

"The main positive impact of Amazon Linux on my company has been no interruptions of services, and the public website is up and running, which allows us to monetize with virtually no staff hours for downtime or service interruptions."

"Amazon Linux has positively impacted my organization by increasing productivity since automation is easy and fast, allowing me to set up servers easily, thus productivity increases and efficiency improves as soon as possible while deploying my application using Amazon Linux."

"Whenever I deploy solutions on Amazon Linux, I almost never have to worry about the operating system."

"Amazon Linux has positively impacted our organization in a couple of ways."

"The product itself is very good; even if I switch organizations and they are not using Amazon Linux, I will share my experience that Amazon Linux has worked great for us in these use cases."

"It is working very well and operates very fast with queries and everything on that server, so there are no current problems."

"Amazon Linux offers many excellent features, is quicker and faster than CentOS, Ubuntu, or similar alternatives, natively supports many AWS features with long-term support and regular security updates, and its clear, superior documentation along with broad support for dependency and open-source software makes it an excellent operating system for efficiently setting up and upgrading complex, self-hosted environments."

More Amazon Linux pros

Cons

"After six months of migration, we ended up using more resources for the same websites, and that's not acceptable."

"If AlmaLinux could provide ten to twenty years of fixes, that would be an improvement because I do not want to update the system all the time, as it becomes more challenging for me as a system administrator to track all the patches and everything I should patch on the system."

"One area for improvement with AlmaLinux is the use of SELinux to secure and harden my server, which I find to be a complicated beast."

"Sometimes we cannot find some modern application packages; I tried to install a PostgreSQL server and I was unable to find the latest version available from the package registry, so I had to compile it myself."

"I have honestly never had any problems with Amazon Linux, aside from disk space issues."

"Amazon Linux could be improved by including additional features and continuous improvements in various areas."

"I rate Amazon Linux a nine out of ten. I choose this rating because I am concerned about the repository possibly containing vulnerability packages, though this could happen with any system."

"While Amazon Linux worked very well overall for us, there could be a few areas for improvement."

"In terms of improvements, the one thing I would say which I wish Amazon Linux was better at is that sometimes I find that I need to compile my own software because some dependencies are not within Amazon Linux."

"Amazon Linux could be improved by including libraries for supervisor."

"For the improvement of Amazon Linux, I think there should be UI features in the future, as Amazon Linux currently has only terminal capabilities without a UI, and I hope to see documentation updates as soon as possible so when documentation expires, I am updating it and referring to it soon."

More Amazon Linux cons

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

University

Outsourcing Company

15%

Government

11%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AlmaLinux?

AlmaLinux is free of charge, which is why I chose this distribution. It offers an alternative to Red Hat, which is free only without support and updates. AlmaLinux provides free updates and securit...

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What needs improvement with AlmaLinux?

It is hard to say what needs improvement because I am on the operations side and focus on installing servers and running our software.

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What is your primary use case for AlmaLinux?

I use AlmaLinux as the base operating system for all of our Linux servers. Our environment includes use cases that range from a load balancer on the NGINX platform to our monitoring software, Check...

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What needs improvement with Amazon Linux?

Right now, I don't think there are any specific areas to improve in Amazon Linux.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Amazon Linux?

The use cases for this in our company is that we have a customer that internally uses it for several applications, and they are a telecommunications company that has virtual machines and Linux mach...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Linux?

I use AWS, Azure, and I'm starting to use GCP, Google Cloud Platform. I have also used ZoomInfo. I have been using the product since its creation. I have not used the ZoomInfo product. With Amazon,...

See all answers

Comparisons

Oracle Linux vs AlmaLinux

Compared 18% of the time

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs AlmaLinux

Compared 18% of the time

Debian vs AlmaLinux

Compared 13% of the time

Alpine Linux vs AlmaLinux

Compared 11% of the time

Fedora Linux vs AlmaLinux

Compared 10% of the time

More AlmaLinux Competitors

Debian vs Amazon Linux

Compared 30% of the time

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs Amazon Linux

Compared 28% of the time

Kali Linux vs Amazon Linux

Compared 17% of the time

CentOS vs Amazon Linux

Compared 11% of the time

Rocky Linux vs Amazon Linux

Compared 7% of the time

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Amazon Linux

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Also Known As

AlmaLinux OS 8 (x86_64), AlmaLinux OS 10 (x86_64)

No data available

Overview

AlmaLinux is an open-source, enterprise-level Linux distribution designed to provide stability, high performance, and community-driven support. It offers compatibility with RHEL, making it a reliable option for businesses seeking robust OS alternatives.

Built by CloudLinux, AlmaLinux serves enterprises looking for a powerful Linux distribution. It boasts seamless transitions from CentOS, providing a familiar environment for IT teams. With its open-source nature, AlmaLinux empowers organizations by offering control over their workflows. It supports diverse workloads, making it suitable for handling anything from basic setups to complex architectures. AlmaLinux stands out due to its strong security features, which focus on protecting sensitive data and maintaining secure server environments.

What are AlmaLinux's most important features?

Compatibility with RHEL: Ensures a seamless transition for users familiar with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Long-Term Support: Offers extended support periods, ensuring stability for enterprise systems.
Rich Community Support: Backed by an active community and regular updates.
Security Enhancements: Integrated security improvements for protecting business data.
Open-Source Nature: Provides flexibility and customization through a transparent codebase.

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Cost Efficiency: Free to use, reducing operational expenses.
Reliable Performance: Consistent updates and support for enterprise needs.
Reduced Vendor Lock-in: Allows migration from other enterprise Linux systems with ease.
Security Assurance: Continuous security patches protect corporate assets.

AlmaLinux has been implemented across industries like finance, healthcare, and technology due to its reliability and adaptability. In finance, it ensures secure transactions and data integrity. Healthcare organizations rely on it for managing sensitive patient data. Tech companies use it for its stability and community-driven enhancements, making it a versatile choice for diverse applications.

AlmaLinux

Amazon Linux is a secure and stable distribution for cloud environments, optimized for AWS performance. It is widely adopted by developers seeking minimal disruption in deployment and management, offering a seamless operational experience.

Developed by Amazon Web Services, Amazon Linux provides an environment streamlined for performance on AWS infrastructure. By offering long-term support and regular security updates, it ensures crucial security and reliability. It is tailored to enhance cloud-centric application development, making it a preferred choice for developers needing efficient resource management. Its compatibility with a wide range of AWS tools and services makes it highly adaptable for cloud-native solutions.

What are the key features of Amazon Linux?

Security: Offers frequent updates and security patches for a reliable operating environment.
Performance: Optimized for AWS, improving speed and efficiency.
Flexibility: Easily customizable to meet specific application needs.
Long-term Support: Provides extended software support to reduce maintenance overhead.

What benefits or ROI should users look for in Amazon Linux reviews?

Integrated AWS Tools: Improves workflow efficiency by seamless integration with AWS ecosystem.
Regular Updates: Ensures up-to-date security and performance features.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces operational costs with optimized cloud resources.
Developer Satisfaction: Enhances developer productivity with streamlined resource management.

In industries such as finance and healthcare, Amazon Linux is used to develop cloud applications that require secure data handling and robust performance. Media companies appreciate its flexibility and speed in managing high-demand scenarios, ensuring scalable content delivery and reliable performance.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

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