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Amazon Linux vs MariaDB on CentOS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
4.9
Amazon Linux offers cost savings, efficiency, and scalability through zero licensing fees, seamless AWS integration, and ARM optimization.
Sentiment score
3.7
MariaDB on CentOS streamlines deployment, enhances performance, and reduces admin reliance, saving time and costs significantly.
With Amazon Linux, selecting and launching instances on a public cloud provider means the machine spins up in fewer than ten seconds, making it efficient.
Cloud Solution Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
By switching the compute fleet from a paid distribution to Amazon Linux, we have reduced our OS-related overhead cost by 100%.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Some wins commonly seen after switching, particularly when moving from general-purpose distributions such as Ubuntu, include approximately twenty to forty percent better price-performance ratio.
configuration and management deployment at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I have seen a return on investment with MariaDB on CentOS; the management is easy.
Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
I have seen a return on investment through specific improvements in performance optimization for the application, resulting in a better user experience.
Senior Cloud Engineer at Globant
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Amazon Linux support is highly rated for fast responses, knowledgeable engineers, and excellent problem-solving, ensuring user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.1
MariaDB on CentOS sees mixed reviews, with many relying on community support and some finding customer service lacking for complex issues.
Amazon has the best expertise and they are available 24/7.
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
Timely and helpful responses for performance, updates, or AWS integration issues.
QA Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It offers specific advantages and constraints depending on the use case.
Cloud Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The communities and the blogs are already available, and we referred to those to accomplish what we needed.
Senior Software Developer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
When we have some big problem on the database, we need to have a database administrator, not a person who reads instructions on the screen.
Performance Testing And A PM Expert at ADM
Customer support for MariaDB on CentOS is excellent and very good.
Principal Data Infrastructure Engineer at Susquehanna International Group
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Amazon Linux boasts high scalability, seamless AWS integration, and consistent reliability for efficient vertical and horizontal scaling across regions.
Sentiment score
5.3
MariaDB on CentOS is praised for scalability despite challenges, with efficient replication and resource management reported by most users.
Since it is tightly integrated with AWS services, I can easily scale instances up or down based on demand using EC2 auto-scaling and load balancing.
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
Its real scalability comes from its seamless integration with AWS tools like CloudFormation, Auto Scaling, and user data scripts, which allow me to deploy and configure hundreds of identical ready-to-use instances automatically.
Student at Unemployed at the moment
The beauty here is that we can scale it immediately, which also saves cost.
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
MariaDB on CentOS's scalability is impressive, as it easily handles the growth in data, users, and workload.
D V A 3 at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The scalability of MariaDB on CentOS depends on the use case.
Performance Testing And A PM Expert at ADM
Regarding the scalability of MariaDB on CentOS, it's pretty scalable.
Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Amazon Linux ensures reliability and security with stable performance, seamless updates, and AWS integration, ideal for high-availability architectures.
Sentiment score
7.9
MariaDB on CentOS is praised for its stability, ease of management, superior documentation, and reliable clustering capabilities.
Combined with AWS managed infrastructure, it provides enterprise-grade reliability suitable for production workloads.
Software Engineer at INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING
Since it is purpose-built for the cloud, it lacks the bloat of traditional desktop-focused distributions, which leads to fewer crashes and higher uptime.
System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Compared to other Linux distributions, Amazon Linux is significantly more stable for AWS workloads because it is pre-optimized for EC2 hypervisor and includes integrated AWS tools out of the box.
FullStack Developer at EnactOn Technologies
I rate the reliability and stability level of MariaDB on CentOS as very high; it is among the best databases that I have ever seen.
Owner at Syntlogo GmbH
Regarding stability, I have been working on my project for the last year and, while the project has run for four to five years, I have not seen any technical glitches from MariaDB on CentOS that caused downtime.
Software Developer at Apptom
MariaDB on CentOS is very much stable in my experience.
Senior Software Developer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Migrating to Amazon Linux 2023 faces challenges with package availability, unclear documentation, lacking third-party support, and integration issues.
AI-enhanced optimization, compatibility updates, and deployment improvements are crucial for MariaDB on CentOS amidst repository management challenges.
Documentation explaining the differences between Ubuntu and Amazon Linux would be valuable.
full stack developer at 71Lbs
Since we are working in a real-time manner and need to scale things immediately, the time it takes to boot an instance and then deploy things is preventing me from giving it a perfect rating.
Senior Data Engineer at a transportation company with 501-1,000 employees
My advice for others looking into using Amazon Linux is to make sure the command line is easy and that Amazon Linux has more performance than other Linux environments and is more secure than other Linux environments as well.
DevOps Engineer at Wissen infotech
Postgres is easier to work with because you can use the explain plan to see directly and immediately if your new request is good or not.
Performance Testing And A PM Expert at ADM
For potential improvements that could be made in the future for MariaDB on CentOS, I think two or three things are needed; one is AI to support rewriting queries because at this stage every database supports AI.
Software Developer at Apptom
I think MariaDB on CentOS needs improvements in some memory-level implementations within the operating system, as I have noticed issues related to memory orientation, such as out-of-memory problems.
D V A 3 at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Amazon Linux offers cost-effective deployment with no license fees, enhancing appeal for enterprises seeking budget-friendly alternatives.
Enterprise users find MariaDB on CentOS cost-effective, with favorable pricing, eliminating licensing fees and flexible project-specific resource allocation.
With Amazon Linux itself, there is no cost associated with using it, so I would say it is very good from a pricing perspective.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
If I am a new AWS customer, the AWS Free Tier typically includes, for the first six months, micro instances such as t2.micro or t3.micro for free.
Software Engineer at INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING
I only pay for the EC2 instance and any other AWS resources I use, but the operating system itself has no licensing fees, which is a significant advantage over commercial operating systems like Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Windows servers, which incur extra hourly charges.
Student at Unemployed at the moment
Regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing, in our case, it was just the open-source MariaDB, so we did not require any licenses or setup costs; we just use it directly.
Software Engineer at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been positive since it is open source, and we did not have any issues with licensing and pricing.
Senior Cloud Engineer at Globant
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for MariaDB on CentOS has been that we use MariaDB Enterprise Edition, so the cost and pricing are very competitive.
Principal Data Infrastructure Engineer at Susquehanna International Group
 

Valuable Features

Amazon Linux offers cost-effective, reliable performance with AWS integration, security features, and documentation for enhanced productivity and deployment efficiency.
MariaDB on CentOS is praised for its performance, compatibility, advanced features, and cost-effectiveness, enhancing organizational workflows.
Amazon Linux handles this automatically. It is optimized for EC2, AWS hardware and software, mostly secure and stable, and there is no additional cost.
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
In terms of service security, there are many constraint security protocols and policies that help me create our own networks, security groups, and inline policies.
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Amazon Linux's security updates have been helpful in general because I have had to be more specific in using the Identity Access Management (IAM) service so that we can have role-based permissions in preference to just keeping it open.
Fullstack Developer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Many functionalities are not available in MariaDB on CentOS, so those aspects needed to be rewritten, particularly Oracle proprietary features.
Architect at LTIMindtree
We set it up for high availability in the production environment using the 2.x version and the latest version with a GUI, making it an advanced feature for high availability, especially when the master goes down, allowing the slave to take over read and write mode automatically, without any interaction or impact on the application side.
D V A 3 at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The primary thing that we got from MariaDB on CentOS is the connection handling capability.
Senior Software Developer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
MariaDB on CentOS
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
23rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Amazon Linux is 1.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB on CentOS is 0.2%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Amazon Linux1.6%
MariaDB on CentOS0.2%
Other98.2%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Saurab Gnagurde - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Analyst | Aws Cloud Ops | Dev Ops | Fin Ops at Tata Consultancy
“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.
DM
Performance Testing And A PM Expert at ADM
Performance tests have been streamlined for analysis while query tuning still needs improvement
The technical support or community support for MariaDB on CentOS is bad. There is a main problem with all the companies that sell this kind of tool and services. The first level of support is the first one you reach. When you begin to have a more difficult problem, there is no one available because sometimes you need to update the call and recall on it. This is not good because when we have some big problem on the database, we need to have a database administrator, not a person who reads instructions on the screen. It is always the same problem. My rating is two.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Educational Organization
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
35%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Transportation Company
8%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon Linux?
Amazon Linux made a great change with the last version and made some features incompatible with the old version, so I did not like the new version and still prefer not to use Amazon Linux. Some opt...
What is your primary use case for Amazon Linux?
I use Amazon Linux on EC2 machines for different kinds of servers. I typically run automation scripts, deploy fast web servers, and use Docker machines for testing purposes and any other proprietar...
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Linux?
All Linux distributions have stability and security. The only advantage of Amazon Linux is the package system. I did not see any other great advantage. I prefer to use Ubuntu as my main option when...
What is your primary use case for MariaDB on CentOS?
My main use case for MariaDB on CentOS is as a database for my application. A quick specific example of how I'm using MariaDB on CentOS for my application includes Laravel-based applications and Wo...
What advice do you have for others considering MariaDB on CentOS?
I would rate MariaDB on CentOS a nine on a scale of one to ten. I choose a nine because there is always room for improvement for any software, but in general, it is a reliable, stable, and easy-to-...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB on CentOS?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been positive since it is open source, and we did not have any issues with licensing and pricing. My costs are based on resource allocation...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Linux vs. MariaDB on CentOS and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.