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CentOS vs Docker on CentOS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 9, 2025

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

CentOS
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Docker on CentOS
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
29th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
3.9
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammad Wasif - PeerSpot reviewer
IT infrastructure executive at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Has supported reliable deployments and simplified issue resolution in complex environments
The most suitable feature of CentOS is its exceptional stability, security, and long-term support, which make it a popular choice for enterprise and server environments. CentOS is widely recognized for providing a stable and secure platform, especially suited for server and mission-critical workloads. Whenever we face critical work, it is easy for our team to handle. For long-term support, each CentOS release generally guarantees long-term updates, ensuring reliability for extended periods. For package management, we use YUM and DNF in the new version for flexible and efficient software management. It depends on our users' requirements for installing CentOS. Licensing for CentOS is above my management details, so I am not aware of this information. CentOS always provides good feedback, is easy to handle, and easy to troubleshoot. The experience with CentOS OS has been very good over the last two months. I rate CentOS nine out of ten.
reviewer2774466 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Containerization has transformed how I run microservices for high-speed web and API workloads
The best features Docker on CentOS offers include its lightweight containers and fast startup. Whenever there was a scale-out required for the APIs, it was immediate, less than 10 seconds to boot up, which was very helpful for the microfinance services. The fast startup and lightweight containers of Docker on CentOS were very helpful because earlier when we used to have these APIs running on the EC2 instances, many instances were required for those services, even though the code was very small. We had to use many EC2 instances instead of using microservices or micro containers like Docker. When we moved to Docker, the scale-out was very fast and very helpful for the business. The boot time with Docker was very less compared to the EC2 instances because running on the EC2 instances required more boot time for the OS, and there was a long delay due to the script execution for a few seconds. Docker on CentOS has positively impacted my organization as it helped us grow the business, and the customer was very happy with the services, thus revolutionizing the business.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like how you can alternate certain things and minimize admin features on there and just let it run on specific scripts. It's nice. Even if I had to put it in a container, I'd still do it. I prefer Linux over Windows any day."
"The most valuable feature is that it is compatible with RedHat."
"I like the command prompt of CentOS. It's very simple."
"The most valuable feature of CentOS is that it is easy to use."
"It's less expensive than Red Hat."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"CentOS is an open-source platform that is free to use, which is one of its unique features, and it helps organizations and startups in cost optimization and application development."
"The user interface of CentOS is intuitive, we can also use the command prompt."
"Docker on CentOS has positively impacted my organization by improving our time to market."
"Docker on CentOS has improved my organization positively, as it is easy to operate and maintain, making it more flexible—you can change any service in the system, delete or remove the service port, and create new ones."
"We can see faster deployments and reduced environment-related issues since adopting Docker on CentOS."
"Those features helped me specifically during my project by making it more stable since it used fewer resources, resulting in a cost-efficient deployment, as the machines that I deployed it on used less of the resources than I thought they needed."
"Docker on CentOS has positively impacted my organization as it helped us grow the business, and the customer was very happy with the services, thus revolutionizing the business."
 

Cons

"CentOS, being Linux-based, is the best in security, but it needs more on the security side for CentOS RADIUS server."
"Previous versions were unstable."
"We are aware that the licensing has shifted, and it's not a change we've liked."
"There is no notification before updates are applied to the solution, which occasionally means that new functionality isn't compatible with how the product is currently being used, and causes issues."
"CentOS is pretty old now, so I wouldn't recommend anyone use it."
"The product lacks a graphical user interface that can help users automate certain systems using the native features offered by CentOS."
"Integration with other platforms could be improved."
"There could be more integration features included in the product."
"To achieve a higher rating of 9 or 10, they might need more automation features."
"Docker on CentOS needs native orchestration and lifecycle management, which are currently limited."
"Docker on CentOS can be improved by being in sync with the OS updates."
"I have not seen a return on investment because the deprecation made it so there was none, and if anything, the ROI would have been negative since money and time were spent using something that did not progress."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs involved."
"CentOS is cheaper compared to Windows."
"The solution is open-source and does not have any costs or licensing fees."
"The solution is open source so is free."
"CentOS is free."
"CentOS is a free solution."
"There are no licensing fees. CentOS is a free solution."
"We have a CentOS license that we pay for on a yearly basis."
Information not available
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Comparison Review

it_user281973 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 24, 2017
It's improved our company's system environments that run Oracle databases.
Red Hat is mission critical to our environment Red Hat has improved the mission critical environments running Oracle databases, while CentOS has improved our web environment and MySQL. Oracle and SAP Environment and all HPC environments. 10 years No issues Very stable i don´t find any problem…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

Which would you choose - RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or CentOS?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is fantastic. It is an inexpensive solution that has excellent security, performance, and stability, and also lots of features. I specifically like that the solution has fe...
What do you like most about CentOS?
CentOS is very easy to use, and all the commands are user-friendly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CentOS?
I am not entirely sure about the license I purchased for my local machine, but I assume it is the community version, while for the AWS one, I do not entirely remember the pricing.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Docker on CentOS?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is good enough.
What needs improvement with Docker on CentOS?
I don't know how Docker on CentOS can be improved, and I don't wish to add more about the needed improvements or anything I wish it could do better.
What is your primary use case for Docker on CentOS?
I have been using Docker on CentOS for two years. My main use case for Docker on CentOS is in my CI/CD pipeline. A specific example of how I use Docker on CentOS in my CI/CD process is that we use ...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

CentOS 7 (x86_64) - with Updates HVM
No data available
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about CentOS vs. Docker on CentOS and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.