CentOS vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) comparison

CentOS and Red Hat are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. CentOS is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.8, while Red Hat is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. CentOS holds a 4.6% mindshare in OSB, compared to Red Hat’s 9.0% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of CentOS users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

CentOS

Read 69 CentOS reviews

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6,128 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

Read 364 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) reviews

20,998 Views
20,788 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

CentOS

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 3, 2025

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS are key competitors in the Linux distribution market, each offering distinct features and benefits. RHEL appears to hold an advantage owing to its enterprise-level support, extensive documentation, and robust security features, making it more appealing to large-scale enterprises requiring reliable infrastructure and support. **Features:** RHEL is characterized by strong security, stability, and seamless integration with management and automation tools such as OpenShift and Ansible. This makes it well-suited for enterprises interested in cybersecurity and resource efficiency. CentOS, known for its low memory consumption and cost-effectiveness due to its open-source nature, is favored for web and database servers, particularly in smaller businesses seeking financial efficiency by avoiding licensing fees. **Room for Improvement:** RHEL could benefit from simplifying its documentation, reducing support costs, and enhancing third-party tool integration. Its users have also pointed out complexities in licensing and dependency on vendor support. For CentOS, the transition towards a community-driven derivative presents challenges concerning long-term stability and update predictability, along with a need for improved security features and stronger community support. **Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:** RHEL offers flexible deployment options across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments, supported by extensive technical assistance, though there is room for improvement in its escalation procedures. CentOS, while benefiting from straightforward deployments and robust community support, lacks formal customer service, making it more suitable for technically savvy users adept at managing without immediate formal support. **Pricing and ROI:** RHEL's pricing structure reflects its comprehensive support and feature set, often seen as a sound investment for businesses prioritizing uptime and compliance, though potentially prohibitive for smaller companies. CentOS, being open-source, removes the need for licensing fees, offering substantial ROI through cost savings, appealing to budget-conscious organizations while potentially posing challenges for larger enterprises due to the lack of structured support.

To learn more, read our detailed CentOS vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CentOS vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

July 2025

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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

CentOS

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

364

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 4.6%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 9.0%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	9.0%
CentOS	4.6%
Other	86.4%

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

Mahender Nirwan

Software developer at TAIGLE LLC

In-depth documentation available and command-line utility works well

One issue I recently faced, but I think it was due to my IT support guys, was that when the server storage gets full, the service crashes. It's very difficult to regain access and stability in that situation. That could be improved. So, the stability might be improved. But I don't think it's a CentOS-level issue. The system administrators need to come up with a solution for that, but I don't think it's CentOS's fault. I haven't done any research [R&D] on this issue. There's one thing for sure. We recently migrated from CentOS 7 to CentOS 9, and it was a bit difficult. For example, updating Windows is simple; you just download it, and it takes about 15-20 minutes. But that's not the case with migrating from CentOS 7 to 9. We had to back up the entire server, launch a new server, and then restore the backup to the new server. We couldn't directly migrate. I think that was a bit of a problem. The setup and updates are not that new in CentOS.

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Bruce Lundberg

Linux HPC Systems Administrator at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Reliable patch management, high uptime, and incredible knowledge base

In terms of security, it does a lot of things that most people still turn off. SELinux is turned on by default. They have pretty good firewall rules in their defaults. The audit rules always take tweaking, but, overall, it comes out of the box not too bad. I used to write scripts to harden them from there. There are multiple ways to provision and patch. You have everything from local repositories to doing it by hand. Their knowledge base is incredible. There is so much information out there. It has never taken me longer than 30 minutes to find an answer to anything, even very tough ones. One company I worked for was a security company, and we did a lot of patching on everything. It was designed around security and email hosting, and uptime was pretty much whatever we wanted it to be. I have had a couple of times when the uptime was bad, but it was caused by a third-party solution. In fact, the Norton antivirus was definitely the worst. Red Hat had nothing to do with it.

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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 user interface of CentOS is intuitive, we can also use the command prompt."

"The product is very efficient when it comes to virtualization."

"CentOS' best feature is that it's the standard product for Linux, so it's well-supported."

"CentOS is very easy to use, and all the commands are user-friendly."

"The vendor updates the tool regularly to solve vulnerabilities."

"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 scalability of CentOS is good. We can deploy the operating system in many hardware, laptops, and servers."

"The technical support is good."

More CentOS pros

"I would like to say Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is much more efficient than Windows, and my employees love the Linux command line."

"We have access to the Red Hat knowledge base. We have frequent meetings with Red Hat. Red Hat partners provided us with all the information and any kind of training."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is stable and secure; these are the two biggest factors that drive our usage."

"The initial setup of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is straightforward; I find it very easy to set up."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux's most valuable features are the Podman and a lot of packages that come inbuilt as part of the regular package."

"It is hardware-independent. We can use Dell, HPE, or any other hardware. It is also more reasonable than the other operating systems."

"The feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I appreciate the most is the scalability."

"The solution's use of Kubernetes as an internal or core process on the system is brilliant."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pros

Cons

"Integration with other platforms could be improved."

"The price could be better. They could add more drivers in terms of peripherals and other things. Add more drivers for the Linux specifications in the next release. Right now, they are just pushing to have more drivers for Windows instead of Linux."

"Updates are going to a streaming version."

"I would like to see more frequent updates."

"We would like Red Hat to keep supporting the solution but they have decided to get rid of it and there isn't much we can do about it."

"There could be more integration features included in the product."

"The solution could improve by making the management tools better for the DevOps teams. For example, WebEX and Webstacks."

"It would be useful if reporting were included as part of the basic license."

More CentOS cons

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved in terms of applications to interact better with the operating system for monitoring, control, and a better administration interface, though I don't work in the technical department."

"One area for improvement is the Subscription Manager, which is sometimes an inconvenience, especially when it doesn't work well with Satellite."

"When considering ways Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could improve, I often hear from the SUSE side that Red Hat isn't certified quickly enough with the SAP workloads. This is something Red Hat should start considering."

"It also has a steep learning curve for employees unfamiliar with Linux, and it demands a skilled team or a dedicated service center to operate effectively."

"This solution could be improved if it was easier to set up and run in cloud environments. It can also be costly to manage a large OpenShift environment."

"The implementation and limitations of SELinux should be re-evaluated."

"Additionally, it seems to only save a few minutes of typing in the terminal."

"The Asian support could use improvement."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs involved."

"There is no price or licensing required — it's open-source."

"CentOS is free."

"There are no licensing fees for CentOS."

"We use the free, open-source solution because we cannot afford the price for Linux."

"This is a free solution."

"The solution is open-source and does not have any costs or licensing fees."

"I use the free version."

More CentOS pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is suitable for midsize to large companies, though small enterprises might struggle. It is comparable to Windows licensing."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux licensing is quite costly, but I personally do not deal with pricing."

"One Red Hat license costs USD 131, which I find reasonable."

"It is very straightforward. We do not have to think much about having to get all the subscriptions related to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux fleet that we have because all the subscriptions came in pairs of CPUs or even for an entire bare-metal server."

"When you are running your infrastructure on this, you can always find some discounts with local support, etc. There are always some discounts to match your budget. It is definitely affordable."

"The prices are comparable, and good for what is being provided."

"It's pretty expensive, but I'm not familiar with the pricing of other vendors for their operating systems. I'd rate it a seven out of ten in terms of pricing. Red Hat Enterprise Linux's main advantage is the support that you get by purchasing their subscriptions."

"They knew we would buy tons of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, so they were a little bit more relaxed. We wanted a thousand licenses, and we could pick those up. We true up. Our license experience has been positive with the exception of having to deal with all of the broken-up accounts, which is as much our fault as anybody's."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user281973

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…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	23

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	84
Midsize Enterprise	46
Large Enterprise	248

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...

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What do you like most about CentOS?

CentOS is very easy to use, and all the commands are user-friendly.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CentOS?

CentOS is a free product with free updates. There are third-party companies available for support, but they charge varying amounts for their services.

See all answers

What do you like most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

It is open source. We can customize it as per our requirements.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

My experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been largely positive, though there was a significant shift in their pricing structure last year. That change caused considerable discussion a...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

From a technical standpoint, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) performs exceptionally well - it's reliable, straightforward, and functions as intended. The only significant concern isn't about the pr...

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Comparisons

Oracle Linux vs CentOS

Compared 31% of the time

Kali Linux vs CentOS

Compared 12% of the time

Ubuntu Linux vs CentOS

Compared 11% of the time

Windows Server vs CentOS

Compared 8% of the time

openSUSE Leap vs CentOS

Compared 7% of the time

More CentOS Competitors

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 19% of the time

Windows Server vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 15% of the time

Rocky Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 13% of the time

Oracle Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Solaris vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 4% of the time

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CentOS

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

August 2025

Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product report

Also Known As

CentOS 7 (x86_64) - with Updates HVM

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL

Overview

CentOS offers a stable, secure, and compatible environment with Red Hat packages, providing robust performance and cost efficiency. Its lightweight, scalable design and strong community support make it ideal for handling heavy workloads with limited resources.

CentOS is a popular choice for organizations seeking reliable server and virtualization solutions. Known for its robust stability and security, it offers seamless integration and maintenance. However, after a shift from Red Hat, some challenges emerged, including weak NFS client performance and a more complex interface, which beginners find challenging alongside insufficient documentation. Despite these, CentOS remains a favored option for deploying web applications, server installations, and supporting cloud solutions, thanks to its efficient use in monitoring, databases, and telecommunications.

What are CentOS's key features?

Stability: Maintains a consistent performance, essential for mission-critical environments.
Security: Offers robust safeguards, aligning with Red Hat's trusted security packages.
Compatibility: Seamlessly integrates with Red Hat ecosystems, enhancing versatility.
Cost Efficiency: Open-source approach reduces expenses compared to proprietary systems.
Community Support: Access to extensive resources and assistance from a dedicated user base.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Performance: Efficient resource management even under heavy workloads.
Integration Ease: Smooth integration with existing IT infrastructures.
Scalability: Ability to grow with changing requirements, supporting diverse applications.
Flexibility: Adaptable to a wide range of industries and use cases.
Reliability: Trusted for critical operations and consistent service delivery.

CentOS is widely used in industries requiring robust infrastructure, such as web hosting, scientific computing, and telecommunications. In data centers, companies deploy it to support virtual environments, testing, and development. The OS powers business applications, email servers, and cloud solutions, offering a cost-effective alternative to Red Hat.

CentOS

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is recognized for its stability, security, and performance, serving diverse industries with its robust support and seamless cloud deployment capabilities.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides comprehensive server applications across cloud environments, featuring tools like Ansible for enhanced user experience. It integrates OpenShift, Identity Management, and automation, supported by extensive documentation. Users seek easier upgrades, enhanced network virtualization support, and improved live patching.

What are the key features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Stability and Security: RHEL is designed to provide a stable and secure environment, backed by consistent updates.
Cloud Deployment: Easily deployable across cloud platforms, enhancing flexibility.
Integration with Ansible: Enhances operational efficiency with powerful automation tools.
OpenShift and Containerization: Supports modern app development with integrated OpenShift features.
Extensive Documentation: Offers comprehensive resources for users to troubleshoot and optimize.

What are the benefits of using Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Reliable Support: Benefit from extensive support options for seamless operation.
Enhanced Security: Built-in features ensure data integrity and protection.
Increased Flexibility: Suitable for diverse deployment environments, including on-premises and cloud.
Operational Efficiency: Tools like automation and cloud navigation improve productivity.
Training and Resources: Access to comprehensive training contributes to smoother implementations.

In sectors like finance, telecommunications, and education, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is crucial for running stable, secure systems. Its application spans web servers, data management, and containerization through tools like Kubernetes. Organizations adopt it for on-premises, virtualized, and cloud environments, ensuring robust infrastructure management.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Travel Channel, Mohawk Industries, Hilti, Molecular Health, Exolgan, Hotelplan Group, Emory University, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, HCA Healthcare, Paychex, UPS, Intermountain Healthcare, Brinker International, TransUnion, Union Bank, CA Technologies

Buyer's Guide

CentOS vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

July 2025

Free Report: CentOS vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Find out what your peers are saying about CentOS vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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