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CentOS vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

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
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
69
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
7.4
Number of Reviews
327
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 4.6%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 9.1%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Mahender Nirwan - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Bruce Lundberg - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is very efficient when it comes to virtualization."
"It's a good and stable system. It provides everything you need for web servers and database servers."
"We used the solution as an operating system."
"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 solution is easy to troubleshoot."
"The user interface of CentOS is intuitive, we can also use the command prompt."
"The pricing is good. We pay a minimal fee."
"The product offers a free community-based version."
"The most valuable feature is the reliability of Red Hat's support."
"I like its integrations. I would put it higher than any other Linux version when it comes to availability. Its integrations with different applications and solutions are the best. We work with a lot of clients that use RHEL, and we could easily and quickly integrate any cloud solution, virtualization solution, storage solution, or software with the RHEL system. It is better than the other solutions we have worked with."
"RHEL is stable, mature, and relatively easy to handle. I'm pretty confident in it. We haven't had to raise a serious support ticket for any server in I don't know how many years."
"RHEL improves database and application performance for my end users. The application can collect regional and national data for my end user, a strategic customer in Indonesia."
"Their support is valuable. Whenever I had a problem, I could get on a phone call with somebody. I did not have to go to some random forum or send an email and wait forever. I could call somebody."
"I find the most valuable aspect of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is its stability in working with other enterprise devices, such as firewalls and centralized storage."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the platform being used for running applications."
"RHEL has made our operations more reliable by giving us a more repeatable process. After we've built it once, we know it will work the same way the next time we build it. It has reduced the time I spend training my operations team, and the cost of ownership is low."
 

Cons

"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."
"The solution could improve by making the management tools better for the DevOps teams. For example, WebEX and Webstacks."
"The price of CentOS could improve."
"CentOS could improve by having troubleshooting logs."
"There could be more integration features included in the product."
"CentOS could be improved by being more secure. Of course, we use a firewall, but security is always a concern."
"The security could be improved because the server system isn't very secure."
"The GUI interface could always be better."
"Support for older versions of the operating system could be improved. If people can't afford to upgrade, or if they have servers that are outdated, they need to be able to provide back-field support for those."
"I would like Red Hat to focus on continuous improvement."
"It could be simplified. I'd like to see them introduce PDFs or documents to better explain technicalities to new users."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux analytics are cryptic."
"The licensing cost of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is high and could be improved."
"They can allow more access to their training and their products' testing. There are ways to do it now. You might have to get a certain type of account to test their products. It might be easier if you can just download the product and test it out."
"A lot of improvement is required to get security compliance, especially with the privacy of the data, managing it, and storing it."
"Some of the documentation that I have run into or encountered appeared to be a bit outdated. That would be an area for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Once you buy the license, Linux will provide you with yearly or monthly patches, so your systems will be scalable for a long time."
"This is a free solution."
"The price could be better. The cost depends on how the organization or a specific person licenses it. If you want the free version, there's Ubuntu which is supported by forums. You can pay for the license yearly or pay for a specific version."
"It's free."
"The solution is open source."
"There is no license required for this solution."
"This is an open source solution."
"The product is free."
"It seems to be fair. It is not overpriced."
"One Red Hat license costs USD 131, which I find reasonable."
"It is more expensive than other vendors in terms of pricing and licensing, but because of its stability, I have to go with it."
"We purchased the Red Hat Enterprise Linux license via Azure and the vendor."
"The pricing is fair. The workstation licensing cost is fair. If you're running enterprise-level deployments, depending on what you're using, the volume licensing is good. I personally am worried that if they get so successful, they can increase the price, and then it won't matter because we'll be stuck on them. Hopefully, their open source mentality keeps that from happening. Where it's right now is good."
"If you don't buy the Red Hat subscription, you don't get technical support, and you don't have all the updates. To have everything working like a charm, the cost that you pay for it is worth it. In Bolivia, we don't have the best internet connection. Therefore, we have a local service with all the packages, repositories, etc. We manage them locally, and because we have a subscription, we can update them. So, we have local repositories with all the packages and other things to make it easy for us to update all the servers. Without the Red Hat subscription, we cannot update anything."
"We purchased it directly from Red Hat. Compared to open source, it's very pricey, but you get the support, which makes it much better."
"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."
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Comparison Review

it_user281973 - PeerSpot reviewer
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
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
CentOS is a free product with free updates. There are third-party companies available for support, but they charge varying amounts for their services.
What do you like most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
It is open source. We can customize it as per our requirements.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) indicates that this was the main topic that made me step away from RHEL. Personally, I don't see good b...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about CentOS vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,170 professionals have used our research since 2012.