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

6,128 Views
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: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

CentOS vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

September 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 technical support is good."

"There's lots of great documentation available."

"The solution is productive."

"CentOS is very efficient and very powerful with many capabilities."

"It helps us install and deploy our applications."

"It has minimal updates compared to other distributions."

"The latest version of this solution has everything built in, making it comprehensive and very easy to use."

"The most valuable feature is performance."

More CentOS pros

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux is lightweight and can be run on almost anything."

"The support for OpenShift and CoreOS is valuable, as we frequently use support services and rely heavily on Red Hat support for assistance."

"The most valuable feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is its security, which is more secure than Windows."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has positively impacted my organization by providing a lot of security to run all of the systems we had in a particular environment, especially since I worked with more government operations, where security was the top priority, which Red Hat prioritized."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has positively impacted my organization through automation, as my recent task saved a lot of time by reducing the work from months to a day using scripts developed in RHEL, thus boosting our productivity and cutting costs while empowering a skilled workforce, enabling scalable and secure infrastructure, and fueling innovation and digital transformation."

"Technical support is excellent."

"By using Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), our team saves approximately 10 hours per week on routine patching and monitoring housekeeping tasks, which allows us to focus more on innovation topics."

"The biggest thing that I have found valuable is stability."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pros

Cons

"It is challenging to scale the solution when we have to increase the storage capacity from one end."

"The YUM install manager can be improved. It is below average as compared to the other install managers. This is the only major problem that I see with CentOS. They should reduce dependency on the YUM manager."

"In the future, CentOS will no longer be compatible with Red Hat."

"The GUI interface could always be better."

"I would like to see more frequent updates."

"As an open-source solution, there isn't much technical support."

"Like every operating system, it could be more secure."

"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."

More CentOS cons

"The performance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could be improved, especially under high load scenarios or when running applications involving AI."

"New products need better documentation. The websites also have a single sign-on to get you from one side to the other. As a partner, I had a problem finding out how I needed to connect and to which side of the solution."

"It is mostly better than other solutions. However, it is sometimes difficult for disaster recovery, so we have to plan accordingly."

"The SE policy is not very clear on how it's supposed to be implemented, which they can improve upon, or perhaps I don't know where to look for that information."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) did not help much with our uptime or security."

"Red Hat could enhance its user experience by incorporating built-in automation tools, eliminating users needing to install, set up, or configure external applications."

"Their support needs improvement. It should be faster for priority tickets."

"When we tried it last week, we found it challenging to automate things using Ansible."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"I use the free version."

"We are using a subscription-based license option for CentOS."

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

"This is a free solution."

"CentOS is an expensive solution. There are other solutions that are rated at the top that are not expensive, such as Red Hat."

"CentOS is an open source that is free of cost."

More CentOS pricing and cost advice

"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."

"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."

"I have limited information regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux pricing and licensing, but our managers appear satisfied."

"Pricing is something that needs to be worked out with the vendor. The more you have, the less you pay. That is the model nowadays in IT, but it is very cost-effective. You get what you pay for."

"Red Hat is stable, and we always opt for the lower-tier subscription, which is affordable."

"Their licensing is quite okay. It isn't expensive, and it's slightly cheaper than Microsoft. Taking into account its features, its price is okay."

"The pricing and licensing are a bit higher for Red Hat Enterprise because we're able to get 70% of its features with the CentOS version. For the 30% of features that Red Hat provides, I think they need to reduce the licensing fee."

"For the basic operating system, its price is fair. It is not cheap, and it is also not expensive. For the OpenShift or OpenStack implementation, the cost is a little higher than what I would expect, but it is doable. For a storage solution, it is almost impossible to pay. In comparison to open-source competitors, RHEL has the most cost-effective open-source subscription model."

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	256

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.

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

I can say about pricing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is maybe a two on a scale where ten is a high price.

See all answers

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

Regarding security requirements from my side, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is somewhat satisfactory, but in most organizations, they are asking for more enterprise solutions for security. If Red...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 31% of the time

Kali Linux vs CentOS

Compared 13% 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

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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

AlmaLinux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 3% of the time

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

CentOS

September 2025

Download CentOS product report

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)

September 2025

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

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