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CentOS vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs Ubuntu Linux 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 4.8%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 9.3%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ubuntu Linux is 12.9%, down from 21.4% 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.
PrashantSharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs efficiently but requires overcoming a learning curve
There are many differences between Ubuntu Linux and Windows as they are totally different systems. You need to have more knowledge about Linux before using Ubuntu Linux. Although it is designed as a desktop system, basic knowledge is still required. Windows can be used by any layman, which is the main difference. I do not know much about security breaches or potential issues. The Wi-Fi and wireless capabilities work perfectly fine. Excluding the learning curve, I would rate it a 10. However, considering the learning curve, I would give it a six or seven. My advice would be to have patience. Overall rating: 10 out of 10.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a stable soultion."
"A valuable features of CentOS is that it's quite stable and doesn't crash often. It's also quite intuitive."
"It is better than Ubuntu Linux."
"The user interface of CentOS is intuitive, we can also use the command prompt."
"The solution is easy to use but not as easy as Windows."
"The most valuable feature of CentOS is the speed and it is very easy to use."
"The vendor updates the tool regularly to solve vulnerabilities."
"The product's initial setup phase is very straightforward."
"The flexible and extensive system makes it easy to cluster, check redundancies, and perform data backups."
"The most valuable features of RHEL are security, performance tuning, storage management, and OS-level automation."
"The built-in security features are quite good."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales excellently with the growing needs of my company."
"The security features are the most valuable."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux has increased our productivity by making monitoring more manageable and allowing us to be more proactive."
"The enterprise aspect of it is valuable. There is security patching, security scanning, and compliance. There are all kinds of features around managing and keeping it up-to-date and secure. Everything is in a box for us from Red Hat which makes it very easy to manage them."
"The integration with Oracle is the most valuable feature."
"There is a lot of freedom and flexibility to install it really quickly. It is just very powerful in the sense that it doesn't take up as many resources to run as some of the other operating systems. It is open source, so it is free. There is no licensing fee. There is flexibility and freedom to do whatever you need to do. If you are familiar with the command line, you can jump on the command line and configure almost any part of the operating system that you want. If you are not comfortable with the command line, the graphical user interface has really improved ever since I started using Linux back in high school. It is really very simple to manage your settings and other things. You can also try out multiple desktop environments. As a matter of fact, on one of my laptops, I have installed five different desktop environments, and I can switch between them. If you don't like one, you can easily just install another one with a few commands, and you have got a whole new desktop right there, whereas, in Microsoft Windows or a Mac, you are just stuck with whatever they give you, and you have to wait until they sell you something else."
"The most valuable feature is that it's developer-friendly and easily accessible. Like any other Linux operating system, you have access to open sources, all the necessary tooling, and anything that helps developers do their work. I'm no Linux guru, but Ubuntu offers packages that I find easy to use. There are other options for people who are very skilled with Linux, but this solution has the perfect balance of having enough technical requirements to meet your needs while still being usable. It doesn't require you to be so technically proficient that you need to recompile kernels or anything like that. It's a Linux operating system for normal people."
"The most valuable features of Ubuntu Linux is the reliability, the ease of package management, and the ease of upgrading from one version to the next."
"The solution is stable, fast and free."
"Ubuntu Linux is the most secure option on the market."
"I would rate Ubuntu Linux a nine out of ten as a total rating."
"I think Ubuntu's main strength, as opposed to using the other Linuxes, has been its ability to encourage user feedback."
"The system works great with perfect stability."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more frequent updates."
"CentOS is pretty old now, so I wouldn't recommend anyone use it."
"CentOS NetworkManager is an area of concern in the solution that needs improvement, and it is the same with other products from Red Hat."
"Updates are going to a streaming version."
"We occasionally have issues with software installation."
"The price of CentOS could improve."
"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 support could be a bit better."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward but can be tedious at times because of the compliance things that we have to implement."
"A feature that I would like to see in the image builder is the ability to open the image in live mode and access a command line interface."
"Insights is specific to individual clusters and does not offer a single pane of glass for multi-cluster environments."
"They are continuing to push the ecosystem forward, but as a consumer, what was most important for me was the reputation of openness that Red Hat has fostered. I would like that back."
"I really think that the upgrade policies between the major versions, like from from RHEL 5 to RHEL 6, should be much easier, similar to what is in place for upgrading from RHEL 6 to RHEL 6.8."
"Recently, Red Hat did a strange thing where they took over the CentOS project and changed several things in their pipeline. I don't believe that I, or the vast majority of Linux systems engineers out there, are fans of their development process for the operating system."
"Unfortunately, any MasterCard or Visa card from Iraq is blocked by Red Hat."
"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."
"They aren't as user-friendly as Microsoft. The solution can use a better UI."
"The solution could improve by being more user-friendly, you need to know how to use the command-line interface which you might not understand."
"The user interface could be improved."
"There are some drivers that are not there encoded, however, I thought that was pretty normal. They could be more comprehensive."
"The booting of Ubuntu Linux should be faster because I only have two minutes when I have calls, so it should complete more quickly."
"It can have more security."
"When installing software, an online interface has to be used and commands written to run the installation. The solution could be improved if it was possible to click twice in an icon for the installation process to begin."
"The problem with the license costs for Ubuntu Linux right now is due to currency exchange, as everything is based on US dollars."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"CentOS is a free solution."
"The solution is free of cost to use."
"The solution is open-source and does not have any costs or licensing fees."
"There is no license required for this solution."
"I use the free version."
"We don’t have to pay for the system’s licenses."
"For the enterprise version of CentOS, there is a license required. However, for personal use, I do not need a license."
"There are no licensing fees. CentOS is a free solution."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux licensing is not cheap, but it is worth it, especially considering the compliance and support it provides."
"This is a cost-effective solution."
"We use open source. We only have a subscription for support."
"I have limited information regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux pricing and licensing, but our managers appear satisfied."
"Its licensing is pretty confusing. There are a lot of subscriptions, and it isn't always clear which subscription is the best, but with their support, it's easy to find the right one."
"The pricing is a bit on the expensive side, mainly because of the support they provide. However, it is quite affordable if you are an organization. If, as a small company or individual, this is an expensive option, I would recommend CentOS, which is an exact replica of RHEL, minus the customer support."
"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."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux has a yearly subscription cost for the licensing that includes maintenance and support."
"There are no licensing fees, it's an open-source solution."
"This solution is free."
"We don't pay a licensing fee for the solution."
"Ubuntu Linux is free to use."
"It is also manageable and financially affordable."
"It is open source."
"The solution is open source, so there is no licensing fee."
"The use of the solution is inexpensive and the hardware it needs to operate can be priced very low. There is not a license for the solution but there is for the hardware."
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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
17%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
14%
University
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
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 st...
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 va...
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)?
Pricing is sometimes an issue for our clients because it's not a cheap solution. The different licenses have a high c...
What needs improvement with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
I believe they need to improve in terms of compatibility between services. I know that it's difficult to follow the d...
Which would you choose - Ubuntu Linux or Oracle Linux?
Ubunto Linux is a complete Linux operating system that is freely available with both community and professional suppo...
What do you like most about Ubuntu Linux?
It has a good support system for loading databases.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ubuntu Linux?
The cost is not much, and I am not sure about the licensing cost because a separate team handles it.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL
Ubuntu
 

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
Samsung, eBay, AT&T, Walmart, Cisco, Time Warner Cable, Bloomberg, Best Buy, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Ericsson, Orange, Wells Fargo
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Canonical, Oracle and others in Operating Systems (OS) for Business. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.