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CentOS vs Rocky Linux comparison

CentOS and Rocky Linux are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. CentOS is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.8, while Rocky Linux is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6. CentOS holds a 4.5% mindshare in OSB, compared to Rocky Linux’s 14.3% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of CentOS users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Rocky Linux users who would recommend it.
CentOS
Read 74 CentOS reviews
  • 5,776 Views
  • 5,776 Comparison Views
94% willing to recommend
Rocky Linux
Read 17 Rocky Linux reviews
  • 12,000 Views
  • 12,000 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 3, 2025

CentOS and Rocky Linux are competing in the open-source operating systems space for enterprise-level needs. Rocky Linux seems to have the edge in compatibility and long-term stability, making it a compelling choice for reliable performance.

Features: CentOS offers excellent integration with Red Hat systems, prioritizes security, and has a robust community. Rocky Linux maintains 1:1 compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, ensures a seamless transition from CentOS, and emphasizes continuity and reliability.

Room for Improvement: CentOS could improve on providing clarity about its future support, expand its documentation to assist new users, and enhance user interface simplicity. Rocky Linux might focus on expanding its support network, streamlining its deployment process for new users, and enhancing integration with other enterprise tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CentOS has established deployment procedures and extensive documentation, making it straightforward for seasoned administrators. In contrast, Rocky Linux offers a similar deployment model with community-driven customer service that aims to fill gaps left by CentOS's discontinued full support. Despite a learning curve, its support channels are responsive and welcoming to migrating users.

Pricing and ROI: CentOS is cost-effective with a zero-cost purchase model, though indirect costs may appear due to maintenance and training. It historically provided substantial ROI through stability and community support. Rocky Linux also offers a no-cost model promoting reduced indirect costs due to its straightforward migration path from CentOS, aiming to maximize ROI by minimizing transition costs and leveraging existing investments.

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To learn more, read our detailed CentOS vs. Rocky Linux Report (Updated: September 2025).
Buyer's Guide
CentOS vs. Rocky Linux
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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.0
CentOS is valued for efficiency, reducing downtime and costs, saving time, and enhancing business operations without detailed financial tracking.
Sentiment score
3.9
Switching to Rocky Linux saved costs and time, enhanced problem resolution, and supported increased employee onboarding and organizational growth.
We have saved approximately 50% of our revenue by using CentOS.
It saved a lot of time through troubleshooting, which gives us substantial room for improvement in terms of fixing things.
For more quotes and insights, download the CentOS report
When it comes to return on investment, a lot of money is saved since we moved from a purchased license to the open source provided by Rocky Linux.
ROI has been good as we have significant open source community involvement.
I have seen a return on investment since there was definitely money saved at the time due to the lack of need for licensing since Rocky is available openly.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
BJ
reviewer2764785 - PeerSpot reviewerBasil Jiji - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2758263 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2772054 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.2
CentOS depends on community support, with users utilizing forums and resources, while Red Hat offers paid technical service.
Sentiment score
4.1
Rocky Linux customer service is reliable, with quick responses, good documentation, and high user satisfaction despite limited official reliance.
I would rate the customer support for CentOS a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.
I've seen many people across the globe interacting, and when users encounter issues, the community provides solutions.
I would rate the documentation about eight in terms of usefulness.
For more quotes and insights, download the CentOS report
The support level is extraordinary, providing on-time assistance.
We have not yet needed to contact a vendor regarding Rocky Linux.
Even if we raise a support ticket, we receive a resolution or a reply from the team within two business days.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
reviewer2764785 - PeerSpot reviewerNaveenkumar Lakshman - PeerSpot reviewer
AK
DILIP BHARADWAJ - PeerSpot reviewerKRISTOF Laenen - PeerSpot reviewerBasil Jiji - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
CentOS efficiently scales for diverse users, adaptable for extensive growth in industries like scientific computing and microservices.
Sentiment score
5.3
Rocky Linux is scalable and user-friendly, with organizations recommending automation tools for efficient setup and expansion.
CentOS is scalable and user-friendly without requiring complex configurations.
It allows users to scale resources vertically for upgrading hardware and horizontally by adding more servers, making it suitable for modern web hosting and containerized applications.
CentOS's scalability for my organization has handled growth and changing needs smoothly.
For more quotes and insights, download the CentOS report
Even if the server is not responding and we want to attach the volume on another instance or a temporary instance, it is very easy and straightforward with no hiccups.
It has handled growth or changing needs well.
The scalability is quite good, though there are some issues with Rocky Linux.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
Naveenkumar Lakshman - PeerSpot reviewerMohammad Wasif - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2764785 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2758479 - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2772054 - PeerSpot reviewerJetsada Malaisirirat - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
CentOS is reliable and stable, with recent versions improving past issues, earning favor for its simplicity and consistent performance.
Sentiment score
7.1
Rocky Linux is praised for its stability, ease of use, scalability, and reliable performance on low-resource systems and hardware.
CentOS is stable, reliable, flexible, and very useful.
CentOS's simplicity and stability make it easy to use.
I believe CentOS is stable, but we are gradually moving away from it.
For more quotes and insights, download the CentOS report
Rocky Linux is stable, scalable, and it is very much easier to use.
Rocky Linux is stable.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
Mohammad Wasif - PeerSpot reviewerNaveenkumar Lakshman - PeerSpot reviewer
AK
Basil Jiji - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2764758 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Room For Improvement

CentOS requires enhanced user-friendliness, stability, support, and updates to address compatibility, security, and usability concerns.
Rocky Linux needs identity clarity, better integrations, faster updates, improved security, API tools, documentation, and enhanced community support.
The documentation and support could be improved, along with compatibility with newer hardware as hardware continually evolves over time.
Kernel parameters, sysctl config details, tuned profiles, process prioritization, optimized disk, and input scheduler choice are all points for performance optimization.
CentOS removed long-term support, and version releases every two to three years are not ideal for production environments because they necessitate frequent updates.
For more quotes and insights, download the CentOS report
It is based on customer requirements, as they might want to use Rocky Linux or Ubuntu, depending on their needs.
Rocky Linux could be improved by having more integration with Kubernetes.
Currently, it takes more than one month to release a new package or kernel, so speeding that up would help reduce reported vulnerability remediations.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
Naveenkumar Lakshman - PeerSpot reviewerMohammad Wasif - PeerSpot reviewer
AK
Jetsada Malaisirirat - PeerSpot reviewerMassimiliano Adamo - PeerSpot reviewerBasil Jiji - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

CentOS offers a cost-effective, open-source solution, praised for affordability and low total cost of ownership compared to Windows.
Rocky Linux is praised for its affordability and streamlined licensing, appealing to cost-conscious enterprises and AWS users.
There was no cost in terms of deploying it or getting the license for it.
CentOS is a free product with free updates.
The enterprise subscription cost is at a certain level, but CentOS saves customers from paying additional money, optimizing costs for enterprises and startups involved in application development.
For more quotes and insights, download the CentOS report
We switched to Rocky Linux because of the license price, and in our business, we don't need to have a higher cost as that is not a good idea.
There is no extra cost for a license if we are purchasing Rocky Linux from the AWS Marketplace.
Rocky Linux is free, and I can download it and deploy it in whatever environment I have, whether it be H3C, VMware, or Hyper-V.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
reviewer2764785 - PeerSpot reviewer
AK
Naveenkumar Lakshman - PeerSpot reviewer
WA
reviewer2758479 - PeerSpot reviewerBakang Khunou - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

CentOS is a stable, secure, and cost-effective open-source OS offering compatibility, performance, and robust community support for organizations.
Rocky Linux offers stability, cost savings, easy integration, and strong community support, making it ideal for critical systems management.
The update cycle changed when CentOS was prioritized for updates, causing stability issues.
In my experience, the best feature that CentOS offers is the network configuration of a device from the command-line interface, which is exceptionally clean.
The best feature CentOS offers is that it's free.
For more quotes and insights, download the CentOS report
Rocky Linux has positively impacted my organization, specifically through cost savings, because we did not have to buy any licenses or extra licenses of other distros, such as Oracle or Red Hat.
For production deployment, Rocky Linux is a great choice because it offers full RHEL compatibility without licensing costs, along with strong community support.
Since migrating to Rocky Linux, I've seen specific outcomes such as improved security because CentOS stopped the project, and security patches aren't being released.
For more quotes and insights, download the Rocky Linux report
AK
reviewer2764785 - PeerSpot reviewer
BW
RD
reviewer2758479 - PeerSpot reviewerMassimiliano Adamo - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Categories and Ranking

CentOS
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Rocky Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
4th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 4.5%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rocky Linux is 14.3%, up from 12.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Rocky Linux14.3%
CentOS4.5%
Other81.2%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammad Wasif - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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Massimiliano Adamo - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported seamless migrations and enabled running complex data workloads securely
The best features Rocky Linux offers include clustering and all the packages from Red Hat.Rocky Linux has impacted my organization very positively because we migrated everything from CentOS and Windows servers to Rocky Linux. Everything is clear, with good packaging, and now it's version 9.6, which is very important for us due to security problems since we are in Europe. Rocky Linux is very good for security and other aspects. Since migrating to Rocky Linux, I've seen specific outcomes such as improved security because CentOS stopped the project, and security patches aren't being released. We need to maintain a system similar to Red Hat, which is very stable and has many features such as file system, topology, and containers.
Read full review
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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…
Read full review
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise26
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise13
 

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...
See all answers
What do you like most about CentOS?
CentOS is very easy to use, and all the commands are user-friendly.
See all answers
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 Rocky Linux?
It's very simple to work with, easy to learn, and know where things are.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Rocky Linux?
I have no suggestions regarding how Rocky Linux can be improved. I haven't identified any areas that need improvement yet.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Rocky Linux?
As a Cloud Ops Engineer, we are setting up the server on the EC2 machine with Rocky Linux, while also doing some setup related to the frameworks for Ruby. We are installing their dependencies relat...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Oracle Linux vs CentOS
Compared 28% of the time
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Compared 17% of the time
Ubuntu Linux vs CentOS Logo
Ubuntu Linux vs CentOS
Compared 11% of the time
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs CentOS Logo
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs CentOS
Compared 7% of the time
Alpine Linux vs CentOS Logo
Alpine Linux vs CentOS
Compared 3% of the time
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Fedora Linux vs Rocky Linux Logo
Fedora Linux vs Rocky Linux
Compared 26% of the time
Debian vs Rocky Linux Logo
Debian vs Rocky Linux
Compared 18% of the time
Ubuntu Linux vs Rocky Linux Logo
Ubuntu Linux vs Rocky Linux
Compared 17% of the time
Oracle Linux vs Rocky Linux Logo
Oracle Linux vs Rocky Linux
Compared 10% of the time
Windows 10 vs Rocky Linux Logo
Windows 10 vs Rocky Linux
Compared 1% of the time
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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
CentOS
October 2025
CentOS reportDownload CentOS product report
Buyer's Guide
Rocky Linux
October 2025
Rocky Linux reportDownload Rocky Linux product report
 

Also Known As

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

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

Rocky Linux is a robust and secure enterprise-grade operating system designed as a drop-in replacement for CentOS. Its primary use case is to provide a stable and reliable platform for organizations to run their critical workloads and applications.


The most valuable functionality of Rocky Linux lies in its compatibility with CentOS, ensuring a seamless transition for organizations already using CentOS. It offers long-term support, regular security updates, and a predictable release cycle, providing stability and reliability for mission-critical systems.

Rocky Linux helps organizations by offering a free and open-source alternative to CentOS, which was discontinued by Red Hat. It allows businesses to continue using their existing CentOS-based infrastructure without the need for costly migrations or vendor lock-in. With its strong community support and active development, Rocky Linux ensures a sustainable and community-driven future for CentOS users.

Moreover, Rocky Linux is built with security in mind, providing robust features like SELinux and secure defaults. This helps organizations protect their data and systems from potential threats and vulnerabilities.

Rocky Linux
Buyer's Guide
CentOS vs. Rocky Linux
September 2025
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