Oracle Linux vs Rocky Linux comparison

Oracle and Rocky Linux are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. Oracle is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8, while Rocky Linux is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4. Oracle holds a 11.1% mindshare in OSB, compared to Rocky Linux’s 15.2% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Oracle users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Rocky Linux users who would recommend it.

Oracle Linux

Read 116 Oracle Linux reviews

18,308 Views
15,008 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Rocky Linux

Read 5 Rocky Linux reviews

14,433 Views
13,505 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Oracle Linux

Rocky Linux

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Oracle Linux and Rocky Linux are enterprise Linux distributions, both vying for the attention of IT professionals seeking reliable operating systems for infrastructure needs. Oracle Linux appears to have an edge due to its advanced enterprise features and robust support, whereas Rocky Linux offers a cost-effective and community-driven alternative.

Features: Oracle Linux is renowned for its advanced security measures, hybrid cloud support, and comprehensive management tools like Ksplice for zero-downtime updates, the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel for optimized performance, and vast compatibility with Oracle products. Rocky Linux is favored for its transparency and easy transition for CentOS users, straightforward installation process, and strong adherence to open-source principles, providing a stable and reliable platform.

Room for Improvement: Oracle Linux can enhance vendor support for non-Oracle hardware and simplify licensing terms to reduce costs and complexity. On the other hand, Rocky Linux could improve by increasing enterprise-grade support options, expanding its ecosystem for better application compatibility, and enhancing documentation for smoother adoption by traditional enterprise users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Oracle Linux offers seamless integration with Oracle Cloud and boasts a comprehensive support framework through professional services, enhancing the deployment experience. In comparison, Rocky Linux benefits from a cost-effective, straightforward deployment process backed by strong community support, providing flexibility for organizations seeking open-source solutions.

Pricing and ROI: Oracle Linux involves higher initial costs due to its subscription model, offering potentially higher ROI for enterprises leveraging its full capabilities. On the other hand, Rocky Linux, being a free open-source solution, presents minimal setup costs and favorable ROI for companies prioritizing budget-friendliness without sacrificing reliability, highlighting its cost-effectiveness in contrast to Oracle Linux's premium services.

To learn more, read our detailed Oracle Linux vs. Rocky Linux Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Linux vs. Rocky Linux

April 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

Oracle Linux

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

116

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Rocky Linux

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Oracle Linux is 11.1%, down from 14.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rocky Linux is 15.2%, up from 9.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

Marcelo Muniz

Database Engineer at kyndryl

The operational system is the best and is packed with free features like CapsLive

It is important to work with a vendor who will sell you the correct product for your environment rather than just try to make the most money off of you. Study the solution and learn how to install it correctly and use it in the best ways. Follow best practices from Oracle and get some training in the operational system. The solution comes with a lot of features and options that you can use for free. It is reliable and you can even use an old version with no issues. It is not the most user friendly, but you can learn it with a bit of study. Overall, the solution beats other operational systems by a large margin. The solution is rated a nine out of ten.

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Dominique Locksley

Linux System Administrator at Adapt IT

Very simple to work with, easy to learn, and has a competitive pricing

The UX design, the user front end, and the user GUI are very well done on the GNOME and KDE platform side. It's very simple to work with, easy to learn, and know where things are. I have worked with a lot of different solutions like Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat, and CentOS. Rocky Linux is very easy, and if you switch from one to the other, you can easily detect your tools in the front end. Since it is very similar to the file system breakdown of downloads and documents, it's very easy to show users where things will be.

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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

"Once installed, the product is good, I like it. The core of the software is really good."

"The user interface is comfortable and easy to use."

"We use Oracle Linux to test our software, and we also recommend Oracle Linux to our customers."

"The virtual environment is the best I've ever worked with."

"There are several valuable features in Oracle Linux. For example, it's very secure and stable. You don't have to reboot it frequently."

"The speed is quite good."

"The main business advantage is maintaining compliance with Oracle licensing, avoiding non-compliance issues, and license revisions."

"It provides for stable Oracle deployments."

More Oracle Linux pros

"I haven't needed to use customer service or support, which speaks volumes about their product's reliability and ease of use."

"The custom install scripts streamline the setup process, making it straightforward."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its stability."

"It helps us keep our workstations in sync and ensures consistent settings across most of our machines."

"It's very simple to work with, easy to learn, and know where things are."

Cons

"Oracle Linux, needs to support more packages."

"It will be better to consolidate all the features in one release instead of sporadic releases."

"Our level of expertise is not high enough. I had to find someone experienced with Oracle Linux since Windows is easier to learn, and most people have hands-on experience with it."

"It does not have any reporting on attempted intrusions."

"Since it is a VM, it gets slow. It can be an area for improvement."

"The solution can be improved by making it more user-friendly for basic users to reduce the time it takes to learn the commands and to reduce the dependencies that come with the OS so the deployment time can be reduced."

"There can be improvements to the documentation capabilities."

"The solution could improve by giving the client or customer more control."

More Oracle Linux cons

"One of the potential issues is that if you don't pay for support, you may need to manage certain aspects on your own and rely on the community for assistance."

"The solution's audio integration for virtual machines could be improved."

"I have certain problems with the tool's DNS part, making it an area where improvements are required."

"In terms of improvement, Rocky Linux needs to clarify its identity and target audience."

"Improved integration with Windows, particularly Active Directory, would be beneficial for the product. Currently, this aspect requires additional effort."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Oracle Linux overall could be less expensive."

"The pricing and licensing are good."

"Nowadays, Oracle is very open toward price negotiation; they negotiate well with their clients"

"The licensing cost is expensive. It should be reduced by at least half."

"The product's pricing is cheap. The tool's pricing is yearly."

"The solution is free to use with a support subscription rather than having to buy licenses."

"There is a license required for this solution and we are on an annual license."

"The price of Oracle Linux could be less expensive for those who are running a small freelance company, such as I do. We use the solution fully but the income that you're receiving is slow."

More Oracle Linux pricing and cost advice

"Compared to the market prices of other tools, the solution has a very competitive pricing."

"The product is expensive. I rate the pricing a three."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

14%

University

12%

Educational Organization

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

How does Oracle Linux compare with Solaris?

When comparing Oracle Linux and Solaris, I believe that Linux is more secure and more flexible. It is also very suitable for enterprises that are already Oracle solution users. I found Linux to be ...

See all answers

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 support. This solution is suitable for both desktop and server use. It has a very app...

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What do you like most about Oracle Linux?

The product is 99.99% stable.

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.

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What needs improvement with Rocky Linux?

Improved integration with Windows, particularly Active Directory, would be beneficial for the product. Currently, this aspect requires additional effort.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Rocky Linux?

I use the solution in my company to do some automation stuff to run Ansible, and it has an administration server to provide all the Linux control like a client node can be connected to that master ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Ubuntu Linux vs Oracle Linux

Compared 24% of the time

CentOS vs Oracle Linux

Compared 20% of the time

Oracle Solaris vs Oracle Linux

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs Oracle Linux

Compared 9% of the time

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs Oracle Linux

Compared 4% of the time

More Oracle Linux Competitors

Ubuntu Linux vs Rocky Linux

Compared 26% of the time

Fedora Linux vs Rocky Linux

Compared 23% of the time

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs Rocky Linux

Compared 9% of the time

Debian vs Rocky Linux

Compared 8% of the time

openSUSE Leap vs Rocky Linux

Compared 7% of the time

More Rocky Linux Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Oracle Linux

April 2025

Download Oracle Linux product report

Buyer's Guide

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

April 2025

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Also Known As

Oracle Enterprise Linux

No data available

Overview

Oracle Linux is a stable, reliable, and scalable operating system primarily used for deploying and running Oracle databases. It is also suitable for various other functions, including managing operating systems and web servers, supporting traffic surveillance, and identity management.

Oracle Linux is highly valued for its stability, reliability, scalability, good technical support, and ease of use. It has helped organizations to achieve faster DNS queries, stable development environments, reduced vulnerability issues, good performance for Oracle applications, and improved ability to run test scenarios and parallel queries across massive databases.

Oracle Linux Features

Oracle Linux has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

The software is 100% free (no cost) to use, distribute, and update

Ksplice allows for zero-downtime kernel and user-space upgrades

DTrace provides comprehensive kernel and application tracing

For Oracle Linux Support clients, Linux management and high availability are available at no additional cost

It's Oracle-optimized and works well with Oracle Database and Oracle Applications
New workload optimizations:
- Enhanced memory performance by attempting to better locate a process near its memory and better placement of tasks that do not fit on a single NUMA node
- SPECjbb's performance has been improved by up to 3.6 times thanks to optimizations that help reduce lock contention.
- With bcache, it's simple to employ SSDs as a block cache for slower block devices. A new, scaled block layer subsystem supports many millions of IOps on NVM-Express and high-end PCI-E devices.
Oracle Linux has three deployment options:

Linux in the cloud: Oracle Linux Premier Support is included in all Oracle Cloud Infrastructure subscriptions at no additional cost.
Linux on premises: This is the industry's most comprehensive and open Linux distribution.
Embedded Linux design: Embedding a feature-rich Linux distribution is an optimized, cost-effective solution for your business.

Oracle Linux Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Oracle Linux. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

Save money by only paying for support for the systems you need
Improve security by applying patches faster and spending less time troubleshooting and updating
Improve Oracle software and hardware performance

Reviews from Real Users

Oracle Linux stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its stability and scalability. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:

One PeerSpot reviewer, an IT Manager, reports, “I find the virtualization the most valuable.” He adds, “Oracle Linux is the best Linux operating system that I have ever known. It is very stable and strong.”

An Enterprise Architect at a financial services firm writes of the solution, “You also don't have memory issues, especially when it is engineered with platforms like Exadata and Oracle Cluster. These give you the most throughput and performance.” He adds, “It is very scalable, especially on platforms like Oracle Cluster and Exadata.”

Oracle

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

Sample Customers

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Buyer's Guide

Oracle Linux vs. Rocky Linux

April 2025

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