A couple of years ago, Red Hat announced some surprising changes that affected a large number of users. More specifically, these changes were that they were officially ending support for CentOS, which was a free alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
The company then announced that it invites all existing users to make the switch to their new platform - CentOS Stream.
This made the community start looking for a viable alternative to the operating system, which is why in this article we are going to present you with some of the best CentOS substitute options that you can choose from.
Why are people looking for an alternative to CentOS?
While surprising for all CentOS users, the aforementioned announcement came as a shock especially to those who had already migrated to CentOS 8. This was because the initial end-of-support date for the 8th version was set to expire in 2029. However, the announcement stated that this date was being pushed forward to June 30th, 2021, leaving everyone stunned.
Luckily, CentOS 7 users were more fortunate because the support dates for the 7th version of the operating system were left unchanged, meaning that the OS will continue to receive critical updates up until 2024.
However, seeing as both dates for CentOS 8 and CentOS 7 have already passed, it is no surprise that more and more people are looking for a viable alternative that they can switch to.
CentOS Stream vs the community
Red Hat stated that the new platform - CentOS Stream, will be the most balanced distribution to ever be released, combining the innovation of Fedora and the stability of RHEL.
The company clarified that they will be entirely focusing on supporting CentOS Stream in order to be able to meet the community’s needs. Additionally, this would make the new OS the “the main center of innovation for the RHEL ecosystem”.
Although Red Hat wanted to express their reasons for the changes in a confident way, their announcement was met with backlash from the community. For example, the moderators of the CentOS subreddit changed the description from corporate-driven to community-driven in response to the announcement.
Additionally, CBS Interactive's ZDNet magazine also openly expressed their thoughts that the withdrawal of CentOS support is nothing more than just extra promotion for RHEL.
Red Hat responded to the negative reaction of the community by changing the developer guidelines for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Previously, the developer program had a "one developer, one license" rule , meaning that one distribution could only be deployed in a single local environment. However, starting from February 2021, it was allowed for multiple team members to participate in this program with the number of licenses being increased from 1 to 16.
The reviewed conditions now also allow installing the OS in public cloud service instances but only for software development purposes.
Should you switch to a different distribution or OS?
Before presenting you with some CentOS alternatives, you should think about whether you would like to make the switch by taking into consideration a couple of factors.
Remember the old saying - the best Linux distribution is the one that your sysadmin understands.
Although UNIX-like operating systems are based on the same working principles, each distribution has its definitive characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, which largely determine how effective the work of the IT infrastructure, created with it, is going to be.
If you have been using a specific operating system for a long time, you have probably written hundreds of scripts that you carefully designed and tweaked in order to match your selected software environment. This also means that making a complete switch will require you to rewrite everything, which brings additional financial and time costs, not to mention any issues that might occur during the process.
Because of this, the most rational step will be to migrate to a similar distribution. Luckily in the case of CentOS, there are a plethora of similar distros that you can choose from!
What are the best alternatives to CentOS?
As we already mentioned, there are quite a few viable CentOS substitutions that you can switch to. Here are some of the most popular ones.
Oracle Linux
Oracle Linux is essentially a duplicate of RHEL. It is completely compatible with most existing applications on your CentOS server.
Additionally, the company behind Oracle Linux also presented a useful conversion script (centos2ol.sh) that you can use to automatically migrate your production systems.
The script automatically switches your CentOS Linux server to Oracle Linux and supports CentOS 6, 7 and 8. Oracle Linux closely also follows the release cycle of RHEL.
Moreover, Oracle Linux also comes with the option of paid support. It comes with 24/7 global support and Ksplice, which offers zero-downtime kernel patching. This in itself makes the operating system a very lucrative choice for those businesses and organizations that rely on security.
| Feature | Oracle Linux | CentOS (7/8) | CentOS Stream |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL Binary Compatibility | Full | Full | Partial |
| Kernel | UEK & RHCK | RHEL Kernel | Stream Kernel |
| Update Delivery | After RHEL | After RHEL | Before RHEL |
| Support Model | Free with optional paid support | Community only | Community only |
| Zero-Downtime Patching | Yes (Ksplice) | No | No |
AlmaLinux
Another notable alternative is AlmaLinux. This OS was developed as a response to the early support termination of CentOS 8.
AlmaLinux follows the basic principles and fundamentals of CentOS. The alternative has a promising future with excellent chances to fill in the shoes of CentOS.
Given that the CloudLinux team behind AlmaLinux has substantial experience in the development and maintenance of RH-based projects and the fact that the company's newest product is also based on RHEL, you can rest assured that this alternative operating system will continue to become more popular and a preferred choice amongst the community. Additionally, the project is also backed up by some of the biggest names in the cloud industry like cPanel, which further proves its stability.
Similarly to Oracle Linux, there is also a migration script (ELevate project and almalinux-deploy) that can help users switch from CentOS to AlmaLinux with minimal risk.
Finally, AlmaLinux is entirely open-source and cost-free, promising 10 years of support per release, essentially matching RHEL’s lifecycle, making it a very suitable alternative.
As a response to the CentOS announcement, we have made AlmaLinux available for all our servers!
| Feature | AlmaLinux | CentOS (7/8) | CentOS Stream |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL Binary Compatibility | Full | Full | Partial |
| Updates | After RHEL | After RHEL | Before RHEL |
| Support Lifecycle | 10 Years | Varies by version | Continuous rolling |
| Zero-Downtime Patching | No (third-party tools only) | No | No |
Rocky Linux
The last RHEL-based CentOS alternative that we want to focus on is Rocky Linux. It is a CentOS fork project led by the founder of CentOS - Greg Kurtzer.
It is a community-enterprise operating system, designed to be entirely compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This distribution aims to function as a downstream build similarly to how CentOS used to do so, building releases after the upstream vendor adds them rather than before they do so. It also offers a script (migrate2rocky.sh) that users can utilize to switch from CentOS.
So, given the fact that Rocky Linux is also based on RHEL, its future seems to be bright. Most importantly, given that it is a community-based distribution, it won't experience any sudden changes like a commercial company would. This means that you won’t have to worry about Rocky Linux suddenly making crucial announcements like CentOS.
We also have Rocky Linux as an available OS that you can switch to for our servers
| Feature | Rocky Linux | CentOS (7/8) | CentOS Stream |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL Binary Compatibility | Full | Full | Partial |
| Update Timing | After RHEL | After RHEL | Before RHEL |
| Support Lifecycle | 10 Years | Varies by version | Rolling |
| Zero-Downtime Patching | No | No | No |
Debian
Next up on the list we have Debian. In its essence, it’s a very stable and community-driven distribution that comes equipped with a huge software repository.
It follows a point-release model and it undergoes rigorous testing prior to new version releases in order to guarantee that it’s as stable as possible, which is why most regard it as the most stable Linux distribution.
In turn, this makes it a great choice for product environments and for all types of projects ranging from small personal ones to large businesses.
Additionally, Debian also has one the largest Linux communities, meaning that any issues and problems are resolved very quickly. This dedicated community also ensures that there is sufficient documentation and support about the distribution as well.
Finally, Debian is open-source, meaning that it’s free!
In terms of disadvantages, the distribution is not RPM-based, meaning that if you are going to be migrating from CentOS, you are going to require some extra effort or additional help from a more experienced individual or team.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is another very popular choice for all types of projects and businesses. It also has a strong support ecosystem, being backed by Canonical. Similarly to Debian, it is also very stable and predictable with its release cycle being every 2 years.
Similarly again, it is also very developer-friendly, having an active community with a plethora of resources and packages that can be utilized in order to develop, customize and manage your server.
One drawback of Ubuntu is that it’s not directly RHEL compatible because it uses the DEB package format rather than RPM, making the transition from CentOS quite a hassle.
openSUSE
Another great option that you can go for is openSUSE. Not only does it come with RPM-based stability and compatibility, which makes switching from CentOS easier, but it also follows a regular release cycle, making it a fantastic choice for all types of projects.
One slight disadvantage of this distribution is that it has a smaller community when compared to Debian or Ubuntu, meaning that there might be less resources and support available for certain topics. Additionally, openSUSE also comes with its own unique admin tools which might require some extra learning if you wish to master the distribution.
ClearOS
Our next suggestion is ClearOS, which is aimed at those who are looking for a solution for their small business alongside a very intuitive user interface that can allow them to manage their server.
While it does have a premium version, the distribution also comes with a free one, allowing you to start managing your server with ease.
Unsurprisingly, this free version won’t have all of the features that you might need, but this is why it’s targeted at small to medium size projects and businesses.
Fedora
Fedora is the penultimate suggestion on our list. In general it serves as the upstream version of RHEL, making it the testing ground for all types of new features before they get included in the official release. This makes Fedora a fantastic distribution for those that want to play around with the latest innovations and technologies, allowing them to gain an advantage over their competitors by getting a piece of the pie earlier than the others.
Fedora though has some issues as expected due to its nature. It has a short support cycle and it’s also not stable, making it a better distro for testing rather than production.
Springdale
Our final entry for this list is Springdale. Originally known as PUIAS, it’s a RHEL-compatible distribution, developed and maintained by Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study.
Its greatest advantage is that it’s supported by academic institutions, making it the ideal option for academic and research environments. This does mean that its community is quite close, meaning that there are going to be limitations in resources and support, which is why it’s mostly utilized for research purposes.
How do these alternatives compare to each other?
| Distribution | RHEL Compatibility | Free or Paid | Community Support | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Linux | Yes | Free | Strong | Enterprises that need RHEL-like support |
| AlmaLinux | Yes | Free | Strong | Stable, community-driven environments |
| Oracle Linux | Yes | Free (with paid support) | Moderate | RHEL compatibility with additional Oracle features |
| Debian | No | Free | Strong | Server stability and versatility |
| Ubuntu | No | Free (with paid support) | Strong | Versatile environments, regular release cycles |
| openSUSE | No | Free | Moderate | RPM users, SUSE-aligned environments |
| ClearOS | Partially | Free (with paid options) | Moderate | Small businesses, user-friendly interface |
| Fedora Server | Yes (upstream) | Free | Strong | Testing new features |
| Springdale | Yes | Free | Moderate | Academic and research environments |
What is the most popular CentOS alternative?
In order to find out the answer to this question, we have to first take a look at the most popular operating systems worldwide:
If we exclude the popular operating systems that we use on our everyday devices like Windows, Android and iOS, the CentOS alternatives add up to about 14% of the total market share. Out of those estimated 14%, here’s the share representation between the alternatives:
Are you still undecided?
As we already mentioned, it is crucial for you to make a change from CentOS, especially now that RHEL have also announced some changes to its source code. However, you should also keep in mind that you need to switch to a similar distribution in order to avoid having to rewrite a large number of scripts.
Because of this, we recommend that you use one of these three CentOS alternatives that we discussed - Oracle Linux, AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux as they closely resemble the original operating system with most of them even being direct clones or forks of CentOS. You can also check out our article on how to choose the correct operating system for your cloud server and both our Cloud VPS and VDS servers, which offer these alternatives.
