These 3 Linux distros have formally changed CentOS

Red Hat gutted CentOS in 2020, and after CentOS 7 reached its remaining EOL in June 2024, numerous servers misplaced their free, secure basis. Three distributions, relying on who you ask, are filling that hole proper now, every with a barely completely different philosophy. Here is how CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, and AlmaLinux examine, and what every means for directors at the moment.

CentOS Stream

The upstream sibling that inherited the CentOS identify

Of course, we might be remiss to not point out the official successor, form of. CentOS Stream nonetheless carries the CentOS identify formally, and additionally it is the one which modified the mission’s goal most. On December 8, 2020, the CentOS Project introduced that CentOS Linux could be discontinued in favor of Stream. CentOS Linux 8 reached finish of life on December 31, 2021, years forward of its unique 2029 date, and CentOS Linux 7 adopted on June 30, 2024. No model of CentOS Linux receives updates at the moment.

The distinction comes right down to the place every sits in Red Hat’s pipeline. CentOS Linux was a rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that arrived after Red Hat shipped a launch. CentOS Stream sits upstream as a substitute, appearing as the event department from which upcoming RHEL minor releases are constructed. Packages land in Stream earlier than they attain RHEL, which makes it useful for builders, contributors, and groups that need an early have a look at what’s coming.

That place can also be its principal limitation as a straight alternative. Stream is a repeatedly up to date preview relatively than a bug-for-bug copy of a completed RHEL launch, so it will possibly change in methods a manufacturing server might not tolerate. Its lifecycle can also be shorter than a full RHEL one. CentOS Stream 9 is scheduled to succeed in finish of life on May 31, 2027, and Stream 10 on May 31, 2030.

Stream stays free, and it fits sure jobs properly. Development environments, steady integration pipelines, and outlets that need to validate software program in opposition to the subsequent RHEL minor launch all profit from it. Anyone who wants the predictable, downstream conduct CentOS Linux as soon as supplied, nevertheless, is normally pointed towards Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux. In that sense, Stream is greatest understood because the successor to the CentOS model relatively than a real alternative for the CentOS expertise.

Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux was began by Gregory Kurtzer, certainly one of CentOS’s unique co-founders, shortly after Red Hat’s 2020 choice. Its aim is to hold on the unique CentOS mission: a free, community-driven, binary-compatible rebuild of RHEL. A beta arrived on April 30, 2021, and the secure Rocky Linux 8.4 adopted on June 21, 2021.

The mission is ruled by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, a Delaware public-benefit company that Kurtzer created. Commercial help is offered by CIQ, which supplies organizations that want service-level agreements a paid possibility with out leaving the free distribution behind. Rocky builds its releases utilizing supply code derived from RHEL, permitting it to trace Red Hat’s personal launch cadence carefully. Rocky Linux 10.0 landed on June 11, 2025, and model 10.2 adopted on May 28, 2026, with the ten sequence anticipated to be supported by 2035.

Red Hat’s later choice to cease publishing RHEL supply code brazenly pressured Rocky to search out alternative routes of acquiring that code, a problem that confirmed how dependent the mission was on its upstream. Rocky has continued transport on time since then.

Hardware is one sensible consideration. Rocky Linux 10 follows RHEL 10 in requiring newer processors, so older CPUs that predate the Intel Haswell era are not supported.

For migration, the mission offers tooling. The migrate2rocky script converts CentOS 8 programs in place, and the broader rocky-tools set handles conversions from AlmaLinux and Oracle Linux. That makes Rocky a pure alternative for groups that need the closest non secular continuation of the unique CentOS.

AlmaLinux

The first to ship, backed by a nonprofit basis

AlmaLinux was the primary of the CentOS alternate options to succeed in a secure launch. CloudLinux, the corporate behind the CloudLinux OS, launched a beta on February 1, 2021, and the primary secure model arrived on March 30, 2021. That head begin gave it an early lead with directors who needed to transfer off CentOS 8 shortly. Today it’s maintained by the non-profit AlmaLinux OS Foundation, which supplies it a governance construction that’s impartial of any single firm.

While AlmaLinux follows an analogous launch rhythm to Rocky, it targets Application Binary Interface (ABI) compatibility relatively than bug-for-bug binary replication of RHEL. AlmaLinux 10.0 was launched on May 27, 2025, a few weeks earlier than Rocky’s equal, and model 10.2 arrived on May 26, 2026. The 10 sequence is likewise anticipated to obtain help by 2035.

Where AlmaLinux stands out is {hardware} flexibility. AlmaLinux 10 ships a default construct concentrating on newer processors but additionally offers a separate x86-64-v2 construct for older CPUs, together with rebuilt EPEL packages for that structure, as a result of many third-party packages goal the newer baseline. For organizations working ageing {hardware}, that issues.

Migration is properly lined too. The almalinux-deploy device converts CentOS, Rocky Linux, Oracle Linux, and even CentOS Stream programs to AlmaLinux with no recent set up, whereas the ELevate mission helps with jumps between main variations. A direct CentOS 8 to AlmaLinux 8 conversion stays the only path, and transferring to model 9 or 10 requires ELevate or a clear set up.

Hosting is one other energy. Several 2026 comparability guides advocate AlmaLinux 9 or 10 for brand spanking new cPanel servers, the place Rocky Linux not works.

Three paths, one clear dividing line

CentOS Stream fits those that need to see RHEL’s future, whereas Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux go well with those that need RHEL’s stability with out paying for it. Hardware wants, internet hosting necessities, and governance preferences will determine between the final two.