CentOS 8 EOL is around the corner, so it’s time to evaluate and try the alternatives. I prepared a small table for everybody with the basic overview.
List of free CentOS 8 alternatives:
| OS | Authors | Support | Commercial Support | Backing | Migration | Differences | ISOs | Container Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CentOS Stream | Red Hat | almost 5y for 8.x, then 5-6y | No | Red Hat | centos-stream-repos package | No | Download | Yes |
| Rocky Linux | Gregory M. Kurtzer & community | 10y (?) | No | AWS, Fastly, GitLab, Google (& more) | Script | No | Download | Yes |
| AlmaLinux | CloudLinux OS | 10y (2029) | by Tux Care | AWS, Chef, ARM, cPanel (& more) | Script | No | Download | Yes |
| Oracle Linux | Oracle | 10y (2029) | by Oracle | Oracle | Script | Option to choose RHEL or Oracle Linux kernel | Download | Yes |
| RHEL | Red Hat | 10y (2029) | by Red Hat | Red Hat | Convert2RHEL | More commercial software available | Download | Yes (UBI) |
Notes:
- RHEL is free for commercial use for up to 15 virtual machines, but registration is required.
- RHEL is the original, so it receives the security fixes the fastest (even before Stream).
- CentOS Stream is the only one on the list that’s not RHEL clone, it’s actually upstream to RHEL and receives all features the first.
- Red Hat and Oracle will most likely let you buy extended support beyond the standard 10 years lifecycle.
- Differences in the table only reflects changes beyond trademarks and cosmetics
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