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CentOS vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
CentOS users depend on community and online resources for support, while Red Hat offers formal support options for a fee.
Sentiment score
8.2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers responsive customer service, valued for its knowledgeable team, quick escalation, and extensive support resources.
They promptly addressed my concerns regarding permission issues when I contacted them.
Their documentation is clear and built into the GUI, so you can easily access information if you're curious about a topic.
They respond immediately based on the SLA level.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.8
CentOS users seek improved stability, user-friendliness, better integration, enhanced security, frequent updates, and efficient management for modern needs.
Sentiment score
5.3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux requires improvements in documentation, support, pricing, UI, compatibility, updates, and integration for better user experience.
The solution operates on a subscription-based model, which may not provide immediate return on investment for small to medium-sized organizations.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux could make the interface more colorful and improve the user experience.
Improvement is needed for supporting Kubernetes clusters because it is less supported by Red Hat according to my experience.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
CentOS offers robust scalability for varied deployments, efficiently supporting small to large environments with flexible performance and seamless expansion.
Sentiment score
7.8
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is scalable and adaptable, supporting efficient workload scaling across various environments, ensuring seamless IT operations.
I would rate the scalability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux as nine out of ten, indicating it scales well with our needs.
 

Setup Cost

Sentiment score
7.3
CentOS is a cost-effective, open-source solution with minimal expenses, ideal for enterprises, especially those with small budgets.
Sentiment score
6.3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux's pricing is justified by its support, stability, flexible subscriptions, and appeal for reliability-focused businesses.
It may be considered expensive compared to other solutions like CentOS or Ubuntu, which offer some of the same features without additional costs.
Its pricing has room for improvement because it's more expensive in the local market due to purchasing power parity in India.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
CentOS is praised for stability and reliability, despite minor issues in newer versions, and remains a trusted choice.
Sentiment score
8.2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is highly stable and reliable, performing well for business-critical applications with minimal downtime.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers great stability and performance compared to other operating systems.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.1
CentOS offers stability, security, and efficiency with Red Hat compatibility, valued for performance, scalability, and open-source flexibility.
Sentiment score
8.3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is praised for robust performance, security, scalability, seamless integration, and comprehensive enterprise-level support.
It also has strong security features, is OIS and FIPS certified, and has built-in Linux security configurations.
It also has the 'top' command that gives you all the processes running and their utilization of resources like CPU, RAM, etc.
The most valuable feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is its comprehensive ecosystem.
 

Categories and Ranking

CentOS
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
259
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 7.5%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 11.9%, down from 12.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Mahender Nirwan - PeerSpot reviewer
In-depth documentation available and command-line utility works well
One issue I recently faced, but I think it was due to my IT support guys, was that when the server storage gets full, the service crashes. It's very difficult to regain access and stability in that situation. That could be improved. So, the stability might be improved. But I don't think it's a CentOS-level issue. The system administrators need to come up with a solution for that, but I don't think it's CentOS's fault. I haven't done any research [R&D] on this issue. There's one thing for sure. We recently migrated from CentOS 7 to CentOS 9, and it was a bit difficult. For example, updating Windows is simple; you just download it, and it takes about 15-20 minutes. But that's not the case with migrating from CentOS 7 to 9. We had to back up the entire server, launch a new server, and then restore the backup to the new server. We couldn't directly migrate. I think that was a bit of a problem. The setup and updates are not that new in CentOS.
Saravvana Kumar. - PeerSpot reviewer
Highly stable, good knowledge base, and reasonable price
Its installation on a RAID or cluster system is something difficult. There are specific teams working on that. The GRUB configuration is also a little different from the other Linux distributions. In terms of additional features, as technology keeps evolving, the product will also have to evolve. For example, Microsoft Windows has come a long way. In Windows 11, there are so many features that are fundamentally the same as the oldest version, but there are other aspects or processes that have improved. macOS has also evolved over time. Similarly, in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux that I used in 2003 and the one that I am using now, some things are the same and some things have changed. Red Hat can continue to engage clients, understand the use cases, and update them.
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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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
What do you like most about CentOS?
CentOS is very easy to use, and all the commands are user-friendly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CentOS?
I am not responsible for the setup cost in my company, so I am unsure about the cost of the license.
What do you like most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
It is open source. We can customize it as per our requirements.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is expensive, but I'm not paying anything because it's the company's money. However, it's priced comparably to other enterprise Linux solutions. It costs a lot because you ...
What needs improvement with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
I'm seeking a streamlined method for migrating from an OpenShift environment to a VMware virtualization platform utilizing Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The price of Red Hat Enterprise Linux always has...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL
 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Travel Channel, Mohawk Industries, Hilti, Molecular Health, Exolgan, Hotelplan Group, Emory University, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, HCA Healthcare, Paychex, UPS, Intermountain Healthcare, Brinker International, TransUnion, Union Bank, CA Technologies
Find out what your peers are saying about CentOS vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,192 professionals have used our research since 2012.