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CentOS vs Windows Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 9, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.8
CentOS offers cost savings, operational stability, and efficiency, enhancing web management with strong community and AI support.
Sentiment score
5.5
Windows Server boosts efficiency and resource management, with users reporting significant cost reductions and improved virtualization and Azure services.
I have seen a return on investment, particularly in terms of money saved because I do not pay for the servers.
Technical Lead InfraOps at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
The money saved was significant, approximately fifteen percent of our IT budget.
Senior Support Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
It saved a lot of time through troubleshooting, which gives us substantial room for improvement in terms of fixing things.
Senior Technical Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
We're very competitive commercially and technically because of it.
IT-Operation Head at Granules India Ltd
We've seen value in Windows Server because the systems work smoothly without any problems.
L3 Engineer at Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited
Windows Server offers excellent value for money, particularly when compared to alternatives.
Security Engineer at ProVision
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.6
CentOS support relies on community resources and documentation, with Red Hat as a paid alternative for formal assistance.
Sentiment score
6.2
Customer service is generally effective, but technical support quality varies, and experiences with Microsoft are mixed.
I would rate the customer support for CentOS a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Senior Technical Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
I've seen many people across the globe interacting, and when users encounter issues, the community provides solutions.
Presales Engineer at Crayon
I would rate the documentation about eight in terms of usefulness.
Technical Operations Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees
Our in-house team can also solve most issues.
IT-Operation Head at Granules India Ltd
If you go through a partner who sells or supports Windows, the support could be around seven out of ten, because Windows relies on these partners for assistance.
Head of Major Account Sales Operation 1 at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Microsoft's technical support for Windows Server has been lacking, with rare responses even with premium support.
Security Engineer at ProVision
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
CentOS is praised for its scalability, handling large user bases effectively and reliably across diverse IT environments.
Sentiment score
7.6
Windows Server is flexible and scalable, efficiently adapting to varying organizational sizes despite some management complexity.
CentOS is scalable and user-friendly without requiring complex configurations.
Presales Engineer at Crayon
It allows users to scale resources vertically for upgrading hardware and horizontally by adding more servers, making it suitable for modern web hosting and containerized applications.
IT infrastructure executive at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
CentOS's scalability for my organization has handled growth and changing needs smoothly.
Senior Technical Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
I've worked in companies with 20,000 to 100,000 users, and it scales beautifully without issues.
Manager, Information & Cloud Systems at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's definitely scalable.
IT-Operation Head at Granules India Ltd
The solution is used extensively in our organization, and we have plans to increase the usage.
Project Engineer at CDAC
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
CentOS is widely regarded as stable and reliable, often rated highly for its consistent performance and efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.5
Windows Server is highly stable and reliable, with improvements since 2012, often rated 8-10 out of 10 by users.
CentOS is stable, reliable, flexible, and very useful.
IT infrastructure executive at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
CentOS's simplicity and stability make it easy to use.
Presales Engineer at Crayon
I believe CentOS is stable, but we are gradually moving away from it.
Technical Operations Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees
We have experienced no blue screens or crashes and often achieved an uptime of 2,000 to 3,000 days without any issues whatsoever.
Security Engineer at ProVision
Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Manager at Accenture company
The tool is stable.
ITSM Administrator & Analyst at Ministry of Interior
 

Room For Improvement

CentOS users seek better security, user-friendliness, third-party integration, frequent updates, and stability, as it shifts from a stable platform.
Windows Server users seek improved security, better integration, usability, optimization, pricing, automation, documentation, patching, and technical support.
The documentation and support could be improved, along with compatibility with newer hardware as hardware continually evolves over time.
Presales Engineer at Crayon
Kernel parameters, sysctl config details, tuned profiles, process prioritization, optimized disk, and input scheduler choice are all points for performance optimization.
IT infrastructure executive at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
CentOS RADIUS server handles sensitive authentication data, so improving security is the priority.
Technical person at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
From a security perspective, sometimes, malware attacks and hackers take advantage of the tool's vulnerabilities.
Manager, Strategic Alliances at Softcell Technologies Limited
Deploying antivirus and firewall software on the server is advisable, but having an external firewall adds an extra layer of security.
Project and Service Delivery Manager Cloud at MANAPPURAM COMPTECH AND CONSULTANTS LIMITED
Windows Server needs to improve its speed and stability.
Oracle business analyst at Sensience
 

Setup Cost

CentOS is a cost-effective, open-source operating system favored for its free availability and minimal setup costs.
Enterprise buyers struggle with Windows Server licensing due to its complexity, varied pricing, and high costs compared to Linux.
There was no cost in terms of deploying it or getting the license for it.
Senior Technical Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
CentOS is a free product with free updates.
Technical Operations Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees
The enterprise subscription cost is at a certain level, but CentOS saves customers from paying additional money, optimizing costs for enterprises and startups involved in application development.
Presales Engineer at Crayon
It is quite expensive.
Head of Major Account Sales Operation 1 at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Previously, a Windows Server with two processors cost around two 154 euros annually, but now it is estimated to be around 3,000 to 4,000 euros for the same configuration.
Security Engineer at ProVision
On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most expensive, I rate it ten out of ten.
Manager, IT Security at Averis Sdn Bhd
 

Valuable Features

CentOS is a stable, secure, and cost-effective platform with excellent compatibility, ideal for enterprises seeking reliability and performance.
Windows Server excels in scalability, security, and integration, offering features like Active Directory and seamless Microsoft tool compatibility.
CentOS has helped me most through its enterprise-level stability.
Technical person at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The update cycle changed when CentOS was prioritized for updates, causing stability issues.
Technical Operations Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees
In my experience, the best feature that CentOS offers is the network configuration of a device from the command-line interface, which is exceptionally clean.
Senior Technical Support Engineer at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Windows Server is a stable and scalable solution.
IT head at Ficobank
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that every Microsoft product is scalable, flexible, secure, and available on a certain budget.
Manager, Strategic Alliances at Softcell Technologies Limited
The IP directory is the most valuable feature.
Connectivity Platform Cyber Security Specialist at BASF Business Services GmbH
 

Categories and Ranking

CentOS
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Windows Server
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
195
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 4.4%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Server is 9.3%, up from 8.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Windows Server9.3%
CentOS4.4%
Other86.3%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammad Wasif - PeerSpot reviewer
IT infrastructure executive at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Has supported reliable deployments and simplified issue resolution in complex environments
The most suitable feature of CentOS is its exceptional stability, security, and long-term support, which make it a popular choice for enterprise and server environments. CentOS is widely recognized for providing a stable and secure platform, especially suited for server and mission-critical workloads. Whenever we face critical work, it is easy for our team to handle. For long-term support, each CentOS release generally guarantees long-term updates, ensuring reliability for extended periods. For package management, we use YUM and DNF in the new version for flexible and efficient software management. It depends on our users' requirements for installing CentOS. Licensing for CentOS is above my management details, so I am not aware of this information. CentOS always provides good feedback, is easy to handle, and easy to troubleshoot. The experience with CentOS OS has been very good over the last two months. I rate CentOS nine out of ten.
GS
Manager, Information & Cloud Systems at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Long-standing experience improves reliability and security, making it a trusted platform
It's difficult to see improvements when using it daily. They improved compatibility with other platforms, such as Linux. One improvement I was thinking about some years ago was the ability to manage an on-premises server from Azure. Now, they have created Azure Arc, and we are using it as a very good way of managing on-premises servers. What can be improved is on the Azure side. With Active Directory on the server side and Entra ID on the Azure side in our hybrid environment, we find issues with data syncing to Entra ID. In Entra ID, Microsoft omitted some parameters. In Active Directory, you can put an expiring date to an account, but you cannot do that in Entra ID. We have other means of doing that, but it's common to have consultants working for six months, requiring account expiration or renewal processes. The Entra ID Connect syncing tool could be improved. Though they moved the service to Azure and use an agent instead of having a dedicated server, it remains cumbersome to set up due to the differences between Entra ID and Active Directory.
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Comparison Review

it_user281973 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
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
15%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business78
Midsize Enterprise41
Large Enterprise88
 

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 entirely sure about the license I purchased for my local machine, but I assume it is the community version, while for the AWS one, I do not entirely remember the pricing.
What needs improvement with Windows Server?
The user interface of Windows Server needs improvement, especially when working with users, user accounts, and groups. There are multiple ways to accomplish tasks that do not align completely, so t...
What is your primary use case for Windows Server?
I integrated Windows Server in my infrastructure. We use Hyper-V technology extensively, as it is very important for us, and it functions quite well.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

CentOS 7 (x86_64) - with Updates HVM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Rakuten, Rackspace, Tyco
Find out what your peers are saying about CentOS vs. Windows Server and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.