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CentOS vs Windows Server 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:
 

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
Windows Server
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
184
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 6.1%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windows Server is 8.9%, up from 8.8% 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.
NirajSingh - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly platform streamlining client connectivity
We are using Windows Server to connect our client software. We use it to access client systems and work on SQL databases Rather than purchasing and setting up infrastructure, we are using Windows Server, which obviously saves some costs. Windows Server is fulfilling our daily work-life purposes.…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The community and knowledge base are very robust."
"The most valuable feature of CentOS is the speed and it is very easy to use."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"There's lots of great documentation available."
"The solution is extremely stable."
"The scalability of CentOS is good. We can deploy the operating system in many hardware, laptops, and servers."
"The most valuable feature is the limited resources the solution uses in operation."
"It's less expensive than Red Hat."
"The solution, in general, is quite straightforward. A beginner could probably use it with ease. It's always more or less simple to understand how this works."
"The product is reliable. It is powerful and we can make a lot of tools to work with it."
"The most valuable features are the file transfer protocol (FTP) and the secure file transfer protocol (SFTP)."
"It's very easy and user-friendly compared to any other operating system."
"The most valuable feature of Windows Server is that it is intuitive and easy to use."
"It is easy to use."
"The tool is scalable, flexible, easy to use, user-friendly, handy, and easy to maintain, and authentication is good."
"I would say Microsoft operating systems are more stable correctly than they were before, they have made some improvements over the years."
 

Cons

"It would be ideal if Red Hat would continue the CentOS versions in an open-source format. They seem to be moving away from that. Now only paid versions are available."
"Lacks sufficient security and some coding tools."
"CentOS could improve by having troubleshooting logs."
"The tool has no official support."
"Currently, CentOS is not providing support, so you will not get new packages that are compatible with that operating system."
"Integration with Open Stack could be improved."
"The solution could improve by making the management tools better for the DevOps teams. For example, WebEX and Webstacks."
"CentOS can be somewhat difficult for beginners, as it has a complex UI, especially for those not in the IT field."
"It would help if there was a possibility to postpone some updates. If some are not required, it could speed up the process of starting up the operating system. Sometimes big workloads related to services are running directly on the system itself and not the application. This is what I have noticed"
"Microsoft needs to expand to integrate the Windows Server with Azure and Linux distribution to provide a simple container environment for running dockerized applications."
"We have not had an issue with the stability of this solution. However, there could be some improvements."
"When it comes to virtualization, VMware is a bit more advanced in terms of security. Hyper-V does provide facilities, but it probably has to do a bit more work in terms of encryption. People will normally go for VMware because of the features that it has as a server, particularly the virtualization feature."
"The solution could have better security features."
"The solution needs more integration capabilities."
"Its updates need to be faster, so that's an area for improvement."
"The solution needs to be more stable and secure."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"CentOS is an open source that is free of cost."
"This is an open source solution."
"Once you buy the license, Linux will provide you with yearly or monthly patches, so your systems will be scalable for a long time."
"We use the free, open-source solution because we cannot afford the price for Linux."
"We have a CentOS license that we pay for on a yearly basis."
"There are no costs for CentOS, it is open-source."
"CentOS is cheaper compared to Windows."
"I use the free version."
"It is an expensive solution."
"Our licensing fee is perpetual."
"Our licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft and the price for the license is bundled together. The solution is expensive but for the bank that is using it, the price is fine. We pay for a license every three years."
"We have purchased Windows Server’s yearly license."
"We pay for the license every month."
"We use a perpetual license for Windows Server, which is expensive."
"There is an annual license required for this solution."
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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
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
9%
Financial Services Firm
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 needs improvement with Windows Server?
Sometimes the performance goes down, which might be due to the stability zone or network issues. It can also depend on our network.
What is your primary use case for Windows Server?
We are using Windows Server to connect our client software. We use it to access client systems and work on SQL databases.
 

Comparisons

 

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: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.