{"id":67524,"date":"2022-01-03T12:35:22","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T17:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/?p=67524"},"modified":"2024-01-23T13:39:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T18:39:25","slug":"centos-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/centos-alternatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Free CentOS Alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/centos-alternatives-1024x538.jpg\" alt=\"6 CentOS Alternatives\" class=\"wp-image-67523 skip_lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/centos-alternatives-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/centos-alternatives-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/centos-alternatives-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/centos-alternatives-560x294.jpg 560w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/centos-alternatives.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>CentOS 8 is no longer supported as of December 2021. Those using Linux cloud servers may have already switched to Debian or Ubuntu to get ahead of the change. But what about those who need a free Red Hat-based distribution for essential software or just prefer YUM? Here are six CentOS alternatives that may fill that hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"#popular\">Popular CentOS Alternatives<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#alma\">AlmaLinux<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#centos\">CentOS Stream<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#rocky\">Rocky Linux<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"#others\">Other CentOS Replacements<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#eurolinux\">EuroLinux<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#oracle\">Oracle Linux<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#clearos\">ClearOS<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"popular\">Popular CentOS Alternatives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When the CentOS End of Life (EOL) story first surfaced, there were Linux distros that got most of the attention regarding what could be the best CentOS replacement. But that wasn\u2019t without good reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"alma\">AlmaLinux<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"61\" height=\"60\" src=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/almalinux-logo.png\" alt=\"AlmaLinux logo\" class=\"wp-image-67521\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AlmaLinux<\/strong> is a binary compatible fork developed by CloudLinux. Its first stable release was published in March 2021. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/what-is-cpanel\/\">cPanel<\/a> and Control Web Panel (CWP), formerly known as CentOS Web Panel, were both once exclusively available for CentOS. They now fully support AlmaLinux. This may partially be due to CloudLinux\u2019s reputation among the Linux web hosting community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAlma\u201d translates to \u201csoul\u201d in spanish. Having cPanel support may make the distro the soul of the web hosting community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now, AlmaLinux looks to be the best CentOS alternative for those who just want to replace CentOS and continue their mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"centos\">CentOS Stream<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>CentOS Stream<\/strong> is Red Hat\u2019s upstream project between Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The goals of this project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ease the implementation process of new developments from Fedora into RHEL<\/li><li>Transition former CentOS users to RHEL<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>CentOS Stream isn\u2019t often marketed as a permanent solution for former CentOS Linux distro users. But it could be that for those who want to be as close to RHEL as possible without the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/rhel-centos-8-centos-stream\/\">price tag<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"rocky\">Rocky Linux<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"53\" src=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rocky-linux-logo-300x53.png\" alt=\"Rocky Linux logo\" class=\"wp-image-67522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rocky-linux-logo-300x53.png 300w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rocky-linux-logo-1024x180.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rocky-linux-logo-768x135.png 768w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rocky-linux-logo-560x98.png 560w, https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rocky-linux-logo.png 1098w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rocky Linux<\/strong> is a new Linux operating system (OS) with its first stable release published in June 2021. Rocky Linux is headed by original CentOS co-founder Gregory Kurtzer and named after another original CentOS co-founder, Rocky McGaugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This project is backed by Amazon, Google, and other major corporations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For now, answering the \u201cAlmaLinux vs Rocky Linux\u201d debate is purely based on your needs. Do you need to host cPanel or other software that previously required CentOS? Are you looking for a RHEL development environment? How often do you expect each OS to be under active development? Both have bare OS and workstation images available. Only time will tell how this comparison evolves in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"others\">Other CentOS Replacements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The following CentOS alternatives are listed in order of most popular to least in accordance with <a href=\"https:\/\/distrowatch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DistroWatch.com<\/a> at the time of writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"eurolinux\">EuroLinux<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>EuroLinux is a rarely discussed distro developed by the Polish company of the same name. The team also develops control panels for PostgreSQL, Java applications, and the Linux server OS. The company has little social media activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"oracle\">Oracle Linux<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Oracle Linux has been around for fifteen years now. The company has been around decades longer with MySQL being one of its most popular products. Although there\u2019s a love-hate relationship between many in the open source community and the Oracle company, Oracle Linux is undoubtedly a high-performance, stable Red Hat Linux alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"clearos\">ClearOS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>ClearOS has had a slightly different target audience from the rest of this list since 2001. Instead of focusing on web server environments, ClearOS is an internal network server for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). If your startup business office needs a fully-featured OS to replace Windows Server, this might interest you.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"jumbotron\">\r\n<p>If you don\u2019t need cPanel, don't pay for it. Only pay for what you need with our scalable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/cloud-vps\">Cloud VPS Hosting<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/design.inmotionhosting.com\/assets\/icons\/standard\/check-blue.svg\" alt=\"check mark\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" \/>CentOS, Debian, or Ubuntu    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/design.inmotionhosting.com\/assets\/icons\/standard\/check-blue.svg\" alt=\"check mark\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" \/>No Bloatware    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/design.inmotionhosting.com\/assets\/icons\/standard\/check-blue.svg\" alt=\"check mark\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" \/>SSH and Root Access<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CentOS 8 is no longer supported as of December 2021. Those using Linux cloud servers may have already switched to Debian or Ubuntu to get ahead of the change. But what about those who need a free Red Hat-based distribution for essential software or just prefer YUM? Here are six CentOS alternatives that may fill<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/centos-alternatives\/\"> Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>6 Best Free CentOS Alternatives | InMotion Hosting Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Figure out which among the best 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