--- title: Rocky Linux Reviews meta_title: 'Rocky Linux Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 20 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Rocky Linux works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.6 review_count: 20 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-06-25' parent_category: name: IT Infrastructure url: https://www.g2.com/categories/it-infrastructure --- # Rocky Linux Reviews **Vendor:** Supported Images **Category:** [Operating Systems](https://www.g2.com/categories/operating-system) **Average Rating:** 4.6/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 20 ## About Rocky Linux Rocky Linux is a free, open-source enterprise operating system designed to be fully compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Developed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, it aims to provide a stable, production-ready platform for various computing environments, including desktops, servers, and supercomputers. The project was initiated in response to the discontinuation of CentOS, with the goal of continuing its mission to offer a community-supported, enterprise-grade operating system. Key Features and Functionality: - Binary Compatibility: Rocky Linux is engineered to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL, ensuring seamless integration and operation for applications and services designed for RHEL environments. - Long-Term Support: The distribution offers a 10-year support lifecycle, providing users with regular updates and security patches to maintain system integrity and performance over time. - Community-Driven Development: As a community-supported project, Rocky Linux benefits from the collective input and collaboration of developers and users worldwide, fostering continuous improvement and innovation. - Easy Migration: Rocky Linux provides tools and scripts to facilitate smooth migration from other enterprise Linux distributions, minimizing downtime and simplifying the transition process. - Versatile Deployment Options: The operating system supports a wide range of architectures, including x86-64, ARM64, and others, making it suitable for diverse hardware environments. Primary Value and User Solutions: Rocky Linux addresses the need for a reliable, enterprise-grade operating system that is freely available and community-supported. By offering full compatibility with RHEL, it enables organizations to deploy and manage their workloads without the costs associated with proprietary solutions. The long-term support and regular updates ensure system stability and security, making it an ideal choice for businesses and institutions seeking a dependable platform for their critical operations. Additionally, the community-driven nature of Rocky Linux fosters a collaborative environment where users can contribute to and benefit from ongoing enhancements and support. ## Rocky Linux Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **high stability** of Rocky Linux, enjoying long-term support and reliable enterprise-grade performance. (2 reviews) - Users benefit from the **large community support** of Rocky Linux, providing ample resources for RHEL compatibility help. (1 reviews) - Users value the **long-term support** of Rocky Linux, ensuring stability and reliability for professional applications over a decade. (1 reviews) - Users value the **high stability** of Rocky Linux, appreciating its enterprise-grade performance similar to CentOS. (1 reviews) - Users value the **RHEL compatibility** of Rocky Linux, leveraging its large user base for support and assistance. (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users note that **integration issues** with third-party vendors and cloud services require significant improvement for better functionality. (1 reviews) - Users find the **lack of support** from third-party vendors and cloud integration to be a significant drawback. (1 reviews) ## Rocky Linux Reviews ### 1. Rocky Linux: Stable, Reliable RHEL-Like Experience Without the Licensing **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Suhail C. | System Administrator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 29, 2026 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** What I like most about Rocky Linux is how stable and predictable it feels, especially coming from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We switched over without too much trouble and honestly for most workloads it behaves almost the same, which made things a lot easier. Performance has been solid so far, I’m running it on a couple of servers and also using it personally and it just stays out of the way. Updates are consistent and I haven’t run into anything major breaking after upgrades, which is always a concern with server environments. Another thing I like is the cost side, not having to deal with licensing like RHEL but still getting a similar experience is a big plus. It also integrates well with the usual tools we already use, so there wasn’t much need to change our setup. Overall it just feels reliable, which is really what I want from an OS like this. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** One thing that can be a bit frustrating with Rocky Linux is that sometimes you have to spend extra time figuring things out compared to something like RHEL, especially when it comes to documentation or smaller edge cases. It’s not a huge issue, but it does slow things down a bit when you are troubleshooting. We are also using LXD for containers, and right now Rocky 10 images are not available there, only Rocky 9. Because of that, all our project containers are still running on Rocky 9, which isn’t ideal since we have already started using Rocky 10 in other places. Other than that, there are occasional minor issues here and there, like certain packages or repos not being immediately available or needing a bit of manual setup. Nothing major, just small things that add up sometimes. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** For us it mainly solved the need for a stable and free alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Licensing was getting a bit restrictive, so moving to Rocky Linux gave us almost the same environment without the cost, which is a big win from a ROI point of view. Since it’s RHEL compatible, we didn’t have to change much in terms of setup or tools. Most of our existing configs and workflows just worked, so the transition was smoother than expected. That saved a lot of time compared to switching to something completely different. It also helps with consistency across environments. We’re using it both for servers and some personal setups, so it’s easier to manage and maintain everything in a similar way. Overall it just gives us a reliable base to run things without worrying too much about stability or unexpected issues. ### 2. Reliable Enterprise Linux Platform for Hosting Security and Network Management Applications. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shibu K. | Security Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 09, 2026 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** The features I appreciate most is reliability. In our environment, Rocky Linux supports enterprise applications that are used by multiple teams. Stability is extremely important because any operating system issue can affect business operations. I regularly perform : Service monitoring Log analysis Package management User administration Storage monitoring Network troubleshooting Server health validation The operating system is straightforward to manage and follows standard enterprise Linux administration practices. I also like the predictable update process. During maintenance activities, updates can be applied without unexpected behavior, which is important in production environments. Performance has been very good. Even when multiple application services are running, resource utilization remains efficient. Another advantage is compatibility. Most Linux administration knowledge transfers directly to Rocky Linux, reducing the learning curve for administrators. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** My overall experience with Rocky Linux has been positive. If i had to identify one area for improvement, it would be providing additional built in graphical administration and monitoring tools for administrators who are less familiar with Linux command-line management. Most of my daily work is performed through SSH sessions and command line tools, which is not a problem for experienced administrators but may require additional learning for newer users. However, this has not affected our production environment. Once administrators become familiar with the operating system, management becomes efficient and straightforward. Rocky Linux has provided excellent stability, performance, and reliability for the applications we manage, Because of this experience, I would recommend it for organizations looking for a dependable enterprise Linux operating system. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** I work as a Network Security Engineer and regularly interact with Rocky Linux because it is the base operating system used for several applications in our environment, including AlgoSec and Allot platforms. My involvement is not only from the application side but also from the server administration side. During deployments, upgrades, troubleshooting activities, health checks, and maintenance windows, I work directly on Rocky Linux servers. On a daily basis, I use Rocky Linux to verify service status, review logs, check disk utilization, monitor CPU and memory usage, perform package updates, and validate application services after maintenance activities. Some of the commands I frequently used include : systemctl status systemctl restart journalctl top free-m df-h ls cd cat grep tail-f dnf update Rocky Linux provides a stable operating system environment for our production applications. The operating system has helped us maintain reliable uptime and smooth application performance for platforms that are critical to our daily operations. The biggest benefit for our team is stability. Once applications are deployed, the operating system runs consistently without requiring frequent intervention, allowing us to focus on application management rather than operating system issues. ### 3. Stable, Secure, Production-Ready Enterprise OS at No Cost **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Health, Wellness and Fitness | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 28, 2026 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** Rocky Linux provides a stable, secure, and production-ready enterprise operating system at no cost, whether you run it in the cloud or on-prem. Most hyperscalers support the operating system natively, which helps mitigate open-source support risk for critical business applications. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Rocky linux being a open source and downstream for red hat,there is delay for every security patch or updates. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Rocky is helping us to save lot of money in operating system licensing cost, at the same time offering same value as paid operating systems. We save about 25% of VM cost by using Rocky linux ### 4. Fast Response Times and Strong OS Stability **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yatham P. | Full Stack Development Trainee, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 30, 2026 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** The response time and better OS stability **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Stability at High scale, will be better for recommending at production level more **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** One of the challenges I faced while using Rocky Linux was package and dependency compatibility during the migration from other Enterprise Linux distributions. Some third-party repositories and software packages required additional configuration or manual dependency resolution before they could be installed successfull ### 5. Open-Source Flexibility That’s Easy to Customize **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yashar L. | Data Analyst, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 28, 2026 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** This is open-source software, so you can customize it to your liking. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** It doesn’t have a very compact user guide, so you end up spending hours navigating around just to understand the changes. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** The free software adaptation for companies offers a very good opportunity to unify more than one company and to coordinate activities between them through triangulation. ### 6. ROCKY LINUX PRINCIPALS **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jeffrey K. | VICE PRESIDENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 28, 2025 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** PROFESSIONAL USES ARE A BINARY-COMPATIBLE REPLACEMENT FOR RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX. PROFESSIONAL USE IS STABLE WITH LONG-TERM SUPPORT, SINCE EACH RELEASE HAS A 10-YEAR LIFECYCLE. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** ROCKY LINUX RECEIVES UPDATES EVERY SIX MONTHS. CONTINUITY DEPENDS ON THE COMMUNITY AND THIRD-PARTY FUNDING. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** PROFESSIONAL USES ARE FREE TO DOWNLOAD AND USE, SINCE IT IS A COMMUNITY SUPPORTED SYSTEM. PROFESSIONAL USE PROVIDE WORKLOAD VERSATILITY AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING. ### 7. A Free Open Source Linux That Rivals Red Hat **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 28, 2026 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** It opensource, no cost, works as well as commerial red hat linux **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Downside latest patch is faster with redhat linux. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Rocky Linux provide a solution to replace centos end of life ### 8. Great RHEL Compatibility Backed by a Large, Helpful Userbase **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Marios B. | Senior web developer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 27, 2026 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** RHEL compatibility. Large userbase to dig for assistance **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** I have not developed any dislikes yet for this. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Needed to replace CentOS 7 when it was going EOL and Centos Stream was not an option for me. ### 9. Stable Enterprise OS Like CentOS, But Needs Better Vendor Support and Cloud Integration **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Manufacturing | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 16, 2025 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** Highly stable enterprise grade operating system that mimics CentOS functionality and reliability **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Third Party Vendor support and cloud integration needs improvement **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Similar to RHEL and CentOS based O/S, ease of use ### 10. Roky Linux **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sandra M. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 24, 2024 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** It is a distribution that is a good option to use instead of CentOS. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** I am starting to get to know this distribution **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is used to replace the centers we have ### 11. I really like Rocky Linux software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Saud A. | Digital Marketer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 20, 2023 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** Rocky Linux's robust security, community-driven development, and seamless RHEL compatibility make it an exceptional open-source powerhouse. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Limited hardware support & occasional software glitches may improve as the project matures. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Rocky Linux addresses the void left by CentOS's shift, ensuring uninterrupted RHEL compatibility & long-term support. It benefits me by providing a stable, reliable, and familiar platform for my projects, avoiding costly migrations & reconfigurations. ### 12. Good OS **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sujit D. | Support Engineer, Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 06, 2023 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** It's an open-source OS and free to use. Many companies are now moving to use Rocky Linux in their environment. It is a game-changer and provides full support for ten years. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Currently, it is free, and lots of companies are using it, but I think shortly, it will start to charge for access **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is overall good, but it's a little hard to understand for beginners. But the experienced user is very great. ### 13. Rocking Operating System **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Syedibrahim G. | Cloud Delivery Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 22, 2023 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** For Enterprise users is free cost, Organization can save on licensing fees and reduce overall ITcosts. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Its has slow updates compare other linux OS, lack of User experience. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** It solves reliability and security part. protect from vulnerabilities. ### 14. Great Enterprise Class OS! But faster releases expected **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Oleksandr G. | CTO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 23, 2023 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** Great company supported rebuilds of RHEL, 10 years support. Everything you can expect from Enterprise Class Linux. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Slow release cycle. For example, Alma Linux is much faster, I would expect faster builds and testing process from the company supported Linux distribution than from the community supported one. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** We used Rocky Linux 8 as a primary Operating System for our services and hosting needs. Great support for Docker, Podman, libvirt for running business software. ### 15. Linux Administrator **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Retail | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2023 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** It's a downstream of RHEL, and very similar to CentOS and you get enterprise OS for free(Open Source) Started by the original founder of CentOS. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Its very new into Market. Yet to be tested and widely used. Unlike CentOS which was proven. How/how much will it get funded. Earlier Redhat was a primary funder for CentOS. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Its OpenSource so helps fanancially. We test or code in Rocky Linux before we move to RHEL ### 16. Best CentOS alternative. Free distribution for Linux, based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yogesh Y. | S, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 28, 2023 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** It is an open-source community enterprise operating system and compatible with several system architectures like x86_64, ARM64, PPC64 and s390x. **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Slow significant updates, as Rocky Linux releases major updates every six months. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Rocky Linux is the best free alternative to CentOS and is based on RHEL distribution and is continuously supported by its developers, so we have moved some production applications to it. ### 17. Rocky is built over RHEL kernel **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vikas G. | Big Data Developer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 03, 2023 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** Rocky Linux is free to use and is open source. The latest release is 9.1 and a lot of companies are adopting Rocky Linux **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Lots of companies are looking to adopt Rocky, and in the future, they may pay for their access. Also, the UI is slow on Rocky when accessed remotely. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** We need a platform to deploy product so our organization has make Rocky Linux official for the deployment of their product. ### 18. Rocky linux **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 02, 2023 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** After red announcing discontinuing of centos . Rocky linux really is a game changer . Providing 10 year life cycle support . It is bets open source linux left with us having thek features **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Rocky linux over all is very good there are although few things I would like them to inprpve and that is their manual pages . Some time ut is hard to read theough them . **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Rocky linux is providing me thek features with stable release that I can work with . It is really important after centos was discontinued by red hat as it gives flexibility to change code and play with it ### 19. Good OS for Advanced User **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shaif Uddin A. | Senior Officer, IT, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 12, 2022 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** Its good for Red Hat Exam Preparation, aloternative of Cent OS **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** There is nothing to dislike, because if don't like anything in Rocky Linux, you can customize it as your wish **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** for Beginner Rocky Linux will not be the best option. But it's a great experienced user. You can learn & more skilled if you use Rocky Linux ### 20. Rocky 8.4 Review **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Relations | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 16, 2021 **What do you like best about Rocky Linux?** At this point, Rocky 8.4 is almost an "exact copy of CentOS 8.4" **What do you dislike about Rocky Linux?** Formal support. Currently companies are trying to decide if Rocky Linux is going to be adopted by enterprises. **What problems is Rocky Linux solving and how is that benefiting you?** Replacing CentOS and Redhat. The change will allow us to continue using our 15+ years CentOS knowledge ## Rocky Linux Discussions - [What is Rocky Linux used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-rocky-linux-used-for) - 2 comments - [View Rocky Linux pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/rocky-linux/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-27+12%3A08%3A26+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=fe5437fe-26d2-4412-b261-c97c733ad7eb&secure%5Btoken%5D=31c69a1b417a4278bc35329cd38b8daf39b4c524fc5a6da34e9242b191b6032f&format=llm_user) ## Rocky Linux Integrations - [Canonical LXD](https://www.g2.com/products/canonical-lxd/reviews) - [Google Ads](https://www.g2.com/products/google-ads/reviews) - [LiteSpeed Web Server](https://www.g2.com/products/litespeed-web-server/reviews) - [MariaDB](https://www.g2.com/products/mariadb/reviews) - [NinjaOne](https://www.g2.com/products/ninjaone/reviews) - [PostgreSQL](https://www.g2.com/products/postgresql/reviews) ## Rocky Linux Features **Memory Management - Operating System** - RAM management **Device Management - Operating System** - I/O management **Backup and Recovery - Operating System** - Data backup **Error Detection - Operating System** - System operations monitoring ## Top Rocky Linux Alternatives - [Ubuntu](https://www.g2.com/products/ubuntu/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (2,337 reviews) - [Red Hat Enterprise Linux](https://www.g2.com/products/red-hat-enterprise-linux/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (931 reviews) - [Oracle Linux](https://www.g2.com/products/oracle-linux/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (330 reviews)