--- title: CentOS Reviews meta_title: 'CentOS Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 424 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how CentOS works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 424 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-12' parent_category: name: IT Infrastructure url: https://www.g2.com/categories/it-infrastructure --- # CentOS Reviews **Vendor:** CentOS **Category:** [Operating Systems](https://www.g2.com/categories/operating-system) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 424 ## About CentOS CentOS is a community-driven, free software project that provides a robust and reliable Linux distribution, serving as a foundational platform for open-source communities, cloud providers, hosting services, and scientific data processing. Derived from Fedora Linux, CentOS Stream offers a continuously delivered distribution that tracks just ahead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), with major releases every three years and each maintained for five years. This structure allows CentOS Stream to function as a production operating system, a development environment, or a preview of upcoming RHEL releases. Key Features and Functionality: - Continuous Delivery: CentOS Stream provides a rolling-release model, delivering updates that precede RHEL's official releases, ensuring users have access to the latest features and improvements. - Community Collaboration: The project fosters a collaborative environment where Special Interest Groups (SIGs) develop and package software tailored to specific needs, such as cloud infrastructure, storage solutions, and virtualization technologies. - Enterprise Compatibility: By closely tracking RHEL, CentOS Stream ensures compatibility and stability, making it suitable for enterprise deployments and development environments. Primary Value and User Solutions: CentOS Stream addresses the need for a stable yet forward-looking Linux distribution that bridges the gap between development and production environments. It offers a reliable platform for developers to test and deploy applications that will be compatible with future RHEL releases, thereby reducing the time and effort required for migration and ensuring smoother transitions. Additionally, the active community and SIGs provide specialized solutions and support, enhancing the overall ecosystem and catering to diverse user requirements. ## CentOS Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **enterprise-grade reliability** of CentOS, enjoying its stability and performance for long-term server use. (16 reviews) - Users appreciate the **long-term stability** of CentOS, enjoying its reliable performance for production servers and critical services. (14 reviews) - Users value the **ease of use** in CentOS, appreciating its straightforward setup and reliable performance for servers. (8 reviews) - Users value CentOS for its **RHEL compatibility** , ensuring a stable and reliable environment for long-term infrastructure. (8 reviews) - Users value the **strong community support** of CentOS, enhancing stability and ease of integration in production environments. (6 reviews) - Security (5 reviews) - Easy Setup (4 reviews) - Implementation Ease (4 reviews) - Long-Term Support (4 reviews) - Users appreciate the **compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux** , enhancing stability and performance in production environments. (3 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users criticize CentOS for **outdated technology** , citing slow software adoption and lack of support for new features. (7 reviews) - Users often face **lack of support** , as CentOS struggles with slow updates and limited documentation for troubleshooting. (5 reviews) - Users note the **slow updates** in CentOS, leading to difficulties in planning and accessing newer software versions. (5 reviews) - Users note a **lack of features** in CentOS due to slow updates and limited software availability, impacting usability. (4 reviews) - Users express concern over **limited availability** of updates and packages for CentOS, impacting their software experience. (4 reviews) - System Instability (4 reviews) - Apple Limitations (2 reviews) - Users experience **compatibility issues** with CentOS, struggling with software support and outdated packages affecting modern applications. (2 reviews) - Users find a **steep learning curve** when transitioning from Windows or Ubuntu to CentOS, requiring basic training. (2 reviews) - Slow Performance (2 reviews) ## CentOS Reviews ### 1. Stable Red Hat-Compatible, Ideal for Teaching **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Terry B. | CU Distingushed Professor Emeritus at U. Colorado at Colorado Springs, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 28, 2026 **What do you like best about CentOS?** I like the consistency with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and appreciate Linux as a stable operating system. RPM is a decent package manager which helps in teaching system administration tasks where students learn to add and manage packages. CentOS provides a good way for students to gain experience with Red Hat, helping them when they go into the industry. The initial setup of CentOS was easy for me due to experience with Red Hat, and we haven't encountered any issues with students installing CentOS from USB. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** The only problem I've noticed is that we sometimes have issues with NVIDIA drivers. They don't update properly with respect to the GPUs, forcing students to have to reboot the machine, which we try to teach them not to do. On Linux boxes, especially enterprise production servers, you try not to reboot at all. I'm not sure if it's really just CentOS or Red Hat in general. This would be one thing that could be improved, to have a better way of diagnosing why particular packages fail and why drivers, low level drivers, are not consistent. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use CentOS as it maintains consistency with Red Hat, serving as a stable OS for teaching and gaining enterprise experience. Its RPM package manager is useful for system administration tasks, letting students manage packages effectively. ### 2. Stable, Secure, and Free—A Great RHEL Alternative for Long-Term Servers **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Abdallah M. | Solutions Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 08, 2026 **What do you like best about CentOS?** CentOS is very stable, secure, and reliable, making it ideal for servers and long-term use. It is easy to set up and integrates well with tools like Apache, MySQL, and Docker. Another major advantage is that it provides enterprise-level performance similar to Red Hat Enterprise Linux without any cost, which makes it very valuable for both learning and production environments. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** CentOS has a slower update cycle, so software packages can become outdated compared to other distributions. This can be limiting when you need the latest features or newer technologies. Additionally, the shift to CentOS Stream makes it less predictable for production environments, and official support is more limited compared to paid enterprise solutions. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** CentOS solves the problem of having a stable, secure, and free operating system for servers. Benefit: I can run websites, apps, or databases reliably without paying for expensive enterprise software, and it stays secure with updates. ### 3. Great RHEL Preview, but No Longer a Reliable RHEL Clone for Production **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Joseph M. | Network Administrator & IT Security Officer, Higher Education, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2026 **What do you like best about CentOS?** CentOS has become a test platform for RHEL. Since it exists upstream from RHEL it is a sneak preview of what is coming later from Red Hat. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** I dislike that CentOS moved upstream from RHEL. It was a good free alternative to RHEL when it was a clone of RHEL, but since moving upstream it is no longer appropriate for production use. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows you to see what changes are coming to RHEL before they go live. It is more bleeding edge than RHEL, but not as bleeding edge as Fedora. So it falls between those two projects. ### 4. Stability and Ease of Use for Enterprise Environments **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** enrico d. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 28, 2026 **What do you like best about CentOS?** I like the stability and reliability of CentOS, given that there are no system crashes or updates that compromise the server's operation. I appreciate the controlled and predictable updates, designed for enterprise environments and systems active 24/7, which means they don't come as a surprise and don't change the behavior of the operating system, focusing on security fixes. The initial installation process was simple thanks to a very intuitive wizard. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** The community is less oriented towards novices, CentOS is designed more for sysadmins and DevOps. It would be useful to better explain the features, commands, and administration tools. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** CentOS offers system stability and reliability without crashes, with predictable updates that do not compromise server operation and focus on security fixes. ### 5. Enterprise Reliability at Open-Source Cost **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Warling S. **Reviewed Date:** January 31, 2026 **What do you like best about CentOS?** I appreciate CentOS's ability to eliminate exorbitant proprietary enterprise OS licensing costs without sacrificing RHEL-grade reliability. This cuts our enterprise OS licensing costs by over 80% while maintaining stability, security, and patch management for our mission-critical workloads. I love the rock-solid, predictable enterprise stability that CentOS offers, especially since it results in zero unplanned downtime for production workloads. CentOS being built from RHEL’s stable source code and following a long-term support model with minimal breaking changes is a big strength for us. Additionally, I enjoy the robust, natively integrated security tooling that aligns with global enterprise compliance. The initial setup of CentOS is straightforward and accessible, making it convenient to get started. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** I find the slow adoption of modern cloud-native and DevOps features in CentOS to be a downside. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use CentOS to eliminate expensive enterprise OS licensing costs without losing RHEL-grade reliability. It offers rock-solid stability for mission-critical workloads and robust security tools aligned with global compliance, supporting my hybrid cloud infrastructure effectively. ### 6. CentOS: Rock-Solid Stability and Enterprise-Grade Reliability **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ravin L. | Co-founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2026 **What do you like best about CentOS?** What I like best about CentOS is its stability and reliability. It’s very close to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, so you get enterprise-grade performance without the licensing cost. Once it’s set up, it runs for long periods with minimal issues, which makes it ideal for servers and production environments. It’s also well supported by the community, and most hosting providers and server tools work seamlessly with it. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** What I dislike about CentOS is that updates and newer software versions can be quite slow, which makes it less ideal if you need the latest features or packages. After the shift from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream, there’s also some uncertainty for users who prefer a strictly stable, long-term production OS. Additionally, troubleshooting can sometimes be challenging for beginners due to limited official documentation compared to some more user-friendly distributions. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** CentOS solves the problem of running a stable, enterprise-grade server environment without high licensing costs. It provides a reliable platform for hosting applications, databases, and services where uptime and consistency matter more than having the latest features. This benefits me by reducing system crashes and maintenance effort, offering predictable performance, and allowing me to run production workloads confidently while keeping infrastructure costs low. ### 7. Enterprise-Grade Stability with RHEL Compatibility and Strong Security **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nar Kaji G. | System Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 28, 2026 **What do you like best about CentOS?** 1. Enterprise Grade Stability. 2. Binary Compatable with RHEL. 3. Security and Update. 4. Familiar Server Ecosystem like Redhat **What do you dislike about CentOS?** 1. Centos EOL and Centos Stream Instability Risk. 2. Limited formal Support. 3. GUI and Multimedia Limitations **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** 1. High License cost for Enterprise OS minimized to SMB and Mid Sized Organizaitons. 2. Meeting Security and Compliance Requirements. 3. Compatability with RHEL Ecosystem ### 8. User-Friendly Yet Robust for Hosting **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Muralidhar K. | IT Manager, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 27, 2026 **What do you like best about CentOS?** I like CentOS because it's very easy to use and configure. It's user-friendly, which is great. Most of the applications are configured on CentOS, making it a reliable choice for application hosting. The initial setup was easy for us since we were familiar with the OS. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** CentOS could be improved by offering more stronger native user administration features, and simpler network configuration for enterprise environments. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** CentOS makes it easy to use and configure applications, helping with application hosting. ### 9. Stable and Secure, but Discontinued **Rating:** 0.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rodrigo Z. **Reviewed Date:** December 09, 2025 **What do you like best about CentOS?** Stability is undoubtedly the most striking feature of CentOS. In a production environment, several factors are important, but the main ones are stability and security. CentOS is an operating system that brings both, allowing us to focus on our business without needing a large team to take care of stability. The initial installation and configuration process was very smooth and simple, with excellent documentation and community support as well. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** The biggest problem with CentOS is that it was discontinued in 2024, replaced by CentOS Stream, which caused a disruption in the stability and philosophy of the original project. I would also like critical package updates to be maintained for a few more years. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** CentOS offers essential stability and security in production environments, allowing focus on business without needing a large maintenance team. ### 10. Rock-Solid Stability and Security for Enterprise Servers **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Georgi D. | Managing Partner, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 22, 2025 **What do you like best about CentOS?** Stability and reliability are key strengths here. This platform offers a consistent, enterprise-grade environment that is ideal for servers. Its extended support cycles, robust security features, and compatibility with RHEL make it a strong option for production systems. **What do you dislike about CentOS?** As a hosting provider, my main concern with CentOS is the uncertainty that arose after the transition to CentOS Stream. Moving away from a stable, fixed-release model to a rolling-release system has made it more difficult to plan for the long term and maintain predictable server management. For production environments that demand consistent stability, this change has forced us to spend extra time evaluating other options and rethinking our infrastructure strategy. **What problems is CentOS solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a hosting provider, We find that the primary challenges with CentOS stem from its end-of-life versions, the transition to CentOS Stream, and the increased maintenance required to ensure systems remain secure and compatible with current software. While CentOS continues to offer stability, managing it in a production environment now demands more effort than before. ## CentOS Discussions - [how can I install and use CentOS](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-can-i-install-and-use-centos) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [How to install package?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-to-install-package) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Bolehkah ini digunakan untuk acara pembelajaran?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/can-this-be-used-for-learning-events) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Where did you go to learn how to use CentOS?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/51381-where-did-you-go-to-learn-how-to-use-centos) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [How can I acheive client isolation ?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-can-i-acheive-client-isolation) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View CentOS pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/centos/reviews/centos-review-4604457?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-13+02%3A35%3A32+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=cbbe2dd5-289f-4c25-b868-6a3168be8a8e&secure%5Btoken%5D=cdc52c400f1e042f4718bb67b5331764ee542fa9389c58385821e55ca181fadd&format=llm_user) ## CentOS Integrations - [ActiveDirectory Domain Controller for Windows 2016](https://www.g2.com/products/activedirectory-domain-controller-for-windows-2016/reviews) - [Apache Maven](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-maven/reviews) - [Chrome OS](https://www.g2.com/products/chrome-os/reviews) - [cPanel](https://www.g2.com/products/cpanel/reviews) - [Kubernetes](https://www.g2.com/products/kubernetes/reviews) - [Magento Open Source](https://www.g2.com/products/magento-open-source/reviews) - [Make](https://www.g2.com/products/integromat-by-celonis-make/reviews) - [MySQL](https://www.g2.com/products/mysql/reviews) - [ownCloud](https://www.g2.com/products/owncloud/reviews) - [Splunk Enterprise](https://www.g2.com/products/splunk-enterprise/reviews) - [WordPress.org](https://www.g2.com/products/wordpress-org/reviews) - [Zammad](https://www.g2.com/products/zammad/reviews) - [Zimbra Collaboration Enterprise Collaboration](https://www.g2.com/products/zimbra-collaboration-enterprise-collaboration/reviews) ## CentOS Features **Memory Management - Operating System** - RAM management **Agentic AI - AWS Marketplace** - Autonomous Task Execution - Multi-step Planning - Cross-system Integration **Device Management - Operating System** - I/O management **Backup and Recovery - Operating System** - Data backup **Error Detection - Operating System** - System operations monitoring ## Top CentOS Alternatives - [Ubuntu](https://www.g2.com/products/ubuntu/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (2,341 reviews) - [Red Hat Enterprise Linux](https://www.g2.com/products/red-hat-enterprise-linux/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (931 reviews) - [Windows 7](https://www.g2.com/products/windows-7/reviews) - 4.2/5.0 (871 reviews)