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CentOS: a server-oriented Linux distribution
CentOS is historically known for stability, robustness and its close relationship with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For many years, CentOS Linux was widely used for web servers, databases, hosting, enterprise infrastructure and other environments requiring a reliable Linux base without licence fees.
The name means Community ENTerprise Operating System. The project aimed to provide a community distribution compatible with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux ecosystem while remaining free and open source. It became popular with system administrators, hosting providers, backend developers and organisations seeking a stable server platform.
It is now essential to distinguish CentOS Linux from CentOS Stream. The traditional CentOS Linux distribution has reached end of life. The project now focuses on CentOS Stream, a continuously delivered distribution positioned between Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Stream provides an open development platform for future RHEL changes.
History of CentOS
CentOS emerged in the early 2000s as a community alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat had separated its consumer and enterprise offerings: Fedora became a community distribution focused on innovation, while RHEL became a professional product with commercial support.
CentOS established itself by rebuilding publicly available RHEL source packages. This close technical relationship provided a very similar system without requiring a commercial subscription and made CentOS a major name in Linux servers.
In 2014, Red Hat and the CentOS project announced an official collaboration. This strengthened ties with the Red Hat ecosystem while retaining the project’s community identity. CentOS Linux remained widely used in production for years, helped by its long lifecycle and stability.
A major change was announced in December 2020: the project shifted its focus from CentOS Linux to CentOS Stream. CentOS Linux 8 reached end of life on 31 December 2021, followed by CentOS Linux 7 on 30 June 2024. Traditional CentOS Linux is no longer maintained or receiving official security updates.
Advantages of CentOS
Historically, stability was CentOS Linux’s main strength. Its solid, predictable foundation suited production servers, allowing administrators to retain the same version for years with few major changes.
CentOS also benefited from compatibility with the Red Hat ecosystem. Many professional applications, hosting panels, administration tools, virtualisation products and server platforms had documentation for RHEL or CentOS. This simplified application deployment in technical environments.
CentOS Stream retains several advantages. It offers a more direct view of RHEL development and opportunities to contribute. This makes it useful for developers, integrators, open-source contributors and teams preparing for future RHEL changes.
CentOS Stream remains free and open source. It provides an enterprise-style Linux system with familiar technologies including DNF, RPM, SELinux, systemd and firewalld.
The CentOS name also remains well known. Although traditional CentOS Linux has ended, it is still associated with servers and professional Linux. CentOS Stream continues to play an important part in RHEL’s development process.
Limitations of CentOS
The most significant issue is that traditional CentOS Linux is no longer maintained. Old releases such as CentOS Linux 7 and 8 should not be selected for new deployments because they no longer receive official security updates. An unsupported internet-facing server presents a substantial risk.
CentOS Stream is not a direct replacement for the old CentOS Linux model. CentOS Linux was downstream of RHEL; Stream is upstream and receives changes before their inclusion in RHEL minor releases. This may not suit users seeking a highly conservative rebuild of RHEL.
The strategy change caused confusion among users who associated CentOS with a free, stable RHEL alternative. Some administrators consequently migrated to other distributions in the Red Hat ecosystem, including Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux and Oracle Linux.
CentOS Stream may be less suitable for environments requiring a particularly fixed platform and strict long-term support commitments. For critical infrastructure, organisations may prefer RHEL with commercial support or a community distribution focused on RHEL compatibility.
CentOS is less focused on consumer desktops than Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint or openSUSE. A graphical environment is possible, but servers, infrastructure and technical deployments remain its main uses.
CentOS versions
CentOS Linux refers to the former community distribution historically compatible with RHEL. CentOS 6, 7 and 8 were widely deployed in production. However, CentOS Linux 8 reached end of life on 31 December 2021 and CentOS Linux 7 on 30 June 2024; these releases are unsuitable for new deployments.
CentOS Stream is now the project’s main branch. It is described as a continuously delivered distribution positioned immediately upstream of RHEL, allowing users to follow and contribute to the ecosystem’s development.
The releases discussed in this profile are CentOS Stream 9, associated with the RHEL 9 generation, and CentOS Stream 10, codenamed Coughlan, associated with RHEL 10. Stream 10 has a maintenance cycle of approximately five years. Check the project’s release and lifecycle information before selecting a version.
The project also supplies formats for different deployments, including installation ISOs, cloud images and container images. These support physical servers, virtual machines, cloud environments and automated infrastructure.
Users seeking continuity closer to the former CentOS Linux model should compare Stream with Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, Oracle Linux and RHEL. The right choice depends on contribution needs, application compatibility, long-term support and production requirements.
Overall assessment
CentOS was long a major Linux distribution for servers and professional infrastructure. Its stability, lack of licence fees and close relationship with RHEL made it popular in hosting and system administration.
Today, CentOS should be understood through CentOS Stream. Traditional CentOS Linux is unsupported, while Stream provides an open platform upstream of RHEL. It remains important for developers and contributors following RHEL development. Highly conservative production environments should also examine RHEL-compatible alternatives.