CentOS

Changes to the production of CentOS Linux are causing many organizations to migrate to an alternate operating system. Find how Red Hat is making it easier for CentOS Linux users to migrate to RHEL with no-cost and low-cost subscriptions, and learn about the simplified process for contributing to RHEL development with CentOS Stream.

CentOS Linux

What is the status of CentOS Linux, and what are the options for migrating to another Linux distribution? Learn more so you can choose the distribution that best fits your needs.

Is CentOS the same as RHEL?

CentOS Linux has been used to run everything from small mail servers in at-home environments to datacenters in the world’s largest corporations. Despite being widely used, it is also widely misunderstood. Many people believe that CentOS Linux is the same as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). In reality, there are many differences between the two:

CentOS Linux has no government or public security certifications. It is not certified by many hardware and software vendors, nor is it certified as a guest or host on Red Hat platforms.

CentOS Linux lacks some RHEL components, includes additional packages and capabilities, and is built and tested in a different environment.

CentOS Linux has no advanced automation or management tools, no certified live kernel patches available, and no in-place upgrade capabilities.

CentOS Linux has never been supported by Red Hat.

CentOS Linux end-of-builds

In December 2020, the CentOS Project announced that it would stop building and updating CentOS Linux and shift its focus to developing CentOS Stream. Follow along with this tutorial to migrate from CentOS Linux to RHEL in 7 easy steps or download a cheat sheet to guide you through a smooth migration.

To learn more about migrating to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, try this hands-on-lab.

If you're a CentOS Linux user, what are your options?

CentOS Stream

If you want to participate in future versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, check out CentOS Stream and explore what CentOS Stream means for developers.

Developer subscription

If you’re using CentOS Linux as an individual user for a small project, get a Red Hat Developer Subscription for Individuals at no cost. Learn more.

Team subscription

If you’re on a development team and your organization is already running other Red Hat technologies, you may qualify for a Red Hat Developer Subscription for Teams.

Production RHEL subscription

If you’re using CentOS Linux to run production workloads in your organization, get a Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription for production.

Choosing a new platform

CentOS Stream might seem like a natural choice to replace CentOS Linux, but it’s not designed for enterprise development or production use. It is intended as a development platform for those that want to participate and collaborate in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux ecosystem. Running CentOS Stream in production environments presents many challenges compared to enterprise-ready distributions like Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Consider these four key differences between CentOS Stream and RHEL:

Life cycle

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  • 10-year life cycle support, with access to advanced security features, patches, expert guidance, and training
  • Upgrade tools that make moving to a new major release easier and faster

CentOS Stream

  • No commercial support; updates and patches for only five years
  • No existing in-place upgrade capabilities; more manual upgrades

Updates

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  • Predictable, production-friendly release schedules so you can better plan, update, and maintain your systems
  • Live kernel patches for critical and important Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) at no extra cost

CentOS Stream

  • Updates can come at any time, putting your organization at risk for operating system (OS) version, configuration drift, and IT environment inconsistencies
  • No support for live kernel patching, so systems must be restarted when performing updates

Security and compliance

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  • Built-in security features and automated security tools
  • Continuous vulnerability alerts and targeted guidance via Red Hat Insights, so you can avoid security issues, unpatched systems, and configuration drift

CentOS Stream

  • No security standards certifications, making it difficult to ensure compliance
  • Instances must absorb new features at the same time as they accept bug fixes and security update
  • Interdependent patches make it difficult to limit updates

Migration

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  • Self-service migration with Convert2RHEL, a fully supported command-line utility 

CentOS Stream

  • No easy process for moving from CentOS Stream to another Linux distribution if it does not meet your operational requirements over time
  • Not compatible with Convert2RHEL

Contribute to RHEL development

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

  • Access to the product roadmap
  • Ability to recommend new features or enhancements

CentOS Stream

  • Contribute new features, changes, and patches for the next minor release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
  • Share feedback while the code is still in development.
  • Hardware partners and application developers! Test your solutions to get them ready for the next minor release on Day 1.

Migrate to Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Explore easier ways to access Red Hat Enterprise Linux with our low-/no-cost options.

Migrate icon

Migrate from CentOS Linux to Red Hat Enterprise Linux using Red Hat Insights

Register and analyze your CentOS Linux system with Red Hat Insights and plan your migration to RHEL based on Red Hat Insights recommendations.

Convert2RHEL with Red Hat Insights

Check out a how-to guide for using Convert2RHEL with Red Hat Insights.
CentOS Linux icon

Migrate from CentOS Linux to Red Hat Enterprise Linux using Convert2RHEL utility tool

Use the Convert2RHEL utility tool to plan your migration from CentOS Linux to RHEL.

Convert2RHEL utility tool

Try a hands-on lab to get started with Convert2RHEL.

Download the Convert2RHEL cheat sheet.

Access to no-cost RHEL

To make it easier to migrate, we’ve rolled out several new programs that provide low-cost or no-cost access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. 

Explore programs designed to help CentOS Linux users move to RHEL.

Individuals

If you’re an individual and want to use RHEL, join the Red Hat Developer program. It provides the content, tools, technologies, and community you need to help you solve problems, connect with experts, discover what’s next, and lead your project forward. 

You’ll get access to the most relevant resources to grow your skills and boost your productivity, including product bits and activations, how-to videos, demos, getting started guides, documentation, and more. Not for corporate or organizational use. 

Sign up for free

Development teams

If you’re on a development team and your organization is a Red Hat customer, your team may qualify for a Red Hat Developer Subscription for Teams. This subscription provides access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux for development work at no charge, empowering teams across your organization to build, test, and run on the same platform.

  • The Red Hat Developer for Teams subscription provides access to Red Hat Enterprise Linux entitlements for 25,000 physical or virtual nodes for development.
  • Get all the benefits of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including rapid security updates, access to all the RHEL certifications, RHEL management tools including Red Hat Satellite and Red Hat Insights, and access to extended lifecycle offerings.
  • Tighter coupling between new application development and the transition to production environments streamlines the whole process, saving time, resources, and money.
  • For customers who wish to purchase developer support, enterprise and professional support add-ons are available. 

Red Hat Developer Subscription for Teams subscriptions are available exclusively through Red Hat sales associates.

Download the datasheet

Research, academia, and open source infrastructure

If you’re a developer at an academic institution, nonprofit research organization, open source project, or nonprofit organization that supports the production of open source software, you may qualify for a low-cost subscription. Visit the CentOS Linux migration information page for more information. 

Explore your options

Red Hat partners

If you’re a developer at a Red Hat partner, join Partner Connect for a wide range of benefits, including no-cost access to RHEL.

Join Partner Connect

Simplify the migration process with Convert2RHEL

The Convert2RHEL command-line utility is an officially supported tool that helps automate the process of migrating from CentOS Linux 7 and 8 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It enables the conversion of select RHEL derivative distributions into a supportable RHEL system, retaining existing applications and configurations.

Because CentOS Linux is a rebuild of RHEL, users can continue to use familiar Linux features and operational processes with minimal retraining. Qualifying subscriptions are also deployable in the cloud via the Red Hat Cloud Access program.

Done watching the video? Here are two places where you can learn more:

An Introduction to Convert2RHELConvert2RHEL FAQ

What is CentOS Stream?

CentOS Stream might seem like a natural choice to replace CentOS Linux, but it’s not designed for production use. Learn more. CentOS Stream is a continuously delivered Linux distribution that tracks just ahead of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It is a development platform that lets the open source community contribute feedback, code, and feature updates to future versions of RHEL. 

  • Get early access to the development stream of the next RHEL release.
  • Work in tandem with Red Hat developers.
  • Provide feedback and contribute new features and bug fixes to future RHEL releases.
Learn more about CentOS Stream

How to contribute to CentOS Stream

Simply download CentOS Stream to get started. You will work with the same code as the Red Hat developers, who will review all contributions for relevancy to the needs of Red Hat Enterprise Linux users. If your contributions are accepted, they will be included in a future version of RHEL. 

This is a much faster process than the previous flow, which required waiting until after a new RHEL version was released and then suggesting fixes upstream in Fedora in hopes that it would potentially make it into a future version, with no way to track its progress.

Download CentOS Stream

Ready to migrate to RHEL?

We're ready to help you along the way.

Learn how to migrate to RHEL