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Pros & Cons summary

Buyer's Guide

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

CentOS is compatible with Red Hat, offering similar features without subscription costs.
Setup is straightforward, enabling quick installation.
It provides exceptional stability and reliability, ideal for enterprise environments.
The open-source nature of CentOS helps in reducing operational costs significantly.
CentOS scales well, adapting to a wide range of hardware and virtual environments.

CONS

CentOS lacks sufficient security features and requires more security patches to address vulnerabilities.
The system's integration with other platforms and products is inadequate, necessitating improvements.
CentOS faces instability issues, particularly with previous versions and updates to a streaming version are concerning.
The discontinuation of support and updates for CentOS and its transition away from an enterprise solution are major drawbacks.
CentOS has limited scalability and updating capabilities, with frequent updates leading to compatibility issues.
 

CentOS Pros review quotes

D6B8 - PeerSpot reviewer
District Technology at INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 196
Sep 8, 2020
It has minimal updates compared to other distributions.
reviewer1473483 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Dec 22, 2020
The most valuable feature is that it is compatible with RedHat.
VP
Independent Technical Consultant at i4c
Jun 4, 2021
The user access level is most valuable. When you do administration with CentOS, the number of customizations that you can do for each user is higher than other solutions. It is very customizable.
Learn what your peers think about CentOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1597158 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Solutions Architect - International Projects at a media company with 501-1,000 employees
Jun 11, 2021
The pricing is good. We pay a minimal fee.
reviewer1362969 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Specialist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jun 18, 2021
Offers useful information and has good compatibility.
MW
Project Manager at Realnux
Jun 30, 2021
The most valuable feature is performance.
it_user1607289 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Support Specialist at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jul 5, 2021
Very robust and easy to work with.
SK
Group DWH and BI Senior Manager at Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
Jul 8, 2021
It has all the features of Red Hat, but you don't have to pay for the subscription.
it_user1392807 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Jul 9, 2021
It's a good and stable system. It provides everything you need for web servers and database servers.
reviewer1406874 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a educational organization with 11-50 employees
Jul 11, 2021
The product is free to use.
 

CentOS Cons review quotes

D6B8 - PeerSpot reviewer
District Technology at INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 196
Sep 8, 2020
They could build more options into the wizard.
reviewer1473483 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Dec 22, 2020
In the future, CentOS will no longer be compatible with Red Hat.
VP
Independent Technical Consultant at i4c
Jun 4, 2021
The YUM install manager can be improved. It is below average as compared to the other install managers. This is the only major problem that I see with CentOS. They should reduce dependency on the YUM manager.
Learn what your peers think about CentOS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1597158 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Solutions Architect - International Projects at a media company with 501-1,000 employees
Jun 11, 2021
The solution is stable, however, it could always be even more stable if possible.
reviewer1362969 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Specialist at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jun 18, 2021
Lacks sufficient security and some coding tools.
MW
Project Manager at Realnux
Jun 30, 2021
The solution might be discontinued but I hope that IBM will continue to develop it and improve on the functionally and features.
it_user1607289 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Support Specialist at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jul 5, 2021
GUI could be merged and expansion simplified.
SK
Group DWH and BI Senior Manager at Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
Jul 8, 2021
Integration with other platforms could be improved.
it_user1392807 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Jul 9, 2021
The server system is a little bit tough to manage.
reviewer1406874 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a educational organization with 11-50 employees
Jul 11, 2021
Previous versions were unstable.