Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

CentOS vs Flatcar Container Linux comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 9, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

CentOS
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Flatcar Container Linux
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
33rd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of CentOS is 4.4%, down from 6.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Flatcar Container Linux is 0.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
CentOS4.4%
Flatcar Container Linux0.9%
Other94.7%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammad Wasif - PeerSpot reviewer
IT infrastructure executive at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Has supported reliable deployments and simplified issue resolution in complex environments
The most suitable feature of CentOS is its exceptional stability, security, and long-term support, which make it a popular choice for enterprise and server environments. CentOS is widely recognized for providing a stable and secure platform, especially suited for server and mission-critical workloads. Whenever we face critical work, it is easy for our team to handle. For long-term support, each CentOS release generally guarantees long-term updates, ensuring reliability for extended periods. For package management, we use YUM and DNF in the new version for flexible and efficient software management. It depends on our users' requirements for installing CentOS. Licensing for CentOS is above my management details, so I am not aware of this information. CentOS always provides good feedback, is easy to handle, and easy to troubleshoot. The experience with CentOS OS has been very good over the last two months. I rate CentOS nine out of ten.
YD
Senior Consultant at Capgemini
The solution is stable and allows us to make needed changes
The development teams could sharpen their skills.  They should offer applications on the net I have eight years of experience with Flatcar Container Linux. The version of Flatcar Container Linux that I am using is stable. The scalability of this product is fine. It allows us to make the needed…

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"A valuable features of CentOS is that it's quite stable and doesn't crash often. It's also quite intuitive."
"Setup is straightforward. You can complete it in about 30 minutes."
"I find the solution's stability to be the most valuable feature of it since I have been using a virtual machine with the help of the solution since 2015, and it still works on all the laptops in my organization."
"The product's initial setup phase is very straightforward."
"The most valuable feature of CentOS is the speed and it is very easy to use."
"The most valuable feature of CentOS is that it is easy to use."
"CentOS has impacted our organization positively by giving us an operating system for many of our virtual appliances, but for detailed information, you would need to consult someone in a higher position."
"The product offers a free community-based version."
"Flatcar's support is good. The version I am using is stable and allows us to make needed changes."
 

Cons

"The support could be a bit better."
"CentOS could be improved by being more secure. Of course, we use a firewall, but security is always a concern."
"Integration with other platforms could be improved."
"If a proper GUI-based tool was connected remotely or on the machine, it could be a great addition to CentOS."
"The product lacks a graphical user interface that can help users automate certain systems using the native features offered by CentOS."
"The GUI interface could always be better."
"CentOS is very close to the end of life."
"The security could be improved because the server system isn't very secure."
"The development teams could sharpen their skills. They should offer applications on the net."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is a free solution."
"There are no costs for CentOS, it is open-source."
"I'm not required to pay a licensing fee."
"This is an open source solution."
"There is no license required for this solution."
"For the enterprise version of CentOS, there is a license required. However, for personal use, I do not need a license."
"CentOS is free."
"The solution is not subscription-based, unlike Red Hat."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Operating Systems (OS) for Business solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user281973 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 24, 2017
It's improved our company's system environments that run Oracle databases.
Red Hat is mission critical to our environment Red Hat has improved the mission critical environments running Oracle databases, while CentOS has improved our web environment and MySQL. Oracle and SAP Environment and all HPC environments. 10 years No issues Very stable i don´t find any problem…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
University
13%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise28
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Which would you choose - RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or CentOS?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is fantastic. It is an inexpensive solution that has excellent security, performance, and stability, and also lots of features. I specifically like that the solution has fe...
What do you like most about CentOS?
CentOS is very easy to use, and all the commands are user-friendly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CentOS?
I am not entirely sure about the license I purchased for my local machine, but I assume it is the community version, while for the AWS one, I do not entirely remember the pricing.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

CentOS 7 (x86_64) - with Updates HVM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
CISCO, mettle, Microsoft, Upguard, GMX
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Rocky Linux, Canonical and others in Operating Systems (OS) for Business. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.