CentOS
Shares rank 48 of 63 Linux distributions by recommenders
Free Linux distribution people ran on servers for its long security update support. Common caveat: the shift to CentOS Stream and IBM ownership made many distrust its future.
Free Linux distribution people ran on servers for its long security update support. Common caveat: the shift to CentOS Stream and IBM ownership made many distrust its future.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 15
- approval share
- 32%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Long security updates for years
“it got security updates for a really long time. With minimal risk of breaking things on updates”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Blog ran on Ubuntu 16.04 for 10 years. I migrated it to FreeBSD” “because it got security updates for a really long time”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Blog ran on Ubuntu 16.04 for 10 years. I migrated it to FreeBSD” “it got security updates for a really long time”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Blog ran on Ubuntu 16.04 for 10 years. I migrated it to FreeBSD”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Distrust after IBM and stream changes
“When they turned Centos into streams, I cut my workstation over to Ubuntu.”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Ubuntu now requires more RAM than Windows 11” “IBM is a corporation and they already screwed up CentOS”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” “After IBM destroyed CentOS”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “Back to FreeBSD: Part 1” Unpredictable support, could end abruptly
“betting which distribution (ahem CentOS) will go away next”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “Back to FreeBSD: Part 1” “which can ditch you at a second's notice like centos?”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Slax: Live Pocket Linux” “most users got tired of the unknowns with CentOS”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “IBM to acquire Confluent” Version upgrades were difficult
“version upgrades were miserable, not just because I had painted myself in a weird corner”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Blog ran on Ubuntu 16.04 for 10 years. I migrated it to FreeBSD” “there was no very good way to do an in-place upgrade”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Running your own email service?”
Other Linux distributions people recommend
The four most recommended other Linux distributions, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 560 | 493 | 53% | 12 | 10 yrs116 owners | — |
| Debian | 552 | 191 | 74% | 13 | 10 yrs62 owners | Approved |
| NixOS | 454 | 112 | 80% | 13 | 2 yrs69 owners | Approved |
| Fedora Linux | 437 | 131 | 77% | 12 | 2 yrs72 owners | Approved |
| CentOSThis page | 7 | 15 | 32% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
21 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“version upgrades were miserable, not just because I had painted myself in a weird corner”
“it got security updates for a really long time”
“because it got security updates for a really long time”
“it got security updates for a really long time. With minimal risk of breaking things on updates”
“So many that we migrated away from it”
“by-quantity most servers were CentOS and it was way more of a free-for-all than it should have been”
“using CentOS6 by authenticating to university's AD”
“When they turned Centos into streams, I cut my workstation over to Ubuntu.”
“Really useful those decades of support if your distro goes belly up”
“centos now not only allows you to do in-place upgrades”
“betting which distribution (ahem CentOS) will go away next”
“After IBM destroyed CentOS”
“IBM is a corporation and they already screwed up CentOS”
“there was no very good way to do an in-place upgrade”
“it was a major point of frustration for many users and the maintainers”
“What drives me personally nuts about the CentOS saga is all the community hand-waving”
“which can ditch you at a second's notice like centos?”
“most users got tired of the unknowns with CentOS”
“Coming from someone who got hurt by CentOS.”
“was solid in centos 5 through 7”
“They'd lag a year or more behind sometimes.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.