Rocky Linux
Hacker ApprovedRanked 30 of 63 Linux distributions by recommenders
A free, RHEL-compatible Linux distribution people use as a stable server OS and a CentOS replacement; critics say early releases were rough and not always ready.
A free, RHEL-compatible Linux distribution people use as a stable server OS and a CentOS replacement; critics say early releases were rough and not always ready.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 22
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 76%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 22 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 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
Free clone of RHEL
“Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux give you the same base for free and are worth a look”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: RedHat for Personal Use” “It'd probably be easier to use a RHEL spinoff like Alma or Rocky Linux.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “A Modern Proxmox Docker Architecture with Disposable VMs, VirtIO-FS, and ZFS” “Alma and Rocky are essentially downstream clones of RHEL.”
Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Blog ran on Ubuntu 16.04 for 10 years. I migrated it to FreeBSD” - Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “How to Build a Minimal ZFS NAS Without Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS”
Long-term stability with low maintenance
“as long as you pick a good server os (for me that's rocky linux) you can safely update once every six months”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “2026 is the Year of Self-hosting” “So RHEL, or Debian, Alma, Rocky, offer a lot more stability and less maintenance requirement”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “An ARM Homelab Server, or a Minisforum MS-R1 Review” “still chugging along with no effort from me for 6 months”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Tiny Little Office” - Comment from 22 May 2026 in “Blog ran on Ubuntu 16.04 for 10 years. I migrated it to FreeBSD”
Chosen by admins for servers
“we've actively standardized on Rocky Linux”
Comment from 1 Oct 2026 in “Red Hat being phased out of existence?” “My servers choice is RockyLinux 8 or 10.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Microsoft confirms Windows 11 is about to change” “Gave up and switched to RockyLinux.”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “An ARM Homelab Server, or a Minisforum MS-R1 Review” - Comment from 1 Jan 2026 in “Windows 11 Outperforming Linux on an Intel Arrow Lake H Laptop”
Successor to CentOS
“Rocky (et. al.) took the old centos role, and I see this as a win/win for everybody.”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “Back to FreeBSD: Part 1” “It’s quite literally the modern day CentOS”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Abandoning Scientific Linux Was a Mistake”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Early releases were broken or not ready
“shipping broken releases early on and them fighting with users about it instead of fixing”
Comment from 1 May 2026 in “OpenWarp” “Rocky Linux was not in good enough state”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Abandoning Scientific Linux Was a Mistake”
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 |
| Rocky LinuxThis page | 22 | 7 | 76% | 11 | — | Approved |
What people said
28 of the 32 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“still chugging along with no effort from me for 6 months”
“we've actively standardized on Rocky Linux”
“Rocky Linux was not in good enough state”
“It’s quite literally the modern day CentOS”
“functional clones of RHEL/CentOS and unsuitable for CERN as mentioned in the article”
“Rocky Linux 8 is a good baseline Linux distribution: simple system libraries interdependence”
“Debian/Devuan, Fedora/RHEL/Alma/Rocky, Arch/Artix, FreeBSD/OpenBS/NetBSD are all anyone will ever need.”
“no amount of payment would be a proper solution to ancient environment with everything”
“a 1:1 clone of RHEL that doesn't require licenses”
“It'd probably be easier to use a RHEL spinoff like Alma or Rocky Linux.”
“Alma/rocky give you 10 years.”
“Rocky's docs are also really nice. They aren't as thorough as RedHat's, but they're much more readable and concise”
“Rocky responded with an extra, optional to enable, security repo to provide mitigations to the exploits”
“Alma and Rocky are essentially downstream clones of RHEL.”
“shipping broken releases early on and them fighting with users about it instead of fixing”
“was a corporate fork with numerous dubious ethical decisions early on”
“Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux give you the same base for free and are worth a look”
“That loss of flexibility with RHEL/Rocky 10 being the latest release and no X11 is real a pain”
“outside of work stuff I'd personally reach for Rocky Linux which is a nicer experience”
“it may succeed it in name only... Physically you have to start over”
“tell me again how good it is”
“Rocky (et. al.) took the old centos role, and I see this as a win/win for everybody.”
“So RHEL, or Debian, Alma, Rocky, offer a lot more stability and less maintenance requirement”
“Gave up and switched to RockyLinux.”
“as long as you pick a good server os (for me that's rocky linux) you can safely update once every six months”
“Maybe you want fedora or rocky.”
“I tested with Rocky Linux 9 and it worked.”
“My servers choice is RockyLinux 8 or 10.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.