Rocky Linux vs AlmaLinux: Which CentOS Replacement Wins?

When Red Hat ended CentOS in December 2020, it left a gap that a lot of production infrastructure depended on. Two distributions moved to fill it: Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux. Both are free and RHEL-compatible, and both are still around and actively maintained years later. Neither "won" in the sense of pushing the other out. A single decision by Red Hat in 2023 forced them to solve the same problem in two different ways. That split is still shaping which one you should pick.

This post walks through where each project came from, how their compatibility models diverged after Red Hat restricted source access, and what that means if you're running one on a VPS.

TL;DR

For pure dominance over the market, neither AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux win overall. Both are mature, actively maintained CentOS replacements still in wide production use. The difference is in their approach. Rocky Linux pursues strict bug-for-bug compatibility with RHEL and is governed by a dedicated nonprofit (the RESF) with no single corporate controller. AlmaLinux offers ABI compatibility rather than a byte-for-byte rebuild, and is backed primarily by CloudLinux alongside its own foundation. If you want the closest thing to a literal RHEL clone and prefer governance with no dominant sponsor, go Rocky. If ABI compatibility is good enough for your workload and you want a project with a strong anchor sponsor (plus support for older x86-64-v2 hardware), AlmaLinux is an equally solid pick. For most standard VPS workloads, the practical difference is small.

Which one fits your use case

If you want a quick gut check based on what you're optimizing for:

Where each distribution came from

Rocky Linux was started by Gregory Kurtzer, one of the original creators of CentOS. The project is governed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF), and its founding pitch was continuity: build the closest possible replacement for what CentOS used to be, governed as a community project rather than a corporate one.

AlmaLinux was announced by CloudLinux, a company that already built a hardened RHEL-based distribution for hosting providers. CloudLinux funded the project's early development and continues to provide financial and engineering backing. AlmaLinux is governed by the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, a nonprofit with board representation that includes companies beyond CloudLinux, such as AWS and ARM, according to project materials.

Both projects launched around the same time in 2021 and both reached general availability that same year. In practical terms, they've had roughly the same amount of time to mature.

The 2023 turning point

For the first couple of years, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux worked similarly: rebuild RHEL by pulling its publicly available source RPMs and recompiling them, package for package.

That changed in mid-2023 when Red Hat restricted public access to RHEL source code, making it available only to paying customers and select partners. Both projects had to find new ways to stay compatible, and they chose different strategies.

Rocky Linux kept pursuing bug-for-bug compatibility. It sources packages through a mix of CentOS Stream, RHEL's Universal Base Images, and cloud provider access to RHEL, reconstructing something very close to a 1:1 rebuild.

AlmaLinux shifted its stated goal from bug-for-bug compatibility to ABI (application binary interface) compatibility. In practice this means AlmaLinux aims for software built for RHEL to run correctly on AlmaLinux, even if the underlying packages aren't byte-for-byte identical to Red Hat's builds.

For most workloads, this distinction won't be something you notice day to day. Where it can matter is in environments with strict compliance or certification requirements that specifically call for bug-for-bug RHEL equivalence. If that's your situation, it's worth reading each project's current statement directly to see which is a natural fit, since both projects have refined their language on this more than once since 2023.

Governance (who's actually backing each project)

This is probably the most concrete difference between the two.

Rocky Linux is run by the RESF, a nonprofit with no single dominant commercial sponsor controlling it. Kurtzer's original framing was explicitly a reaction against the idea of a company being able to unilaterally end it, the way Red Hat ended CentOS.

AlmaLinux is governed by its own nonprofit foundation, but CloudLinux remains its primary financial backer, reportedly contributing around a million dollars a year, along with engineering resources. The AlmaLinux Foundation has broadened its sponsor and mirror base over time, which reduces (without eliminating) reliance on any one backer.

Neither structure is inherently better. A dedicated foundation with no single corporate anchor can be more resistant to one company's decisions, but it can also mean less predictable long-term funding. A foundation with a committed primary sponsor tends to have clearer, more stable funding, but it does tie the project's fate more closely to that sponsor's continued interest.

Hardware support: a real practical difference

With RHEL 10, Red Hat raised its minimum CPU baseline to the x86-64-v3 microarchitecture level, which generally corresponds to processors from around 2015 (Intel Haswell) onward. Both Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux have followed RHEL's lead on this for their own major version 10 releases.

Where they diverge: AlmaLinux has offered separate builds targeting the older x86-64-v2 baseline, aimed at organizations still running older hardware that doesn't meet the v3 requirement. If you're running Rocky or AlmaLinux on older physical servers rather than a modern VPS, this is worth checking against each project's current release notes, since build availability can change between point releases.

If you're deploying on a current-generation VPS, this distinction is unlikely to affect you either way, since VPS hosts typically run recent-generation CPUs that clear the v3 bar comfortably.

Ecosystem and third-party support

Both distributions have broad support across the RHEL-compatible ecosystem: DNF, SELinux, systemd, and the general tooling you'd expect are consistent across both. Where things can differ is third-party commercial software support. I've seen claims that some control panel vendors, including cPanel, have scaled back official Rocky Linux support in favor of AlmaLinux. Vendor support matrices change, so if a specific third-party tool's compatibility is a deciding factor for you, check that vendor's own supported-OS list directly rather than relying on a blog post (including this one).

Performance and stability

Multiple independent comparisons through 2025 and 2026 have found negligible performance differences between Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux in typical benchmarks. This tracks with what you'd expect, since both are built from very similar upstream sources and share the same kernel lineage as RHEL. Neither distribution has an inherent speed or stability edge over the other; the differences that matter are almost entirely about governance, compatibility philosophy, and support ecosystem rather than raw performance.

Migrating from CentOS

If you're moving off an existing CentOS install rather than starting fresh, both projects provide a supported path.

Rocky Linux offers migrate2rocky, a script that converts an existing CentOS, AlmaLinux, or other RHEL-compatible install in place to Rocky Linux. One thing to note if you're planning this: migrate2rocky requires EL8 systems to be on at least version 8.5 before conversion, so older 8.x installs need to be updated first.

AlmaLinux's equivalent is ELevate, which supports migrations from CentOS to any AlmaLinux version, and can also be used for cross-distribution conversions between other RHEL-compatible systems.

Both tools work in place, without a full reinstall, though as with any OS migration, a backup and a maintenance window are worth planning for regardless of which tool you use.

Security and compliance tooling

Both distributions ship with SELinux enforced by default and support the standard enterprise Linux security stack. Some coverage from 2025 and 2026 mentions AlmaLinux providing OpenSCAP and CIS Benchmark tooling out of the box, and Rocky Linux investing in FIPS 140-3 certification work for government and regulated environments. If FIPS or CIS compliance is a hard requirement for your deployment, check the current certification status on each project's site before you commit, since certification work like this is often in progress rather than finished, and status changes over time.

So which one actually won?

Both distributions are mature, both have survived a major disruption to their supply chain in 2023 without folding, and both are widely deployed in production today. If you want the closest thing to a literal RHEL rebuild and prefer a governance model with no single corporate controller, Rocky Linux is the more direct match for what CentOS used to be. If ABI compatibility is sufficient for your needs and you're comfortable with a foundation that has a strong anchor sponsor, AlmaLinux is an equally solid, well-supported choice, and its x86-64-v2 builds are a genuine advantage if you're stuck on older hardware.

For most standard web and application workloads, the practical difference between running one or the other is small. The bigger factor is usually which one your team already has operational familiarity with, or which one your specific third-party software vendor officially supports.

Running Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux on a VPS

Both Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux are common base image options across VPS providers, including VPSServer.com, which continues to expand its wide range of supported operating systems. If you're migrating an existing CentOS or RHEL workload, either distribution should get you there with minimal friction, since the underlying package management and system tooling are consistent with what you already know.