CentOS was the go-to free Linux distribution for servers for over a decade. It was a community rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), giving you the same stability and long-term security support without the licensing cost. Thousands of hosting companies, including us, built their VPS hosting and dedicated server platforms around it.
Then Red Hat changed direction.
What happened to CentOS
Red Hat acquired the CentOS project in 2014. In December 2020, they announced that CentOS 8 would be the last traditional CentOS release, and it would reach end of life much earlier than expected (December 2021 instead of 2029). Instead of continuing to build stable, point-release CentOS versions from RHEL sources, Red Hat shifted CentOS to “CentOS Stream,” a rolling-release distribution that sits upstream of RHEL. There will be no CentOS 9.
CentOS Stream is fine for development and testing, but it’s not what production servers need. Production servers need predictable, stable releases with long-term security updates, which is what CentOS used to provide.
The replacements: AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux
Two community projects immediately stepped in:
AlmaLinux: Created by CloudLinux Inc. (makers of CloudLinux OS, widely used in hosting). AlmaLinux aims for 1:1 binary compatibility with RHEL. It’s well-funded, has a foundation with elected board members, and offers easy conversion to CloudLinux for cPanel hosting environments.
Rocky Linux: Created by Gregory Kurtzer, one of the original CentOS co-founders. Rocky Linux is community-governed with a charter designed to prevent the same corporate takeover that happened to CentOS. It also targets full RHEL compatibility.
Both are free, both get security updates on a similar timeline to RHEL, and both work as drop-in replacements for CentOS.
How to migrate
If you’re still running CentOS 8 on a VPS or dedicated server, migration is straightforward:
- Deploy a new Linux VPS with AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux
- Install your applications and restore your data from backups
- Test everything in the new environment
- Update DNS and cut over
- Decommission the old CentOS server
Your RPM packages, yum/dnf configurations, and application stacks will work on both AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux without modification.
Why you shouldn’t wait
Running CentOS 8 past its end of life means no security patches. Known vulnerabilities will not be fixed. Every day you stay on CentOS 8 increases your exposure to attacks that target these unpatched vulnerabilities. This is especially critical for VPS instances that are directly connected to the internet.
We no longer offer CentOS 8 for new deployments. Both AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux are available across all six data centers on Linux VPS hosting and dedicated servers. Contact us if you need help planning your migration.