Whats is better and why? Linux CentoS or Ubuntu?

I use Ubuntu at home for my own servers (about 7 years working with Ubuntu and other Debian based systems) and in work we use CentOS (about 4 years on and off with CentOS).

My go to would be Ubuntu if you want to set something up, play around for it for a while then maybe close it down, without having to worry about getting everything up and running.

Like said before, Ubuntu has more up to date repos, and I for one would prefer that, but if I was setting up a server I know will be used long term (like the ones I set up in work) I would use CentOS without question, its repos are based more on stability and security and if you really want more fancy stuff EPEL is your best friend!

We have been using both - even currently. We have been in the development space for many years now. Do agree that lot many packages on CentOS are old but definitely very stable and secure.

I would say each of the Linux distros have their own pros and cons. Not only than it also depends on what you are comfortable with. You need to decide between Yum and Apt - or - Selinux and Apparmor.

When developing/publishing PHP based projects, we always prefer to use CentOS. We always use unmanaged services so there is no problem of sticking to older versions of PHP. We use PHP 7.1 / Laravel 5.4 without any problems on CentOS.

On the other hand, when we are working with Ruby based projects, we go for Ubuntu. It is rightly pointed above by thaniyarasu - we do face dependency issues with c/c++ libraries while installing certain newer gems on CentOS.

I have used both (and am currently using both).

I much prefer Ubuntu, which I’ve been using for less than 6 months. I’ve been using RedHat (and Centos) for over 10 years. It’s only since switching to Ubuntu that I’ve realised just how Centos has been holding us back.

The problem is Centos is designed to be secure and stable, but as a result many things running on it are old versions, with back ported security fixes. If you’ve just spent a million dollars on an in-house software system, you don’t really want it to break a few months later because everything around it is always being upgraded to the latest and greatest. Really this is what Centos is all about.

However, we have always battled with not being able to run certain things on Centos because everything is so out of date. I think the default version of PHP is 5.4 on Centos7 and yet many people are now using PHP 7. It’s perhaps not a problem with an unmanaged service like Digital Ocean where you can upgrade things and take responsibility for it yourself, but if you have a managed service and have to stick with the official Centos Repos then you better get used to working with ancient versions of everything. From memory it also makes it a pain to run things like Magento and Laravel which often require newer versions of things than you’ll have access to on Centos (by default).

For me Ubuntu is a breath of fresh air and I would ditch Centos tomorrow if it weren’t such an upheaval to do so.

Should be mentioned that CentOs is no longer the “preferred distribution in the hosting industry” and has not been for a long time. That is simply a fake status, CentOS users would like to keep, but the reaility is one very different. Not even in VPS, Dedicated Servers or even Clouds. This also includes Red Hat in those different areas (Simple Hosting, VPS, Dedicated & Clouds). I will leave the following links for anyone to do their own checks but overall, Ubuntu covers well above the “preferred” term for all of this areas. So if you are looking for something that is applied in the industry, on the desktop, in the production stage but also in the development stage. If you are looking for something that is up to speed with latest technologies, openstack, deployment, and more, then please, one quick research for this will reveal Ubuntu above all others. In any case, I will leave the following for others to see and check for themselves.

Sources you can check out are as follow. I will also put the top 5 as of this writing where it applies:

W3TECHS - https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all Ubuntu - 34.1% Debian - 31.4% CentOS - 20.6% Red Hat - 3.7% Gentoo - 2.7%

W3COOK - http://www.w3cook.com/os/ubuntu Ubuntu - 29.9% CentOS - 24.57% Debian - 11.31% Fedora - 0.68% Red Hat - 0.01%

THE CLOUD MARKET - http://thecloudmarket.com/stats Ubuntu - 57.5% Windows - 7.8% Red Hat - 4.8% CentOS - 3.7% Fedora 1.4%

OPENSTACK - http://www.openstack.org/assets/survey/April-2016-User-Survey-Report.pdf (Page 47) Ubuntu - 55% (With an potential growth of up to 19%) CentOS - 20% (With an potential growth of up to 7%) Red Hat - 16% (With an potential growth of up to 4%) SUSE - 2% (With an potential growth of up to 1%) Debian - 3% (With an potential growth of up to 0%)

Even sources like Steam prove the amount of users compared to other distros that Ubuntu has, with 30% of all Linux users on Steam, followed by 9% which is a mix of other different distros.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=linux

Lastly the Linux Tendency over times shown here, clearly say what will happen in the following years:

https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_details/os-linux/all/y

https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 12-m&q=%2Fm%2F03x5qm,%2Fm%2F03x_8t,%2Fm%2F02prjf

Should be mentioned that CentOs is no longer the “preferred distribution in the hosting industry” and has not been for a long time. That is simply a fake status, CentOS users would like to keep, but the reaility is one very different. Not even in VPS, Dedicated Servers or even Clouds. This also includes Red Hat in those different areas (Simple Hosting, VPS, Dedicated & Clouds). I will leave the following links for anyone to do their own checks but overall, Ubuntu covers well above the “preferred” term for all of this areas. So if you are looking for something that is applied in the industry, on the desktop, in the production stage but also in the development stage. If you are looking for something that is up to speed with latest technologies, openstack, deployment, and more, then please, one quick research for this will reveal Ubuntu above all others. In any case, I will leave the following for others to see and check for themselves.

Sources you can check out are as follow. I will also put the top 5 as of this writing where it applies:

W3TECHS - https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all Ubuntu - 34.1% Debian - 31.4% CentOS - 20.6% Red Hat - 3.7% Gentoo - 2.7%

W3COOK - http://www.w3cook.com/os/ubuntu Ubuntu - 29.9% CentOS - 24.57% Debian - 11.31% Fedora - 0.68% Red Hat - 0.01%

THE CLOUD MARKET - http://thecloudmarket.com/stats Ubuntu - 57.5% Windows - 7.8% Red Hat - 4.8% CentOS - 3.7% Fedora 1.4%

OPENSTACK - http://www.openstack.org/assets/survey/April-2016-User-Survey-Report.pdf (Page 47) Ubuntu - 55% (With an potential growth of up to 19%) CentOS - 20% (With an potential growth of up to 7%) Red Hat - 16% (With an potential growth of up to 4%) SUSE - 2% (With an potential growth of up to 1%) Debian - 3% (With an potential growth of up to 0%)

Even sources like Steam prove the amount of users compared to other distros that Ubuntu has, with 30% of all Linux users on Steam, followed by 9% which is a mix of other different distros.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=linux

Lastly the Linux Tendency over times shown here, clearly say what will happen in the following years:

https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_details/os-linux/all/y

https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 12-m&q=%2Fm%2F03x5qm,%2Fm%2F03x_8t,%2Fm%2F02prjf

Should be mentioned that CentOs is no longer the “preferred distribution in the hosting industry” and has not been for a long time. That is simply a fake status, CentOS users would like to keep, but the reaility is one very different. Not even in VPS, Dedicated Servers or even Clouds. This also includes Red Hat in those different areas (Simple Hosting, VPS, Dedicated & Clouds). I will leave the following links for anyone to do their own checks but overall, Ubuntu covers well above the “preferred” term for all of this areas. So if you are looking for something that is applied in the industry, on the desktop, in the production stage but also in the development stage. If you are looking for something that is up to speed with latest technologies, openstack, deployment, and more, then please, one quick research for this will reveal Ubuntu above all others. In any case, I will leave the following for others to see and check for themselves.

Sources you can check out are as follow. I will also put the top 5 as of this writing where it applies:

W3TECHS - https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all Ubuntu - 34.1% Debian - 31.4% CentOS - 20.6% Red Hat - 3.7% Gentoo - 2.7%

W3COOK - http://www.w3cook.com/os/ubuntu Ubuntu - 29.9% CentOS - 24.57% Debian - 11.31% Fedora - 0.68% Red Hat - 0.01%

THE CLOUD MARKET - http://thecloudmarket.com/stats Ubuntu - 57.5% Windows - 7.8% Red Hat - 4.8% CentOS - 3.7% Fedora 1.4%

OPENSTACK - http://www.openstack.org/assets/survey/April-2016-User-Survey-Report.pdf (Page 47) Ubuntu - 55% (With an potential growth of up to 19%) CentOS - 20% (With an potential growth of up to 7%) Red Hat - 16% (With an potential growth of up to 4%) SUSE - 2% (With an potential growth of up to 1%) Debian - 3% (With an potential growth of up to 0%)

Even sources like Steam prove the amount of users compared to other distros that Ubuntu has, with 30% of all Linux users on Steam, followed by 9% which is a mix of other different distros.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=linux

Lastly the Linux Tendency over times shown here, clearly say what will happen in the following years:

https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_details/os-linux/all/y

https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 12-m&q=%2Fm%2F03x5qm,%2Fm%2F03x_8t,%2Fm%2F02prjf

Should be mentioned that CentOs is no longer the “preferred distribution in the hosting industry” and has not been for a long time. That is simply a fake status, CentOS users would like to keep, but the reaility is one very different. Not even in VPS, Dedicated Servers or even Clouds. This also includes Red Hat in those different areas (Simple Hosting, VPS, Dedicated & Clouds). I will leave the following links for anyone to do their own checks but overall, Ubuntu covers well above the “preferred” term for all of this areas. So if you are looking for something that is applied in the industry, on the desktop, in the production stage but also in the development stage. If you are looking for something that is up to speed with latest technologies, openstack, deployment, and more, then please, one quick research for this will reveal Ubuntu above all others. In any case, I will leave the following for others to see and check for themselves.

Sources you can check out are as follow. I will also put the top 5 as of this writing where it applies:

W3TECHS - https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all Ubuntu - 34.1% Debian - 31.4% CentOS - 20.6% Red Hat - 3.7% Gentoo - 2.7%

W3COOK - http://www.w3cook.com/os/ubuntu Ubuntu - 29.9% CentOS - 24.57% Debian - 11.31% Fedora - 0.68% Red Hat - 0.01%

THE CLOUD MARKET - http://thecloudmarket.com/stats Ubuntu - 57.5% Windows - 7.8% Red Hat - 4.8% CentOS - 3.7% Fedora 1.4%

OPENSTACK - http://www.openstack.org/assets/survey/April-2016-User-Survey-Report.pdf (Page 47) Ubuntu - 55% (With an potential growth of up to 19%) CentOS - 20% (With an potential growth of up to 7%) Red Hat - 16% (With an potential growth of up to 4%) SUSE - 2% (With an potential growth of up to 1%) Debian - 3% (With an potential growth of up to 0%)

Even sources like Steam prove the amount of users compared to other distros that Ubuntu has, with 30% of all Linux users on Steam, followed by 9% which is a mix of other different distros.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=linux

Lastly the Linux Tendency over times shown here, clearly say what will happen in the following years:

https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_details/os-linux/all/y

https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 12-m&q=%2Fm%2F03x5qm,%2Fm%2F03x_8t,%2Fm%2F02prjf

Should be mentioned that CentOs is no longer the “preferred distribution in the hosting industry” and has not been for a long time. That is simply a fake status, CentOS users would like to keep, but the reaility is one very different. Not even in VPS, Dedicated Servers or even Clouds. This also includes Red Hat in those different areas (Simple Hosting, VPS, Dedicated & Clouds). I will leave the following links for anyone to do their own checks but overall, Ubuntu covers well above the “preferred” term for all of this areas. So if you are looking for something that is applied in the industry, on the desktop, in the production stage but also in the development stage. If you are looking for something that is up to speed with latest technologies, openstack, deployment, and more, then please, one quick research for this will reveal Ubuntu above all others. In any case, I will leave the following for others to see and check for themselves.

Sources you can check out are as follow. I will also put the top 5 as of this writing where it applies:

W3TECHS - https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all Ubuntu - 34.1% Debian - 31.4% CentOS - 20.6% Red Hat - 3.7% Gentoo - 2.7%

W3COOK - http://www.w3cook.com/os/ubuntu Ubuntu - 29.9% CentOS - 24.57% Debian - 11.31% Fedora - 0.68% Red Hat - 0.01%

THE CLOUD MARKET - http://thecloudmarket.com/stats Ubuntu - 57.5% Windows - 7.8% Red Hat - 4.8% CentOS - 3.7% Fedora 1.4%

OPENSTACK - http://www.openstack.org/assets/survey/April-2016-User-Survey-Report.pdf (Page 47) Ubuntu - 55% (With an potential growth of up to 19%) CentOS - 20% (With an potential growth of up to 7%) Red Hat - 16% (With an potential growth of up to 4%) SUSE - 2% (With an potential growth of up to 1%) Debian - 3% (With an potential growth of up to 0%)

Even sources like Steam prove the amount of users compared to other distros that Ubuntu has, with 30% of all Linux users on Steam, followed by 9% which is a mix of other different distros.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=linux

Lastly the Linux Tendency over times shown here, clearly say what will happen in the following years:

https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_details/os-linux/all/y

https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 12-m&q=%2Fm%2F03x5qm,%2Fm%2F03x_8t,%2Fm%2F02prjf

Should be mentioned that CentOs is no longer the “preferred distribution in the hosting industry” and has not been for a long time. That is simply a fake status, CentOS users would like to keep, but the reaility is one very different. Not even in VPS, Dedicated Servers or even Clouds. This also includes Red Hat in those different areas (Simple Hosting, VPS, Dedicated & Clouds). I will leave the following links for anyone to do their own checks but overall, Ubuntu covers well above the “preferred” term for all of this areas. So if you are looking for something that is applied in the industry, on the desktop, in the production stage but also in the development stage. If you are looking for something that is up to speed with latest technologies, openstack, deployment, and more, then please, one quick research for this will reveal Ubuntu above all others. In any case, I will leave the following for others to see and check for themselves.

Sources you can check out are as follow. I will also put the top 5 as of this writing where it applies:

W3TECHS - https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all Ubuntu - 34.1% Debian - 31.4% CentOS - 20.6% Red Hat - 3.7% Gentoo - 2.7%

W3COOK - http://www.w3cook.com/os/ubuntu Ubuntu - 29.9% CentOS - 24.57% Debian - 11.31% Fedora - 0.68% Red Hat - 0.01%

THE CLOUD MARKET - http://thecloudmarket.com/stats Ubuntu - 57.5% Windows - 7.8% Red Hat - 4.8% CentOS - 3.7% Fedora 1.4%

OPENSTACK - http://www.openstack.org/assets/survey/April-2016-User-Survey-Report.pdf (Page 47) Ubuntu - 55% (With an potential growth of up to 19%) CentOS - 20% (With an potential growth of up to 7%) Red Hat - 16% (With an potential growth of up to 4%) SUSE - 2% (With an potential growth of up to 1%) Debian - 3% (With an potential growth of up to 0%)

Even sources like Steam prove the amount of users compared to other distros that Ubuntu has, with 30% of all Linux users on Steam, followed by 9% which is a mix of other different distros.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=linux

Lastly the Linux Tendency over times shown here, clearly say what will happen in the following years:

https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_details/os-linux/all/y

https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 12-m&q=%2Fm%2F03x5qm,%2Fm%2F03x_8t,%2Fm%2F02prjf

Should be mentioned that CentOs is no longer the “preferred distribution in the hosting industry” and has not been for a long time. That is simply a fake status, CentOS users would like to keep, but the reaility is one very different. Not even in VPS, Dedicated Servers or even Clouds. This also includes Red Hat in those different areas (Simple Hosting, VPS, Dedicated & Clouds). I will leave the following links for anyone to do their own checks but overall, Ubuntu covers well above the “preferred” term for all of this areas. So if you are looking for something that is applied in the industry, on the desktop, in the production stage but also in the development stage. If you are looking for something that is up to speed with latest technologies, openstack, deployment, and more, then please, one quick research for this will reveal Ubuntu above all others. In any case, I will leave the following for others to see and check for themselves.

Sources you can check out are as follow. I will also put the top 5 as of this writing where it applies:

W3TECHS - https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all Ubuntu - 34.1% Debian - 31.4% CentOS - 20.6% Red Hat - 3.7% Gentoo - 2.7%

W3COOK - http://www.w3cook.com/os/ubuntu Ubuntu - 29.9% CentOS - 24.57% Debian - 11.31% Fedora - 0.68% Red Hat - 0.01%

THE CLOUD MARKET - http://thecloudmarket.com/stats Ubuntu - 57.5% Windows - 7.8% Red Hat - 4.8% CentOS - 3.7% Fedora 1.4%

OPENSTACK - http://www.openstack.org/assets/survey/April-2016-User-Survey-Report.pdf (Page 47) Ubuntu - 55% (With an potential growth of up to 19%) CentOS - 20% (With an potential growth of up to 7%) Red Hat - 16% (With an potential growth of up to 4%) SUSE - 2% (With an potential growth of up to 1%) Debian - 3% (With an potential growth of up to 0%)

Even sources like Steam prove the amount of users compared to other distros that Ubuntu has, with 30% of all Linux users on Steam, followed by 9% which is a mix of other different distros.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey?platform=linux

Lastly the Linux Tendency over times shown here, clearly say what will happen in the following years:

https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_details/os-linux/all/y

https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 12-m&q=%2Fm%2F03x5qm,%2Fm%2F03x_8t,%2Fm%2F02prjf