Чем отличается ubuntu от centos

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CentOS vs Ubuntu — Which One Wins?

When it comes to choosing a Linux distribution (aka. distro), there is a multitude of options available. This can make it cumbersome when trying to make a decision on which one to use. However, two tried and true options customers tend to choose between are:

• CentOS
• Ubuntu

Whether you’re planning to set up a virtual private server or dedicated server, choosing between CentOS and Ubuntu has probably crossed your mind. In this post, we’ll go over some of the differences and similarities between both Linux distros and by the end, you should have a better idea of which one will suit your needs.

Overview of CentOS

CentOS is essentially the free version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). RHEL is a commercial product that comes with paid support while CentOS is maintained by the community. CentOS is well-known for being both stable, secure, and is commonly used in enterprise-class environments. A reason for this is due to the fact that their release cycle is quite infrequent (happening only every 2-3 years).

Furthermore, every version of CentOS is maintained for 7-10 years meaning that you don’t have to worry about a major upgrade any time soon if you’re using a recent version of CentOS.

Overview of Ubuntu

Option number two is Ubuntu. Ubuntu is based on the Debian architecture and is commonly used in both personal computers as well as server environments. Ubuntu is known for its frequent release cycles and cutting-edge features. However, frequent updates and a variety of features can lead to instability in some cases and it can take a greater amount of support to stay up to date with the latest release cycle.

That being said, it’s incredibly powerful and is extremely versatile.

Differences between CentOS vs Ubuntu

To help lay out the differences and similarities between both popular Linux distributions, we’ve put together a comparison table below. Thanks to This Hosting Rocks for compiling a number of the comparison points below:

Features	CentOS	Ubuntu
Based On	RHEL	Debian
Release Cycle	Shorter	Longer
Market Share	6.8% (as of Aug 2018)	14.1% (as of Aug 2018)
Security	Secure out of the box	Less secure out of the box
Support/Community	Smaller user and developer community (not as much documentation)	Larger user and developer community (much more documentation and tutorials)
cPanel Support	Supports cPanel/WHM	None. Alternatives available
Package Command	RPM and YUM	apt-get
Difficulty	Larger learning curve as there are no desktop releases by RHEL	Easier for those who have used Ubuntu on their PC in the past
Stability	Arguably more stable as there are fewer updates	More frequently updated which can cause stability issues

In terms of how the usage of both Linux distributions are trending, we can reference the historical graph provided by W3Techs below.

As we can tell, Ubuntu is trending slightly upwards while CentOS is trending slightly downwards. Additionally, the graph below shows that although Ubuntu isn’t used by the most number of sites, it is used by the most highly trafficked sites overall. Furthermore, Ubuntu is ahead of CentOS in terms of both the number of sites that use it overall as well as the number of high traffic sites.

Which one should you use?

Overall, both CentOS and Ubuntu are great Linux distributions. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses but it really comes down to what your goals are, what you’re used to, and your own personal preference when deciding which distro to go with.

Ubuntu is a good choice for those who want the latest and greatest features. It’s also backed by a much larger community so if you need help with something, there are plenty of tutorials and resources available. The only thing is, with many more features and frequent updates, things can become slightly more cumbersome.

CentOS is a good choice for business or enterprises that don’t need to have the latest features at their disposal and would rather not worry about frequent updates or their current release becoming unsupported. Since CentOS releases are supported for 7-10 years, this distro makes for a great solution for those who don’t have many support resources available or feel the need to update as frequently. CentOS is also the right choice for those who prefer to use cPanel over any other administrative panel, or lack thereof.

Summary

Hopefully, this guide has helped you in deciding which Linux distribution is right for you: CentOS vs Ubuntu. They each have their own set of pros and cons, however, are both great solutions in their own respects. If you’re still on the fence about which one to choose, why not try both and see which one suits you best?

CentOS vs. Ubuntu: Everything You Need to Know

Despite the numerous variants available, the industry is dominated by two main Linux distributions: CentOS and Ubuntu. Both are fantastic choices for any system, and each distro has its own set of advantages.

Today, we will compare CentOS and Ubuntu Linux distributions based on their development platform, features, pros and cons, and the idea behind their creation. It is difficult to find a better operating system for personal or business use, no matter how skilled you are. So, let’s start this journey with a short overview.

Overview of CentOS and Ubuntu:

CentOS:

CentOS was created as a part of the CentOS project by Red Hat Enterprise Linux. In the year 2004, it was first released in the software market. It is a community-driven free software project built to provide a robust platform for the open source communities to grow. CentOS is also a development environment for most hosting communities, cloud providers, scientific data processing, etc. The developers of CentOS collaborate with several upstream communities to help them distribute and layer their software conclusively on a stable platform.

CentOS allows you to develop in one of the best and most powerful available distributions. It is highly adaptable, as well as safe and robust. It features several corporate-level security updates that declare it an excellent choice for any user. For web servers, CentOS become the most popular Linux distro in 2010. However, it loses its popularity in 2012, as Debian increased its acceptance level by adding new features.

In the following year, the objective of the CentOS developers is to build CentOS Linux as a ruling community platform for expanding the new open source technologies from other projects such as OpenStack.

Ubuntu:

In 2004, Linux was already established, but this operating system was distributed among the various unsupported community and proprietary editions. At the time, Mark Shuttleworth created a small Debian developers team who worked hard and founded Canonical. After that, they decided to develop an easy-to-use Linux desktop which is now called Ubuntu. As soon as the first release of Ubuntu was launched, people were fascinated globally because thousands of specialists ad software fans were switching to Ubuntu.

Ubuntu now comes in dozens of specialized derivatives and a variety of flavors. This distribution is entirely free to use and available in over 55 different languages. Ubuntu is diverse in terms of features and package groups that can accommodate any project needs. This significant Linux distribution is mainly utilized for running web servers and employed in large-scale developments. Ubuntu has launched many distinct editions in the market that comprise its usage on the cloud, server, and desktop. Talking about the safety it provides, Ubuntu offers full disk encryption and the facility to encrypt the private and home directories.

Pros and cons of Ubuntu and CentOS:

Linux Distribution	Pros	Cons
Ubuntu	Ubuntu is a freely available, open-source Linux distribution.	Ubuntu must be installed separately as it does not comes as pre-installed in the newer PCs.
	It has broad community support and also extends tutorials from the user’s point of view.	Due to frequent updates, sometimes the Ubuntu system becomes more vulnerable to web threats.
	Ubuntu can provide a lot of user-specific storage management and driver allocation features to the end-users.	Its hardware support is limited, which raise many questions in the mind of end-users.
	It is also compatible with the external drive, external storage, and USB ports.	The hardware faults make it unstable sometimes.
	For a better customer experience, it provides a lot of pre-installed software to the end-users.
CentOS	A free form of the well-known RHEL. Each version lasts up to ten years and also provides security updates for seven to ten years.	CentOS is less compatible if we talk about its support for entertainment and gaming.
	CentOS is based on the Linux framework.	It is not very much user friendly as other Linux distros are.
	For enterprise workloads, it is dependable.	It provides less technical support compared to Ubuntu.
	Less exposed to cyber threats.	It usually doesn’t offer a lot of help when it comes to storage management and drives creation.
	It also gives administrative.

There is a possibility that someone considers a specific Linux distro as a “Perfect distribution” for them, but based on your requirements, that distro might not suit you. It makes sense, right? That’s why we are here to help you choose the distribution that is most appropriate for you. So let’s look deep down into the core of Ubuntu and CentOS.

First of all, we will check out the most significant difference between both Linux distros:

CentOS: an RHEL- based Linux distro

CentOS is a replacement for all of the Red Hat Branding. Anything executable on RHEL is also compatible with CentOS. In 1995, the first Red Hat distribution was released in the software market, followed by RHEL in 2000. After some years, the team decides to merged RHEL with the Fedora project; that’s how the Fedora distro was created in 2003. In the following year, CentOS was developed based on RHEL. However, CentOS appeared to be more focused on the server sector.

Ubuntu: a Debian-based Linux distro

In 1996, the first stable version of Debian was released, and then in 2004, Ubuntu was introduced. As compared to CentOS, Ubuntu is more desktop-oriented. However, the packages in this distribution are based on the unstable Debian branch packages, which might not be binary compatible. In that case, those packages are required to be rebuilt to use on Ubuntu.

Now, we will compare both Linux distributions based on various factors:

System:

CentOS and Ubuntu are both Linux distributions, which means they share many of the same essential components. However, there are distinctions between their management tools.

For instance, manipulating network interfaces is done with the same tools, such as ifconfig, ip, etc. In addition, to maintaining those interfaces as more accessible, both distributions provided assistance programs. However, the distributions differ in terms of available tools. As a result, some distribution-specific knowledge is difficult to transfer between these two distros.

Repositories:

Ubuntu has enormous software repositories. It handles a wide range of use cases and audiences which is also a reason for its popularity. In addition, it provides excellent support for third parties and the community. For Ubuntu, there exist a countless number of additional repositories.

In this case, CentOS has fewer targeted repositories. Thus, you will have difficulty setting up a general-purpose desktop with CentOS, but you will not have any trouble setting up a CentOS server.

Packaging:

CentOS uses the RPM package format. To manage packages, a tool called rpm is utilized in Centos distro. Also, for managing dependencies, network repositories, and other combinations of activities, a front-end program named yum was built, updated to dnf in CentOS 8.

Ubuntu utilizes the DEB package manager. It manages DEB packages with apt, similar to where the top of the rpm is layered with dnf/yum.

Both tools handle package interactions, which permits you to conduct most of your work with just one tool. In addition, you will only need to employ the underlying programs for managing packages.

Community:

The Ubuntu community is quite active, and it offers support, assistance, and tutorials on forums, within smaller groups, and at community forums. This contributes to Ubuntu’s suitability for newcomers, as this makes it much easier to solve difficulties when there is a large and eager community to help.

CentOS has a smaller user base of 17.5% market share as compared to Ubuntu. This Linux distro is developed aimed at enterprise use, making it difficult for beginners to understand it. There are active community forums, but they are not owned and managed by the government and exist independently. As a result, finding online support and tutorials is much challenging.

Release Cycle:

Although both Ubuntu and CentOS have server releases, their processes and release cycles are substantially different. After every six months or so, Ubuntu releases a new version in the market. These versions target desktop users, and they are not built to be supported for a long time. At the same time, a long-term support release occurs every fifth release. Also, Canonical offers support contracts for these every five years.

Every three to four years, a new version of CentOS is released. Because these versions are considered as a clone, it follows RHEL release schedule. In addition, CentOS is released immediately whenever RHEL released its version. Each of these releases offers long-term support for about ten years.

Performance:

Both CentOS and Ubuntu can be used for web hosting, corporate servers, and business websites. However, CentOS offers excellent benefits due to its outstanding performance.

As you may be aware of the fact that CentOS does not provide frequent updates. The rationale for this feature is that it takes a long time for the CentOS developers to update or test each new version. Therefore, when they release a new version following their methodology, it is more safe and stable. Furthermore, the majority of control panels only support CentOS. CentOS is superior to Ubuntu at handling many clients and control panels in web hosting.

Corporate Backing:

Major corporations support both Ubuntu and CentOS, although the support nature varies significantly. Ubuntu is the main product of Canonical. Canonical’s team is working hard to provide a Ubuntu software ecosystem and an entire community. They also set up their release schedule to facilitate this. At this moment, Official support is available for Ubuntu LTS releases.

The CentOS Project is owned by Redhat, which provides its knowledge and many other resources. Anyhow, that’s where the story ends. CentOS is obliged to adapt to the work that has already been done on RHEL. CentOS engineers strive to make it as near to an exact clone of RHEL as possible, which also guarantees that all RHEL knowledge can be transferred.

Ease of use:

CentOS has a limited number of guidelines and tutorials available online. Despite this, most experienced Linux users prefer CentOS over other distros, mainly if they are familiar with the architecture of Red Hat Linux. In addition, CentOS is used by the majority of web servers nowadays.

Whereas Ubuntu is one of the most user-friendly and most straightforward Linux distributions. This is because the Canonical team that works on it is more concerned about its usability. With Ubuntu Server, you get a Graphical User Interface that you may install later and control your server more efficiently. You can also utilize the Terminal for executing other programs. However, CentOS also includes control panel utilities such as cPanel, which is considered essential for web hosting services.

Cloud Deployment:

Ubuntu is well-known in the Linux industry for its outstanding container virtualization capabilities. Moreover, the Ubuntu development team has declared full enterprise support for Charmed Kubernetes, kubeadm deployments, MicroK8s, Kubernetes 1.15, and the widespread single-node Kubernetes deployment in June 2019. As a result, Ubuntu Server has become a more dependable operating system for cloud installations, and its market share has grown a lot till now.

CentOS isn’t far behind in this regard. It keeps up with Ubuntu by offering three private cloud options and a public cloud platform through Amazon Web Services. It also provides a mature platform and comprehensive documentation using which users may expand their features.

Want to know more about how Ubuntu and CentOS vary as Linux distros? Then, check out the below-given table:

Comparison of CentOS and Ubuntu based on features:

Features

CentOS

Ubuntu

Recommendations:

Both of these Linux distributions are open source and completely free to use. You can operate your system with one of the two distributions, depending on your requirements and preferences.

• Ubuntu is a better choice if you are a newbie because it offers a large community, a great library of free tutorials, and more frequent updates to keep you informed. Furthermore, if you’ve used Ubuntu desktop before, there would not be much of a learning hurdle when starting with an Ubuntu VPS server. Although CentOS is also a feasible option, if you are a beginner, then it may provide some learning challenges to you at first.
• CentOS is the better option if you run a business because it is more safe and stable than Ubuntu due to its updates of lower frequency. Of course, Ubuntu has its advantages, but there may exist cases where you need to restore to an earlier version because of a new buggy update. In addition, CentOS includes cPanel support, while Ubuntu does not.

It’s all about your decision, primarily based on personal preference. Before making a decision, you can employ virtualization technology to evaluate both of them.

Conclusion:

It’s never easy to decide which Linux distribution is best between CentOS and Ubuntu. Both of these distros are open-source, free, and supported by the community. Their performance, dependability, and stability are essentially identical, almost creating a CentOS vs. Ubuntu war. This article compared CentOS and Ubuntu Linux distribution based on their development platform, features, pros and cons, and the idea behind their creation. Now the decision of choosing between these distros is totally on your shoulders.

About the author

Talha Saif Malik

Talha is a contributor at Linux Hint with a vision to bring value and do useful things for the world. He loves to read, write and speak about Linux, Data, Computers and Technology.

Чем отличается ubuntu от centos

Home / Dedicated Servers / CentOS vs Ubuntu: Choose the Best OS for Your Web Server

Linux is an open-source operating system currently powering most of the Internet. There are hundreds of different versions of Linux. For web servers, the two most popular versions are Ubuntu and CentOS. Both are open-source and free community-supported operating systems.

Don’t know whether to use CentOS or Ubuntu for your server? The following article compares the two principal Linux distributions to help you examine their strengths and weaknesses and decide on the best solution for you.

What is CentOS?

CentOS (Community Enterprise Operating System) is a free, open-source Linux distribution. This community-built software project, created by Red Hat Enterprise Linux, was initially released in 2004. The first release was forked from RHEL version 2.1AS using its source code. It provided an enterprise-level computing platform freely available for anyone to use. A new version of CentOS has been released after each new RHEL distribution with a one-to-two-month lag as a downstream community project.

Note: In 2020. Red Hat announced that CentOS 8 is the last downstream release and introduced CentOS Stream as its successor. Learn more about this transition in CentOS 8 EOL and CentOS Stream or check out our article on CentOS alternatives.

As it is secure and highly customizable, CentOS proved to be a robust platform used by many hosting and cloud providers. It continued the tradition started by Red Hat, providing an extremely stable and thoroughly tested operating system. Additionally, its corporate-level security updates and previously mentioned features earned this operating system the title of one of the most popular Linux distributions in 2010. Its popularity declined slightly in 2012 after Debian introduced its new appealing features.

What is Ubuntu?

Ubuntu is a free, open-source Linux distribution based on Debian. It was first published in 2004; however, it was only distributed among proprietary editions and unsupported communities. Everything changed when Mark Shuttleworth founded Canonical and gathered a small group of Debian developers to create a user-friendly Linux desktop. As a result, they introduced Ubuntu – an easy-to-use solution for the everyday user.

Ubuntu is released in three editions (Desktop, Server, and Core) all of which can run on a standalone computer or in a virtual machine.

This operating system provides a lot of pre-installed software, a user-friendly GUI, full drive encryption, and a great customer experience. Due to its features and support, it became the most widely used Linux workstation platform. It is a popular choice for running web servers (as part of the LAMP stack), OpenStack projects, and comes pre-installed on many computers (including Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Asus).

CentOS vs. Ubuntu: Comparison

One key feature for CentOS and Ubuntu is that they are both free. You can download a copy for no charge and install it on your own cheap dedicated server.

Each version can be distributed or downloaded to a USB drive, which you can boot into without making permanent changes to your operating system. A bootable drive allows you to take the system for a test run before installing it.

Now, take a look at how CentOS and Ubuntu differ according to the following criteria.

Point of Comparison	CentOS	Ubuntu
System	Based on Red Hat.	Based on Debian.
Package Management	RPM package format where packages are managed with yum / dnf .	DEB package format where packages are managed with apt / apt-get .
Updates	Less frequent.	Frequent.
Security	Strong.	Good, but requires additional configuration.
Support	Has a 10-year support lifecycle, good documentation, and a smaller yet active support community.	Has a 5-year support lifecycle, excellent documentation, and a large active support community.
Usability	Has a learning curve if the user has no experience working with RHEL. Requires a certain level of technical skills.	Very user-friendly and straightforward. Excellent for new and less experienced users.

System

The system core is the main difference between these popular Linux distributions. CentOS is forked from RHEL as a downstream community project, whereas Ubuntu is Debian-based, created, and supported by Canonical.

Package Management

CentOS utilizes the RPM package manager for installing, building, and verifying packaged software. It works with the .rpm file format and a front-end tool for managing packages called YUM (DNF in CentOS 8) .

Ubuntu and other Debian Linux distributions use the DEB package management system. It includes software for installing, removing, and providing information about .deb packages known as dpkg. Packages have the .deb extension and are managed by APT – a command line tool that works as a front-end for dpkg.

Updates

Unlike Ubuntu, CentOS does not have frequent updates due to the extensive testing on each component before release. New versions are developed and tested for extended periods, which is why some developers consider it to be more stable and secure. On the other hand, this implies the operating system may be running more mature software versions than Ubuntu would. Also, the slow release cycle means a lack of access to third-party software updates. You may need to manually install third-party software or updates if they haven’t made it into the repository.

Ubuntu allows you to maintain the latest software with its frequent updates. Because of the frequent updates, Ubuntu often includes newer software into newer releases. That can be fun for playing with new options and technology, but it can also create conflicts with existing software and configurations.

Security

Both Linux distributions are considered secure and stable, but there are slight differences between them. CentOS is less prone to cyber threats as it goes through three layers of security patches. Also, it includes a number of corporate-level security updates, enhancing its stability even more.

Ubuntu disables the root user by default and encourages using sudo to prevent potential breaches. Like CentOS, it performs security patches well, however, it is more prone to web threats due to its frequent updates.

Note: Ensure your Ubuntu system stays protected with the latest security packages at all times by setting up and enabling automatic security updates.

Support

When it comes to support, Ubuntu has the upper hand with its excellent documentation, extensive support community, and a myriad of tutorials. CentOS doesn’t lag far behind and has good documentation and a smaller yet active support community.

Ubuntu publishes a Long-Term Support (LTS) release every two years, and each LTS release receives five years of support. Canonical commits to update, patch, and maintain the software during this period. After that, users can subscribe to Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) which provides an additional five years of security maintenance for the Ubuntu base OS.

Major releases of CentOS are maintained for ten years. This has been the practice for all versions until Red Hat announced its switch to CentOS Stream and declared an early end of life (EOL) for CentOS 8.

Usability

The Canonical team developed Ubuntu focused on creating an easy-to-use Linux. Therefore, Ubuntu gets high marks for its user-friendliness when it comes to usability. This straightforward distribution allows you to install a graphical user interface on a server for easier management. The GUI is intuitive and easy to manage, with a handy search function. Running utilities from the command line is straightforward. Most commands will suggest the proper usage, and the sudo command is easy to use to resolve “Access denied” errors.

Ubuntu Linux offers a more seamless software installation process. Most commonly used software and operating system features are included and updated automatically.

Ubuntu is a better choice for less experienced users, whereas working on CentOS requires some technical skills and is typically for more advanced users. Still, CentOS does include certain tools to simplify working on the platform, such as the cPanel control.

With CentOS built around the Red Hat architecture, many old-school Linux users find it more familiar and comfortable.

CentOS vs. Ubuntu: Use Cases

Both Linux distributions have appealing features and offer robust platforms for developing, web hosting, and cloud computing. Over the years, one distro proved to perform better in certain use cases and scenarios over the other.

CentOS

CentOS is often used by system administrators who want to manage web hosting services with a control panel. Ubuntu does not support cPanel, whereas CentOS offers compatibility with cPanel, Webmin, DirectAdmin, and other management panels.

It’s been mostly implemented in high-end corporate IT applications. Additionally, medium and larger-sized businesses opt for this operating system instead of other Linux distributions as it is a mature, stable platform with good documentation.

CentOS releases updates much slower than other Linux variants. If you have a strong business need for stability or your environment is not tolerant of change, this can be more helpful than a faster release schedule.

CentOS is not as popular for gaming as Ubuntu. If you’ve used CentOS for your server, try the Fedora-based distribution for gaming. It’s called Fedora Games Spin, and it’s the preferred Linux distribution for gaming servers for CentOS/RedHat/Fedora Linux users.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is most commonly used by less experienced system admins, users who appreciate a GUI or run smaller private servers. Although it doesn’t support cPanel, it has alternatives such as VestCP and Webmin to simplify web hosting management.

Also, the cloud market is dominated by Ubuntu as it greatly supports cloud deployment and container virtualization. Canonical Kubernetes is built on Ubuntu, the reference platform on all major public clouds. June 2019, Canonical announced full enterprise support for Kubernetes 1.15 kubeadm deployments, its Charmed Kubernetes, and MicroK8s; the popular single-node deployment of Kubernetes.

Most of the best gaming distros are Debian/Ubuntu-based, so it is a popular choice for game servers.

PhoenixNAP’s Bare Metal Cloud platform supports automated deployments of both Ubuntu and CentOS. Ubuntu servers are deployed and available in under 2 minutes.
Mix and match 20 pre-configured instance types and create a robust environment that is fine-tuned to your compute, memory, storage, and networking needs.

CentOS vs. Ubuntu Final Words

Your decision should reflect the needs of your web server and usage. Additionally, you can learn more about web servers by reading our comparison article App Servers vs Web Servers.

If you are a beginner or like implementing new software and technology as it’s released, you might lean towards Ubuntu. CentOS might be a better fit if you’re a seasoned pro or hate dealing with updates breaking your server.

Both are approximately equal in security, stability, and functionality – Let us help you choose the system that will serve your business best.

If you want to find out more about other types of Server OS and how to choose, read our article on server operating systems.

And for more comparisons between the most commonly used distributions, check our article Debian vs. Ubuntu.

CentOS vs Ubuntu: 15 Factors to Consider!

Today we will be reviewing the major differences between CentOS and Ubuntu in a web hosting environment. Although this is not a fully comprehensive analysis of every single aspect of the numerous in-depth features of each operating system, it should provide a solid overview which will allow you to choose which system is best suited for your needs. Without further ado, let’s jump right in…

Ubuntu

Wikipedia defines Ubuntu as follows:
“ Ubuntu is a free and open-source Linux distribution (that’s) based on Debian. Ubuntu is officially released in three variants: Desktop, Server, and Core: (for the internet of things devices and robots). All the editions can run on a standalone computer, or in Windows. Ubuntu is a popular operating system for cloud computing, with support for OpenStack. Ubuntu is released every six months, with(LTvarientsS) long-term support releases every two years. The latest release is (“Disco Dingo”) version 19.04 , and the most recent long-term support release is(“Bionic Beaver”) 18.04 LTS , which is supported until 2023 under public support and, until 2028 as a paid option.

CentOS

Wikipedia defines CentOS as follows:
“CentOS (from Community Enterprise Operating System) is a Linux distribution that provides a free, community-supported, enterprise-class, computing platform compatible with its upstream source, (RHEL) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. In January 2014, CentOS announced the official affiliation with Red Hat while staying independent fromRed Hat Enterprise Linux, under a new CentOS governing board. The first CentOS was released in May 2004, (and numbered as CentOS version 2), was forked from Redhat (RHEL) version 2.1AS… (The) building of CentOS 8 commenced as of May 2019.

Comparison

Based on Debian	Based on Redhat
Often	Deliberately Infrequent
Good (but requires additional configuration)	Strong
Excellent documentation and support community	Good documentation. Small but active user community.
Geared more towards the desktop user	Geared towards the server market and preferred by larger corporations
Moderate	Challenging
Both use the same basic file/folder structure but, system services will differ in location	Both use the same basic file/folder structure but, system services will differ in location
apt-get, aptitude	YUM
OpenStack	OpenStack, OpenNebula, CloudStack
KVM, Xen	Native KVM Support
Moderate	Difficult
Excellent (depends on HW used)	Excellent (depends on HW used)
37.8% (7/19)	17.3% (7/19)
Frequently Updated	Infrequent Updates (only as required)
Good	High

Pros & Cons:

Hosting

Currently, (as of 7/2019), Ubuntu, Debian, and CentOS are the primary operating systems being utilized today in the hosting market. Granted, many of the Ubuntu server OS’s in use may be tied to smaller private servers that are running SMB’s type sites/servers but, the sheer volume of servers utilizing Ubuntu exemplifies the growing acceptance of Ubuntu as a primary OS in the web hosting sphere. Both Google Trends and StackExchange also provides a reliable comparison in the breakdown of usage between these two systems.

If you would like to utilize a control panel to manage your web hosting services, you should closely review CentOS, as it offers the most compatibility with different management panels that you may need. Web hosting control panels like cPanel, Webmin and DIrectAdmin have always been focused on CentOS and other RedHat based operating systems. Unfortunately, Ubuntu does not support cPanel but does have quite a few alternatives, such as Webmin/Virtualmin and VestaCP.

CentOS is also constructed to be very stable and secure but as a result, many of the core systems may run older, more mature software versions with security updates that are backported from Redhat as needed. CentOS is also a solid choice for medium-large sized businesses and, websites that require cPanel. While the CentOS user base is smaller than Ubuntu, CentOS still houses an online community and also provides premium support options if you so desire.

The Cloud

Ubuntu servers have excellent support for container virtualization as well as cloud deployment which shows its influence in the market compared to CentOS. As of June 2019, “Canonical announced full enterprise support for Kubernetes 1.15 kubeadm deployments, its Charmed Kubernetes, and MicroK8s; the popular single-node deployment of Kubernetes.“ 1 Not to be outdone, CentOS offers three private cloud managed hosting choices as well as a public cloud platform through AWS. CentOS provides a mature platform in this area and offers excellent documentation. The chart below identifies the overall usage of cloud-based preferences as of June 2019 via EC2 Statistics compiled from Amazon.

Gaming

Steam provides comparisons on their gaming platforms noting the number of users that run Ubuntu on their systems. Currently, over 30% percent of all Steam users are running on Ubuntu, followed by 49% of other different Linux distros. Granted, gaming on Linux is not entirely related to the hosting industry but, it does show how widely Ubuntu is accepted and used across multiple sectors.

Web Hosting

To revisit this area once more, we want to emphasize that if you are just beginning in your hosting experience, we would suggest going with Ubuntu simply because of its larger community supported user base, the extensive accumulation of tutorials and documentation available and, more frequent updates which can help you in maintaining the latest software. Ubuntu has other positives in this space as well but, there may be some scenarios where you may need to roll back to an older software version because updates may cause problems with existing sites. Additionally, if you have utilized an Ubuntu desktop in the past, you should not find it to be a very steep learning curve when starting with an Ubuntu based VPS server.

Because Ubuntu updates more often than CentOS, it does not necessarily mean that CentOS is less stable or secure. Those ongoing modifications can come at a cost though especially if a newer software version of a core Ubuntu system is updated, it may cripple existing websites that may depend on the older software version which in turn may impact functionality and/or stability. Also, with regard to security, Ubuntu does force the use of sudo initially as the main user and, disables the root user by default. This limits the possibility of running commands that may be harmful to the system.

CentOS is a solid, viable choice as well but, it might present a more difficult learning curve when starting out if you are new to Linux hosting. If you run a business, a Dedicated CentOS Server may be the better choice between the two operating systems because, it’s (arguably) more secure and stable than Ubuntu, due to the reserved nature and the lower frequency of its updates. Additionally, CentOS also provides support for cPanel which Ubuntu lacks.

Centos is designed to be stable and secure, but as a result, many services running on the server tend to be older versions with backported security fixes applied. Also, once CentOS freezes a version number, they will not provide further improvements except for security updates and major bug fixes. This is a definite positive for stability and security but, this can be bad for services like PHP or MySQL, or other standard software the server uses that are rapidly developed and may evolve over the 5-year distribution period. One solution to this concern may be to simply add additional software mirrors to solve this type of issue if needed.

After reviewing these options, it truly does come down to the purpose of the server, how it is going to be utilized for each OS, as well as the size of your business and, your technical knowledge. For small firms as well as those new to hosting, Ubuntu seems to be the safest choice and given its huge user community base, the significant number of resources that are available online, in addition to the tutorials and, their online forums, including a substantial community of open-source developers. This allows for locating solutions to problems that much quicker. In conclusion, each OS distribution has its positives and negatives so whichever version you select, ensure it meets all of your business requirements, needs, and demands.