Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux is ranked #2 of 41 in operating systems on The Geeks Club. It runs on Linux, Self-hosted, Windows. There is a free plan.

Rocky Linux plans and pricing

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Rocky Linux Free at no cost · 10-year support lifecycle · community supported rockylinux.org · 1 Oct 2026

Compared on operating systems

Free plan: Yes
Device types: Servers, workstations/desktops, Raspberry Pi, virtual machines, cloud instances, containers
CPU architectures: x86-64-v3, riscv64, aarch64, ppc64le, s390x (Rocky Linux 10); support varies by release
Support lifecycle: Major releases: 10 years total, with 5 years active support and 5 years security support; only the latest minor release is supported
Built-in management: DNF package management and upgrade commands
App compatibility: RHEL-compatible software environment; RPM packages and DNF package manager
Deployment models: Physical installation media, generic cloud images, AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Docker OCI, WSL

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Rocky Linux

Purpose: Rocky Linux is an open-source enterprise operating system designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Source base: Rocky Linux rebuilds sources directly from Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Production readiness: The project describes Rocky Linux as production ready with regular updates and a 10-year support lifecycle.
Migration: Rocky Linux supports migration from other Enterprise Linux distributions.
Governance: The Rocky Linux project is hosted by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation.
Origin: Gregory Kurtzer announced Rocky Linux in December 2020 after Red Hat announced the end of CentOS development.
Distribution formats: Rocky releases provide boot, minimal, DVD, live desktop, cloud, container, and Windows Subsystem for Linux images.
Cloud availability: Official cloud images include Generic Cloud and EC2 images, and the download page lists AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure offerings.
Supported architectures: Rocky Linux 10 supports x86-64-v3, riscv64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x.
Release lifecycle: Rocky Linux 10 has general support through May 31, 2030 and security support through May 31, 2035.
Security features: Rocky Linux 10.1 enables post-quantum cryptography algorithms by default in system-wide cryptographic policies and supports ML-KEM hybrid key exchange in FIPS mode.
Security repository: Rocky Linux provides an optional opt-in security repository for urgent fixes ahead of upstream, without support guarantees for that development repository.
Community support: Community support is available through Mattermost, IRC, forums, Reddit, and mailing lists.
Commercial support: Commercial support providers listed by Rocky Linux include CIQ, MontaVista, and OpenLogic by Perforce.
Price from: Free

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Where it ranks on The Geeks Club

Best Operating Systems in 2026#2 of 41

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Sources

rockylinux.org· checked 1 Oct 2026
rockylinux.org/about· checked 1 Oct 2026
docs.rockylinux.org/latest/teams/rel_eng/image/· checked 1 Oct 2026
rockylinux.org/download· checked 1 Oct 2026
docs.rockylinux.org/latest/releases/· checked 1 Oct 2026
docs.rockylinux.org/latest/releases/release_notes/10_1/· checked 1 Oct 2026
rockylinux.org/news/2026-05-14-introducing-security-re· checked 1 Oct 2026
docs.rockylinux.org/latest/teams/rel_eng/support/· checked 1 Oct 2026
rockylinux.org/support/support-providers· checked 1 Oct 2026
docs.rockylinux.org/latest/releases/release_notes/10_0/· checked 1 Oct 2026