Rocky Linux is a free, open-source enterprise operating system built to match Red Hat Enterprise Linux bug for bug. It rebuilds sources directly from Red Hat Enterprise Linux and supports migration from other Enterprise Linux distributions. The project describes it as production ready, with a 10-year lifecycle for major releases: five years of active support followed by five years of security support. Only the latest minor release is supported. Rocky Linux offers boot, minimal, DVD, live desktop, cloud, container, and Windows Subsystem for Linux images, with deployments for physical systems, cloud services, virtual machines, and containers. DNF manages packages and upgrades in its RPM-based, RHEL-compatible environment. Rocky Linux 10 supports x86-64-v3, riscv64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x; support varies by release. It requires x86-64-v3 on x86_64 and has no 32-bit compatibility packages. Major-release upgrades are not supported, so moving to version 10 requires a fresh installation. Community and commercial support options are available.
Who it is for
Rocky Linux suits organizations and individuals seeking a RHEL-compatible operating system for servers, workstations, cloud instances, containers, or other listed device types. It may fit teams that can use a fresh installation when moving between major releases.
What is good
- Free, open-source operating system.
- Ten-year lifecycle for major releases.
- Migrates from other Enterprise Linux distributions.
- Images cover cloud, containers, and WSL.
- Supports five listed architectures in version 10.
What to know first
- Major-version upgrades require a fresh installation.
- Rocky Linux 10 requires x86-64-v3 on x86_64.
- No 32-bit compatibility packages in version 10.
- Only the latest minor release is supported.
Verdict
Rocky Linux offers a free RHEL-compatible system with broad deployment formats and a long major-release lifecycle. Check architecture requirements and plan a fresh installation for major-version moves.
Rocky Linux plans and pricing
All plansCompared 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