CentOS vs Ubuntu

Difference Between CentOS and Ubuntu

CentOS vs Ubuntu are the two of the famous operating systems for the web servers in the Software Operation Market. CentOS is basically based on the Linux framework and a Linux distribution to implement a free, community-supported computing platform that is compatible with the corresponding upstream source, Red Hat Linux. Ubuntu is basically an open-sourced and Linux distribution that is based on Debian. It is one of the popular operating systems for the cloud. It generally runs from the desktop to the cloud to almost all the applicable internet-connected things.

What is CentOS?

Centos is based on Linux distribution, which provides the computing platform and functionally compatible with its upstream source. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux developed it as part of the Centos project. It was initially released in the year 2004. Centos becomes the most popular Linux distribution in 2010 for web servers, but later on, in 2012, it again reduces its popularity as Debian retook its popularity again by adding new features. Centos gives the freedom to develop in a dominant and one of the best Linux distributions out there. Centos is highly customizable, secure and stable as well. It has quite a few security corporate level updates, making it the best choice to use for each and every user. Centos uses the Red hat Yum, the update package manager as with the help of which it handles the update automatically whenever the new software has been installed.

Pros

1. It is based on a Linux framework
2. It is very secured and less prone to any cyber threats
3. It also provides administrative from the system admin support perspective

Cons

1. It is not user friendly
2. From the gaming and entertainment support perspective, it’s less compatible.
3. It normally doesn’t have that much support from the driver creation and storage management perspective.
4. From the technical support perspective, it is also a little bit on a lesser side than that of Ubuntu’s support.

What is Ubuntu?

Ubuntu was developed by Canonical Ltd, which is the Ubuntu community. It is free. It is available in more than 55 languages. It was initially released in the year 2004. Ubuntu has a rich set of package groups and features that can meet any type of requirement for the project. Ubuntu is mainly popular for running web servers, and it is used as most considerably another Linux distribution. It is the most popular among the top 1000 sites. It is being used in large-scale deployments as well. It is highly secured, and it supports full-disk encryption as well as other encryption like the directories of home and private. Ubuntu has released its many or different variants in the market to use over a period of time for the desktop, server, and cloud.

Pros

1. It is open-sourced and free of charge.
2. It provides lots of pre-installed software to the end-users for a better customer experience.
3. It provides driver allocation and user-specific storage management features to the end-users.
4. It also provides external storage, USB ports, and external drive supports.
5. It has large community support and extends tutorials from the user’s learning perspective.

Cons

1. It is a little bit perceptive to the hardware faults, and this sometimes makes it a bit unstable.
2. Hardware support is also not very large, and that sometimes creates doubts on end user’s minds.
3. In the case of Ubuntu, the security patches also do perform well, but sometimes due to frequent updates, it is more prone to web threats.
4. It normally doesn’t come installed in new age PCs, and one needs to install it separately.

Head To Head Comparison Between CentOS and Ubuntu (Infographics)

Below is the top 5 difference between CentOS vs Ubuntu

Key Differences Between CentOS and Ubuntu

Both are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major differences:

1. CentOS is based on a Linux framework and a Linux distribution to implement a free, community-supported computing platform that is compatible with the corresponding upstream source, Red hat Linux whereas Ubuntu is an open-sourced and Linux distribution that is based on Debian.
2. From the system stability perspective, CentOS is a more stable distribution than Ubuntu.
3. Ubuntu provides larger and extensive community support than CentOS.
4. From the learning perspective, Ubuntu has lots of tutorials and different extensive documentation for the basic knowledge purpose, whereas in the case of CentOS, due to a comparatively smaller community and lesser documentation support, it becomes a little bit difficult to progress the learning curve.
5. In the case of CentOS, the yum command can be used to download and RPM packages from the library, whereas in the case of Ubuntu DEB, packages can be downloaded using an apt-get package manager.
6. Ubuntu is less secure out of the box, whereas centos are more secure out of the box.
7. Ubuntu is easier for beginners as it has less learning curve. Centos has a great learning curve, and it is difficult to learn.
8. Ubuntu is mainly used by those who require great and latest features available frequently. Centos is a good choice for those who do not want to have frequent updates in the system.
9. Ubuntu has larger and massive repositories because of its popularity and online community. Centos has limited and targeted repositories. It will take a lot of time to set up the desktop with Centos.
10. Ubuntu always has newer packages, whereas Centos does not have new packages. It will maintain the old packages for the years.

CentOS vs Ubuntu Comparison Table

The primary comparison is discussed below:

The basis of comparison	CentOS	Ubuntu
Definition	CentOS is basically based on a Linux framework and a Linux distribution to implement a free, community-supported computing platform that is compatible with the corresponding upstream source, Red Hat Linux.	Ubuntu is basically an open-sourced and Linux distribution that is based on Debian. It is one of the popular operating systems for the cloud.
Architecture	CentOS architecture is mainly based on Red Hat’s source code to implement the core design similar to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and it is available free of charge.	Ubuntu packages are mainly created in the Debian format, and this package actually draws the basic architectural framework of Ubuntu in accordance with the continuous improvement on the same.
Support	There is a good amount of Community Support for CentOS and its end users. However, it is on a bit of the lower side than that of Ubuntu support.	Ubuntu server has large and extensive community support for the cloud deployments and also toward its end users, and thus it is superior to CentOS from the support perspective.
Learning	CentOS is mainly based on Red Hat Linux, and due to the presence of a smaller community and lesser available documentation, it is a little bit harder to learn than of Ubuntu.	In the case of Ubuntu, due to larger community support, it has a good amount of tutorials and books available in the market, and thus it has the upper hand that of CentOS from the learning perspective.
Security	In the case of CentOS, it is based on the Linux framework and thus is much secured and goes through 3 layers of security patches. It is also less prone to web security threats.	In the case of Ubuntu, the security patches also do perform well, but sometimes due to frequent updates, it is more prone to web threats. Also, sometimes it needs to be downgraded to lower versions due to the presence of recent buggy updates.

Conclusion

After comparing CentOS vs Ubuntu over a range of factors, it can be concluded that the two major operating systems, while setting up the webservers for application development but simultaneously have their own pros and cons. Thus, based on the type of project need, time of work, and other discussed aspects, any of these two should be selected to reach the desired goal.

Recommended Article

This has been a guide to the top difference between CentOS vs Ubuntu. Here we also discuss the key differences with infographics and comparison table. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

1. Redhat vs Ubuntu
2. Kali Linux vs Ubuntu
3. CentOS vs Debian
4. CentOS vs Fedora