CentOS

The Community ENTerprise Operating System: a free rebuild of RHEL that powered a large share of web servers until it was discontinued in favour of CentOS Stream.

Discontinued
Latest 8 (2111)Nov 2021

Download Official site 124 CentOS guides

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At a glance

Type: Linux distribution
Developer: The CentOS Project
Based on: Red Hat Enterprise Linux
First release: 2004
Release cadence: Followed RHEL major releases (ended 2024)
OS family: Linux
Package format: RPM (YUM, later DNF)
Init system: systemd (CentOS 7 and 8)
Architectures: x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le
Successors: CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux
License: Free software
Website: centos.org

Newest release

CentOS 8

Released 24 Sep 2019 · latest update 8 (2111)

Support status

No version of CentOS receives free updates any more.

8 End of life

Ended 31 Dec 2021 · 4.5 years ago

Release history

Version	Released	Latest	Active support	Security / EOL	Status
8	24 Sep 2019	8 (2111)	31 Dec 2021	31 Dec 2021	End of life
7	7 Jul 2014	7 (2009)	6 Aug 2020	30 Jun 2024	End of life
6	10 Jul 2011	6.10	10 May 2017	30 Nov 2020	End of life
5	12 Apr 2007	5.11	31 Jan 2014	31 Mar 2017	End of life

Release data: endoflife.date and vendor announcements, checked 13 Nov 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Support timeline

The 4 most recent releases, from release day to the end of support.

Active support
Security fixes only
Today

History

CentOS, short for Community ENTerprise Operating System, rebuilt Red Hat Enterprise Linux from its public source code without Red Hat branding. For about 15 years it was the free way to run RHEL-compatible servers, and many hosting companies, control panels such as cPanel and countless tutorials were built around it.

Red Hat took over the project in 2014. In 2019 it introduced CentOS Stream, a continuously updated distribution that sits just ahead of RHEL. In December 2020 it announced that CentOS Linux 8 would end years early, on 31 December 2021. CentOS Linux 7 followed on 30 June 2024. Users who still need a RHEL-compatible free system have moved to Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, Oracle Linux or CentOS Stream.

Milestones

2004CentOS starts as a free rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux source code
2011Long delays to CentOS 6 push some users to Scientific Linux
2014Red Hat hires the core CentOS team and the project joins Red Hat
2019CentOS Stream is announced next to CentOS 8
2020Red Hat announces CentOS Linux 8 will end in 2021 instead of 2029
2021CentOS Linux 8 reaches end of life on 31 December
2024CentOS Linux 7, the last CentOS Linux release, reaches end of life on 30 June