AlmaLinux vs Rocky Linux: what’s actually different

If you’ve provisioned a VPS and been asked to pick between AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux, you’ve probably noticed that most comparisons online are oddly vague. That’s because, technically, there isn’t a huge amount to compare. Both are free, community-maintained, 1:1 binary-compatible rebuilds of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Same package manager, same commands, same compatibility with RHEL software and documentation. This post is about the differences that do exist, and being honest about the ones that don’t.

Why they both exist

For years, CentOS was the default “free RHEL” choice for people who wanted RHEL’s stability without RHEL’s licensing costs. That changed in December 2020, when Red Hat announced that CentOS Linux would be discontinued in favour of CentOS Stream – a rolling-release distribution that sits upstream of RHEL rather than downstream of it, and is not the same kind of stable rebuild CentOS Linux had been.

That announcement left a gap, and two separate projects moved to fill it almost immediately:

• Rocky Linux was founded by Gregory Kurtzer, one of the original co-founders of CentOS, specifically to continue the “free, stable, downstream RHEL clone” model CentOS had abandoned.
• AlmaLinux was founded by CloudLinux, a company that already built a commercial RHEL-based Linux product, and had an obvious interest in a free upstream base it could keep building on.

Both released their first stable versions in 2021, and both set out to do the same thing: track RHEL point releases closely, stay 1:1 binary compatible, and stay free forever.

Governance and backing: the real difference

This is where AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux genuinely diverge, even if the practical effect on you as a VPS user is small.

Rocky Linux is governed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF), a Delaware public benefit corporation. In November 2022, RESF ratified bylaws and a charter specifically designed to prevent any single company – including CIQ, the commercial support company Kurtzer also founded – from controlling the project. Each RESF project, including Rocky Linux, has its own elected project board with a seat on the foundation board.

AlmaLinux is governed by the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, a registered 501(c)(6) non-profit that owns all AlmaLinux assets (these were transferred over from CloudLinux after the project’s launch). CloudLinux, via its TuxCare division, funds the project with a committed $1 million annual endowment, but the Foundation states that CloudLinux doesn’t control it – governance sits with an elected board.

So both are non-profit-governed rather than directly company-owned, and both were set up explicitly in response to concerns about a single vendor controlling the project’s direction (a lesson learned the hard way from CentOS). The difference is really about lineage and who’s most visibly involved: Rocky Linux is closely associated with its CentOS co-founder heritage, AlmaLinux with its CloudLinux sponsorship and funding.

Day-to-day differences: honestly, almost none

If you SSH into a fresh AlmaLinux box and a fresh Rocky Linux box, you will struggle to tell them apart without checking /etc/os-release. Both:

• Use dnf as the package manager, with identical syntax – see our guide to managing packages with dnf if you’re new to it.
• Use firewalld for firewall management (see our firewalld basics post) and systemd for service management (see our systemd guide).
• Use the wheel group for sudo access.
• Ship the same major/minor kernel and package versions, tracking each new RHEL point release within days to weeks of each other.
• Are certified as 1:1 compatible with RHEL, meaning RHEL documentation, RPM packages built for RHEL, and third-party software that targets RHEL all work the same way on both.

There are minor cosmetic differences – default MOTD banners, a handful of branding packages, slightly different release cadences from point to point – but nothing that will change how you administer the server, write your automation, or troubleshoot a problem.

So how should you actually choose?

Given that the technical case for one over the other is thin, here’s what we’d actually weigh:

• What’s already on your VPS image. If aoitcloud provisioned your VPS from a specific AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux image, there’s rarely a reason to swap – reinstalling to switch distros for no functional gain isn’t worth the downtime.
• Community size and momentum. Both have healthy, active communities and forums, but check current adoption if it matters to you – the balance shifts over time and is worth a quick look before committing to one for a long-lived production stack.
• Commercial support options. If you might want paid support later, check what’s available for each – CIQ supports Rocky Linux, TuxCare/CloudLinux supports AlmaLinux, and both have third-party support ecosystems too.
• Personal or team preference. If your team already has AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux experience, standardising on what people know is a perfectly good reason on its own.

Our honest take: for a general-purpose unmanaged VPS, you will not notice the difference in daily use. Pick one, get comfortable with it, and don’t lose sleep over the decision. If you want to see how either compares against a third RHEL rebuild, read our post on what AlmaLinux is and what it’s best for.