AlmaLinux vs Rocky Linux: Feature Comparison, Security, Community, and Enterprise Support

In December 2020 Red Hat announced the end of new CentOS releases, shifting to CentOS Stream, prompting users to seek alternatives as CentOS 8 support has ended and CentOS 7 will end in 2024.

AlmaLinux, created by CloudLinux in 2021, and Rocky Linux, founded by CentOS creator Gregory Kurtzer, are both downstream RHEL‑based distributions designed to be binary compatible with CentOS, offering similar stability and performance.

Both projects share features such as RHEL compatibility, community‑driven development, transparent processes, an eight‑year support lifecycle, and support for x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures.

Security differences include Rocky Linux’s inclusion of SELinux from NSA, while AlmaLinux provides CIS benchmark testing, the CIS‑CAT tool, and OpenSCAP for vulnerability scanning.

The community for each distro is active and growing, offering free usage, forums, and regular updates; AlmaLinux benefits from CloudLinux sponsorship and partners like Microsoft and AWS, whereas Rocky Linux is backed by CIQ, Google, VMware, and other major vendors.

In summary, because both are RHEL‑based downstream forks, their functionality and performance are comparable; the main distinctions lie in community dynamics, enterprise backing, and funding, which will influence their long‑term sustainability.