Is Ubuntu a Better Choice After Red Hat Closes RHEL Source Access?

History of CentOS and RHEL

CentOS was first released on May 14, 2004; its version numbers mirror RHEL's major and minor releases, and it is built from RHEL source packages while removing non‑free trademarks.

In 2014, CentOS announced a partnership with Red Hat but continued operating under an independent governance model, remaining unaffected by RHEL changes.

On July 9, 2019, IBM completed its $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat.

On December 8, 2020, Red Hat unilaterally ended CentOS development.

CentOS Stream and Its Relationship to RHEL

After Red Hat closed RHEL source access, the community can no longer obtain timely updates directly from RHEL. However, when enterprises deploy services on CentOS Stream and report issues to the community, those fixes are eventually incorporated into RHEL, effectively making RHEL a more stable, albeit closed, system.

IBM, the financial backer of Red Hat, is expanding into cloud services. Competing cloud providers that rely on CentOS Stream will therefore have a clearer advantage, as they can leverage the upstream updates that flow into RHEL.

Ubuntu Server as an Alternative

Ubuntu has introduced a Pro subscription that offers up to ten years of extended support for servers. Enterprises can obtain a highly stable system through this paid service, and cloud providers that offer comparable support can remain competitive.