Free Linux OS for the community, by the community
An Open Source, community owned and governed, forever-free enterprise Linux distribution, focused on long-term stability, providing a robust production-grade platform. AlmaLinux OS is 1:1 binary compatible with RHEL® and pre-Stream CentOS.
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About AlmaLinux OS
AlmaLinux OS is an open-source, community-driven Linux operating system that fills the gap left by the discontinuation of the CentOS Linux stable release. AlmaLinux OS is a 1:1 binary compatible clone of RHEL® guided and built by the community.
As a standalone, completely free OS, AlmaLinux OS enjoys $1M in annual sponsorship from CloudLinux Inc and support from other sponsors. Ongoing development efforts are governed by the members of the community.
The AlmaLinux OS Foundation is a 501(c)(6) non-profit created for the benefit of the AlmaLinux OS community.
Backed by
Production-ready
AlmaLinux OS is an enterprise-grade server OS and a stable Linux distribution with regular releases that come with a long support windows. You can rely on AlmaLinux OS to run any and every critical workloads.
Fully supported, always free
AlmaLinux OS Foundation members, sponsors and partners back the AlmaLinux OS with investments and long support commitments to ensure the distribution is free of limitations, fees and charges.
Effortless to switch to
Commercial Support
Answers to Key Questions
Individuals and organizations that require an enterprise-grade, Fedora-like distribution but who do not want to or cannot pay for a RHEL® license. AlmaLinux OS is also a perfect replacement for anyone who currently relies on the CentOS stable release to achieve computing objectives.
Alma means soul in Spanish and other Latin languages. Looking back, it is easy to see that Linux is as popular and pervasive as it is thanks to the efforts of a passionate, diverse developer community. This community is the soul of Linux, and everyone that relies on a Linux distribution is indebted to the efforts of the Linux community. That is why we called our new distribution AlmaLinux OS.
We’re already doing it – experience with RHEL forks towards CloudLinux. We have the staff, the capabilities, the resources. Frankly: we want to put ourselves on the map re CloudLinux and KernelCare. It is worth the effort.
We are involving the community right through the process, including in the governing board. At all times, AlmaLinux OS will be free and open. The community can pick the project at any time.
CloudLinux's core product, the CloudLinux OS, is a RHEL® fork that has been in place for over ten years. More than 4,000 companies including Dell, Liquid Web, and 1&1 rely on the CloudLinux OS across more than 200,000 product installations. CloudLinux has proven experience in creating and maintaining a RHEL fork and have done so starting with RHEL release 5, right through to release 8. AlmaLinux OS is an opportunity for us to channel our expertise in RHEL into a Linux distribution that serves the broader community. Furthermore, we are including the Linux community right from the inception of AlmaLinux OS. Moving forward, community members will be on the governing board for the AlmaLinux OS project and involved in key decisions too. Finally, AlmaLinux OS will always be free and open source. The community can pick up and continue to develop AlmaLinux OS at any time.
Switching Linux distros can be a headache, but that is not the case when switching from CentOS to AlmaLinux OS. Just like CentOS, AlmaLinux OS is a 1:1 binary compatible fork of RHEL®, so switching is simple.
Yes, AlmaLinux OS is a 1:1 binary compatible fork of RHEL®, which means that your applications and services will remain compatible. For that reason, you can rapidly migrate any number of servers with just one command.
If you are using CentOS 7 or 8 and need help upgrading and migrating, check out [ELevate](https://almalinux.org/elevate).
AlmaLinux OS partners has committed to supporting AlmaLinux OS 8 at least until 2029, including stable and thoroughly tested updates and security patches.
AlmaLinux OS in the Press
AlmaLinux is a solid RHEL clone. The AlmaLinux Foundation, the non-profit behind AlmaLinux, is also working on the open-source ELevate Project. This is an effort to enable migration between major versions of RHEL derivatives.
To migrate from CentOS 8 to AlmaLinux OS, you can use a free tool called almalinux-deploy
AlmaLinux was one of the first such alternatives, and it has quickly risen to the top of the heap.
AlmaLinux very quickly became the CentOS replacement to beat. 48 hours after Red Hat released version 8.5 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the developers released version 8.5 of AlmaLinux.