Amazon Linux vs Rocky Linux
| Amazon Linux | Rocky Linux | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | No | No |
| Paid from | — | Free |
| Open source | No | No |
| Platforms | Linux | Linux, self-hosted, Windows |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Device types | EC2 instances; Docker container workloads | Servers, workstations/desktops, Raspberry Pi, virtual machines, cloud instances, containers |
| CPU architectures | x86-64 (x86-64v2); 64-bit ARM (aarch64, ARMv8.2+crypto; Graviton2 or later on EC2) | x86-64-v3, riscv64, aarch64, ppc64le, s390x (Rocky Linux 10); support varies by release |
| Support lifecycle | AL2023 supported until June 30, 2029; standard support through June 30, 2027, then maintenance support. Individual LTS kernels are supported for four years. | Major releases: 10 years total, with 5 years active support and 5 years security support; only the latest minor release is supported |
| Built-in management | DNF package manager; versioned repositories; AWS Systems Manager for fleet kernel update management | DNF package management and upgrade commands |
| App compatibility | RPM packages from AL2023 repositories; Docker-compatible container image; 32-bit userspace compatibility retained but deprecated | RHEL-compatible software environment; RPM packages and DNF package manager |
| Deployment models | Amazon EC2 AMIs; Docker/container images usable in any environment, including local development | Physical installation media, generic cloud images, AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Docker OCI, WSL |
Both are listed in Best Operating Systems. On Inferse, Rocky Linux scores higher on our published basis.