CentOS Stream vs Photon OS
| CentOS Stream | Photon OS | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Free trial | No | No |
| Paid from | Free | — |
| Open source | No | No |
| Platforms | Linux, self-hosted | Linux |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Device types | Servers, workstations, cloud instances, and containers | Bare-metal systems, virtual machines, Raspberry Pi, cloud instances |
| CPU architectures | CentOS Stream 10: AMD/Intel 64-bit (x86_64_v3), ARM 64-bit (ARMv8.0-A), IBM Power (POWER9), IBM Z (z14) | x86_64, ARM64/aarch64 |
| Support lifecycle | CentOS Stream 10 maintained until 2030; roughly five-year lifecycle. CentOS Stream 9 end-of-life: 2027-05-31. | Security updates as needed; non-security package updates described in legacy FAQ as quarterly; no fixed duration verified |
| Built-in management | DNF repositories and package management | tdnf package manager; Photon Management Daemon; RPM OSTree; Network Configuration Manager |
| App compatibility | BaseOS and AppStream repositories; RPM packages; Xwayland compatibility layer for legacy X11 applications | Docker and other container formats; Kubernetes; RPM packages via tdnf; RPM OSTree |
| Deployment models | Physical-device installation media; cloud images; container images; Vagrant boxes | Bare metal; VMware hypervisors; ISO installation; OVA appliance; AWS AMI; Google GCE image; Azure VHD; Raspberry Pi image |
Both are listed in Best Operating Systems. On Inferse, CentOS Stream scores higher on our published basis.