What Rocky Linux does

Rocky Linux is a community-developed, open-source Enterprise Linux distribution designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The project was founded in December 2020 by Gregory Kurtzer following Red Hat's restructuring of CentOS, and is governed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF), a California-incorporated non-profit that holds the project's intellectual property and trademarks. The core technology rebuilds source packages directly from RHEL, delivering ABI and behavioral compatibility with three actively maintained major versions (8.10, 9.8, and 10.2), each carrying a 10-year support lifecycle matching RHEL's commitments. Notable technical features include an opt-in Security Repository for urgent out-of-band patches when public exploits precede upstream fixes, dual-signed Secure Boot shims bridging the Microsoft 2011 and 2023 CA transition, and an improved Image Builder with WSL2 and Kickstart injection capabilities.

The operating system itself is distributed free of charge under the BSD 3-Clause license through direct downloads, a global community mirror network, and cloud marketplace listings on AWS, Microsoft Azure, Docker Hub, and Quay.io. The foundation is funded through corporate sponsorships (AWS, Google Cloud, ARM, VMware, Equinix, Supermicro, Fastly, and others) and community donations rather than licensing fees. Commercial monetization is handled by CIQ, the founding support and services partner, which offers paid RLC Pro tiers including RLC Pro (general enterprise support), RLC Pro AI (AI infrastructure-optimized), and RLC Pro Hardened (a security-hardened variant achieving up to 95% DISA STIG compliance for federal and defense customers). CIQ also operates the free C3 Compatibility Catalog for hardware, software, and AI infrastructure verification. Customer segments span enterprise organizations (primary), government and defense (via RLC-H), and individual developers and small organizations, with go-to-market executed through community-led channels—documentation, forums, Mattermost, GitHub, social media, and conference attendance—rather than traditional sales motion.

Name

Rocky Linux

Legal name

Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation

Website

https://rockylinux.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Rocky Linux is a community-developed, open-source Enterprise Linux distribution designed as a 100% bug-for-bug compatible drop-in replacement for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, governed by the non-profit Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation and distributed free under BSD 3-Clause license with a 10-year support lifecycle, with commercial support delivered through CIQ.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Albany

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Community Donations and Sponsorships: Rocky Linux is developed and maintained by the community with support from sponsors and partners. The Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF) relies on sponsorship funding for operational sustainability.
2. Commercial Support Services (via CIQ): CIQ, the founding support partner, offers commercial support tiers including RLC Pro, RLC Pro AI, and RLC Pro Hardened. These provide enterprise-grade support, proactive hardening, and certification services for organizations requiring paid support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Rocky Linux is a community-developed, open-source Enterprise Linux distribution that rebuilds source packages directly from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to provide a 100% bug-for-bug compatible, production-ready server and cloud operating system. It is released free of charge under the BSD 3-Clause license with a 10-year support lifecycle per major version, and is commercially supported by founding partner CIQ through RLC Pro subscription tiers including AI-optimized and security-hardened variants.

Product overview

Rocky Linux is a community-developed open-source Enterprise Linux distribution designed as a bug-for-bug compatible drop-in replacement for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The core offering is the Rocky Linux OS itself, which is free and provides enterprise-ready stability with a 10-year support lifecycle. The commercial product portfolio is provided by CIQ (the founding support and services partner) and includes RLC Pro (commercial support), RLC Pro AI (AI infrastructure-optimized), and RLC Pro Hardened (security-hardened with DISA STIG compliance). Additionally, CIQ offers the C3 (CIQ Compatibility Catalog) as a free resource for verifying hardware, software, and AI infrastructure compatibility across Rocky Linux and CIQ products. Rocky Linux has also launched an optional Security Repository for urgent out-of-band security fixes, which operates alongside its upstream-compatible model.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Rocky Linux Open-source Enterprise Linux distribution that rebuilds sources directly from RHEL for 100% bug-for-bug compatibility. Provides a stable, production-ready server and cloud operating system with a 10-year support lifecycle per major version, free of charge under the BSD 3-Clause license. Current major releases include 8.10, 9.8, and 10.2.
• C3 (CIQ Compatibility Catalog) Free publicly accessible compatibility catalog for verifying hardware, software, and AI infrastructure compatibility with Rocky Linux and CIQ products. Provides three validation tiers from self-attested community submissions to formal CIQ certification.
• RLC Pro (Rocky Linux by CIQ) Commercial subscription support and services offering for Rocky Linux, provided by founding partner CIQ. Includes professional support, maintenance, and enterprise features for organizations requiring paid SLAs.
• RLC Pro AI AI infrastructure-optimized variant of Rocky Linux with commercial support from CIQ, designed for AI/ML workloads and AI infrastructure compatibility verification.
• RLC Pro Hardened Security-first Enterprise Linux offering with proactive OS-level hardening including Kernel Runtime Protection (LKRG), hardened memory allocation, and secure core libraries. Achieves up to 95% DISA STIG compliance out-of-box and targets federal agencies, defense contractors, and critical infrastructure operators.
• Rocky Linux 9.8 Major point release of Rocky Linux 9.x branch featuring an improved Image Builder with WSL2 image creation, advanced disk partitioning, and Kickstart file injection, plus updated system packages.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10-year support lifecycle per major version
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration31 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• CIQcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 April 2026CIQ is the founding support and services partner of Rocky Linux. CIQ offers commercial support tiers (RLC Pro, RLC Pro AI, RLC Pro Hardened), the C3 Compatibility Catalog for hardware/software/AI infrastructure verification, and formal certification services. CIQ was instrumental in Rocky Linux's creation and continues as the primary commercial ecosystem partner.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/rocky_linux
• GitHubgithub.com/rocky-linux
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@RockyLinux
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rockylinux

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rocky Linux