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Rocky Linux VPS Hosting · 56 Countries
Rocky Linux VPS, supported to 2035.
Rocky Linux 10 arrived in June 2025 with a ten-year lifecycle running
to May 2035. It is a community rebuild of an enterprise distribution —
same package set, same dnf, same SELinux, no licence — built by
the people who did not want a repeat of what happened to CentOS.
- Patched to 2035
- RHEL-compatible
- Root, SELinux yours
- ~60s deploy
Rocky Linux plans start at
$4.95/mo
Billed monthly · 16 plans in 4 ranges
- Current stable release installed for you
- In-place migration from CentOS supported
- Dedicated IPv4 on every plan
- 7-day money-back guarantee
- Current release
- 10
- Security support to
- 2035
- Lifecycle
- 10 yr
- Countries
- 56
Rocky Linux VPS Hosting at VPS For Life
A Rocky Linux VPS from VPS For Life is an unmanaged KVM virtual private server running the current stable Rocky Linux release, with the root account in your hands. Rocky Linux is a free, community-maintained rebuild built for Red Hat Enterprise Linux compatibility, and each major release carries a ten-year lifecycle. Plans run from $4.95 to $69.95 a month across four ranges, every one including a dedicated IPv4 address and a choice of 56 datacenter countries, deployed in about 60 seconds after payment.
- Distribution: current stable Rocky Linux, which is Rocky Linux 10 as of August 2026.
- Support window: active support to May 2030, security support to May 2035.
- Compatibility: built for RHEL compatibility;
dnf,rpm, SELinux and firewalld as standard. - Migration: existing CentOS installations can be converted in place.
- Virtualization: KVM — your own kernel, resources not oversold.
- Access level: unmanaged with full root, including SELinux policy.
- Payment: Bitcoin (BTC), Monero (XMR), Ethereum (ETH), USDT on TRC-20 or ERC-20, Litecoin (LTC), Tron (TRX) and BNB Chain (BNB), plus PayPal or card. Prices in USD, billed monthly.
Related: AlmaLinux VPS · AlmaLinux vs Rocky Linux · Enterprise VPS hosting · Hardware specifications
How Long Each Distribution Stays Patched
Rocky and AlmaLinux sit in the same place on this table for a reason — they are rebuilds of the same upstream. All four distributions are available on every plan.
| Distribution | Current stable | Released | Security support until | Packages | Release model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian view | 13 “Trixie” | August 2025 | August 2028LTS to June 2030 | apt / dpkg | Fixed release, roughly every 2 years |
| Ubuntu view | 26.04 LTS “Resolute Raccoon” | April 2026 | April 2031ESM to April 2036 | apt / dpkg | LTS every 2 years, interim every 6 months |
| AlmaLinux view | 10 | May 2025 | May 203510-year lifecycle | dnf / rpm | RHEL-compatible, tracks RHEL point releases |
| Rocky Linux This page | 10 | June 2025 | May 203510-year lifecycle | dnf / rpm | RHEL-compatible, tracks RHEL point releases |
Upstream dates, verified August 2026 against
endoflife.date
and the distribution projects. We install the current stable release of whichever you
choose; these dates describe the distributions, not our panel.
Rocky Linux 10 vs Rocky Linux 9
Both are supported for years yet. The difference that matters on a server is not the dates. It is the CPU baseline.
| Rocky Linux 10 | Rocky Linux 9 | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | June 2025 | July 2022 |
| Active support to | May 2030 | May 2027 |
| Security support to | May 2035 | May 2032 |
| Kernel series | 6.12 | 5.14 |
| Minimum x86 CPU level | x86-64-v3 (AVX2-era CPUs) | x86-64-v2 |
| 32-bit compatibility on x86_64 | Removed | Available |
| Also runs on | ARM64, and RISC-V for the first time | ARM64 |
Check what a CPU supports before you plan a migration to Rocky 10.
On any Linux system with a recent glibc, this lists the x86-64 levels the processor can run.
You need to see x86-64-v3 (supported, searched):
/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --help | grep supportedIf a machine you are moving from only reaches v2, Rocky 9 still runs on it until 2032. So does AlmaLinux 10, which publishes a separate x86-64-v2 build. That is one of the few real technical differences between the two rebuilds.
Moving a CentOS Server to Rocky Linux
The Rocky project’s own scripts convert a system in place. Which one you need depends on where you start.
| You are on | Route to Rocky |
|---|---|
| CentOS 8, RHEL 8 or another EL8 system | migrate2rocky, in place, to Rocky Linux 8 |
| An EL9 system | migrate2rocky9, in place, to Rocky Linux 9 |
| CentOS 7 | No direct path. A fresh Rocky install and a data move is usually the simpler job |
| Rocky 8 or 9, wanting the next major version | The scripts do not upgrade. Plan a fresh install of the newer release |
Converting an EL8 server — run as root, inside screen or tmux so a dropped SSH session does not interrupt it:
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rocky-linux/rocky-tools/main/migrate2rocky/migrate2rocky.sh
chmod +x migrate2rocky.sh
./migrate2rocky.sh -r
Reboot when it finishes. The EL9 script, migrate2rocky9, is in the same
rocky-tools repository.
The project marks these scripts “use with caution”. Take a backup you have tested restoring, because
we hold no copy of your data. Our migration guide walks through the checks before and after.
Rocky Linux Is the Right Choice When…
Including the honest case for picking something else.
Your stack expects Red Hat
Enterprise agents, commercial panels and vendor packages that list RHEL will generally install and run without modification.
Your documentation already says Rocky
Internal runbooks, a client's requirements or a vendor's install guide naming Rocky specifically is the single best reason to pick it over AlmaLinux.
You want ten years without a licence
Security updates through 2035 on the release you install today, with no subscription and no entitlement to manage.
You are consolidating a CentOS estate
In-place conversion means the servers you already built keep running instead of being rebuilt one at a time.
You were hoping we would say it beats AlmaLinux
It does not. AlmaLinux offers the same compatibility, the same ten years and the same price here. Pick whichever your documentation names.
You are running on 1 GB
The enterprise base is heavier than a minimal Debian install. On the smallest plan that difference is worth counting.
A contract with Red Hat is the requirement
Rocky is compatible with RHEL but is not RHEL and carries no Red Hat support contract. No rebuild satisfies that condition.
Rocky Linux Runs on Every Plan We Sell
No separate enterprise-Linux product line and no surcharge. The entry plan of each range is below.
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1 Core · 2 GB RAM · 30 GB NVMe (triple-replicated)
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Dedicated Resources, Maximum Performance
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Starter VDS (Xeon E3)
2 Cores · 2 GB Dedicated RAM · 50 GB NVMe
$24.95/mo
Every plan includes a dedicated IPv4 address, full root access and open Port 25. See all 16 plans with full specifications.
Your First Ten Minutes on a New Rocky Linux VPS
The RHEL-family way to make a fresh server safe to leave on the internet. Replace
203.0.113.10 with your server’s IP and alice with your username.
-
Log in and update everything.
ssh root@203.0.113.10 dnf -y upgrade -
Create your own user. On the RHEL family the administrators’ group is
wheel, notsudo.useradd -m -G wheel alice passwd alice -
Log in with a key. On your own computer:
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 ssh-copy-id alice@203.0.113.10 -
Turn off root and password logins with a drop-in file, then test a new
login in a second window before closing the first
(SSH hardening guide).
printf 'PermitRootLogin no\nPasswordAuthentication no\n' > /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/10-hardening.conf sshd -t && systemctl reload sshd -
Use firewalld, the family’s standard firewall
(firewalld guide).
dnf -y install firewalld systemctl enable --now firewalld firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh firewall-cmd --reload -
Install security updates automatically. In
/etc/dnf/automatic.conf, setupgrade_type = securityandapply_updates = yes, then start the timer:dnf -y install dnf-automatic systemctl enable --now dnf-automatic.timer -
Leave SELinux enforcing.
getenforceshould sayEnforcing. When something is blocked, fix the label or the boolean rather than switching SELinux off (SELinux basics).
You can reinstall Rocky Linux from the client area at any time. Nothing here is specific to us; these are the same steps on any Rocky server.
Rocky Linux Guides in Our Knowledgebase
From our AlmaLinux & Rocky Linux category, open to read without an account.
Installing PHP on Rocky Linux
Read the guide →Let's Encrypt SSL on Rocky Linux
Read the guide →Migrating from CentOS to Rocky Linux
Read the guide →Using dnf on Rocky Linux
Read the guide →Configuring firewalld on Rocky Linux
Read the guide →SELinux Basics on Rocky Linux
Read the guide →Hardening SSH on Rocky Linux
Read the guide →Installing Nginx on Rocky Linux
Read the guide →Rocky Linux VPS Questions
The current stable release, which is Rocky Linux 10. Rocky Linux 10 was released in June 2025 and carries a ten-year lifecycle: active support to May 2030 and security support to May 2035. If you need Rocky Linux 9 for a compatibility reason, ask before ordering.
Less than the internet suggests. Both are free, community-maintained rebuilds created after CentOS Linux was discontinued in 2020. Both aim for Red Hat Enterprise Linux compatibility, both use
dnf, rpm, SELinux and firewalld, both give a ten-year lifecycle per major release, and both cost the same here because neither is a separate product. The real differences are in who governs each project and in how each handles compatibility with upstream RHEL. If your team, your vendor or your documentation already names one, use that one. If not, either is a defensible choice — there is a full breakdown in AlmaLinux vs Rocky Linux, and the AlmaLinux page is here. One concrete difference: Rocky 10 needs an x86-64-v3 CPU, while AlmaLinux 10 also ships a v2 build.
From an EL8 system such as CentOS 8, yes: the Rocky project’s
migrate2rocky script converts it in place to Rocky Linux 8, and migrate2rocky9 does the same for EL9 systems. Neither upgrades between major versions, and CentOS 7 has no direct path to Rocky. For a CentOS 7 server, a fresh Rocky install and a data move is usually simpler. You hold root on an unmanaged server, so you can run the scripts yourself — the commands are above. Take your own backup first.
Yes. Every plan is unmanaged KVM virtualization with the root account in your hands, so SELinux policy, firewalld rules, the kernel and every installed package are yours to configure or replace — see full root access.
That is what it is built for. It is a rebuild of an enterprise distribution, with the same package set, the same ten-year support horizon and the same behaviour under load. The practical caveat is the same as with any rebuild: it is not Red Hat, and it does not come with a Red Hat support contract. If a vendor requires that contract specifically, no rebuild will satisfy it.
A minimal Rocky Linux install runs in 1 GB, but the RHEL-family base with SELinux is heavier than a minimal Debian system. If you are adding a web server, a database or a control panel, 2 GB or more is a more comfortable floor — every plan is listed on the pricing page.
Yes, on every plan in every range — a dedicated address rather than a shared or NATed one. Additional addresses are available if a project needs more than one.
Fifty-six countries, spread across Europe, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa. You choose the country during checkout — see datacenter locations — and deployment is automated, about 60 seconds after payment clears, including cryptocurrency payments. Prices are not identical in every country, because datacenter costs are not; the figure for the one you pick is shown before you pay.
Yes. You can reinstall the operating system from the client area, which wipes the server and gives you a clean install of whichever distribution you pick. That is a reinstall rather than a migration, so move your data off first — the backup guide covers doing that automatically.
Deploy a Rocky Linux server in about 60 seconds.
Current stable release, real root access, a dedicated IPv4 address and your choice of 56 countries — from $4.95 a month, with a 7-day money-back guarantee on first orders.