CentOS Linux provides a free and open source computing platform to anyone who wishes to use it. CentOS Linux releases are built from publicly available open source source code provided by Red Hat, Inc for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This source code is available on the CentOS Git website.

CentOS Linux is the Community Development Platform for the Red Hat family of Linux distributions.

CentOS conforms fully with Red Hat, Inc's redistribution policies and aims to be functionally compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. CentOS mainly changes packages to remove trademarked vendor branding and artwork.

CentOS Linux does not contain Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora Linux; nor does it have any of their certifications, although it is built from the same source code as the Red Hat Enterprise Linux.