People benchmark CentOS too much. A far more interesting test would be Oracle Linux, both with and without the UEK. I would bet this would wipe out the SUSE ad

People benchmark CentOS too much. A far more interesting test would be Oracle Linux, both with and without the UEK. I would bet this would wipe out the SUSE advantage: # cat /proc/version Linux version 4.1.12-112.14.1.el7uek.x86_64 (mockbuild@) (gcc version 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-11) (GCC) ) #2 SMP Fri Dec 8 18:37:23 PST 2017 The "RedHat-compatible kernel" should have identical performance to CentOS. # rpm -qa | grep ^kernel | sort kernel-3.10.0-693.11.1.el7.x86_64 ... kernel-uek-4.1.12-112.14.1.el7uek.x86_64 ... I realize that many people don't like Oracle Linux due to their unauthorized appropriation and support of their RedHat clone. It does bring new functionality to the table, however (primarily Ksplice) and has great support for the eponymous database. When RedHat 9 support ended, it never touched my personal systems again. Even my CentOS habit has quelled.