Is redhat free?

why a lot of users use redhat alternatives(centos,.....).
i think redhat is free. is redhat free?

RHEL or Red Hat Enterprise Linux is Non-Free.
You can view pricing here:

It is possible to get a no-cost version of RHEL, but only if you are a developer using RHEL to develop for Red Hat Linux.

Many Users also shy away from RHEL due to the policies and actions that RHEL has engaged on over many years that have been deemed counter to FOSS and the 'spirit' of Linux.
The origin of SystemD was at Red Hat.
The gnomish origins of reducing user controls was with Red Hat.

Red Hat is a stakeholder in Gnome Foundation and other projects in Linux and therefor has a lot of influence through-out Linux.
However, Red Hat is also under the influence of many entities and large corporations - which creates (reasonably so) a lot of distrust from the users toward Red Hat and its motives.
Red Hat is one of the largest contributors to the Linux Kernel and open source code - yet, Red Hat also uses that influence to steer and guide the direction of Linux toward a more Commercial and Proprietary goal.
Essentially, emulating the Microsoft methodology, you can visibly see the effect of these changes as well as the resistance these changes meet over the past many years. Notably, resistance almost always loses.
GTK4 is a large extension of the Red Hat philosophy - that binding uses in desktops with less user control allows the enterprise more control to do what they want to do and to provide ea more uniform desktop that users cannot alter or change using FOSS.

So... in short, even if Red Hat as a disto was no-cost (which it isn't)... Like Microsofts Windows 11 - it is very much Not Free.

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Thanks for that good info, which one of it's alternative os is the best now?

CentOS was actually bought by a larger company. That company was uhh... Red Hat.
Red Hat announced that it was moving CentOS away from its Community Enterprise OS origin and into CentOS Stream; a rolling distro.
Shocking, huh.

The most popular RHEL Alternative is of course:
Fedora.

If you want a CentOS like alternative, that would be Rocky Linux which is essentially what CentOS used to be and named after the originator of CentOS.

There is also Scientific OS, which is as the name implies; geared toward students and Universities.
And ClearOS - which is a RHEL alt that is more Business Minded and for offices and the like.

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i was thinking fedora not for server work, all these distros alternatives r RHel, there r no debian alternatives compete them?

Well, you asked about RHEL specifically.
You can use Ubuntu Server or other Debian or Ubuntu based Distros.

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ubuntu server is diffrent from ubuntu desktop? or it's one version and work for the same, and if ubuntu work like that, is that mean zorin work like that also?

A server operates minimally, providing the core essentials as a Server.
A Desktop includes workflow related software, such as a GUI File Manager.

A Desktop assigns resources toward user related applications and tasks, whereas a server can use more of the available memory and CPU resources for serving.
A Desktop is actively used by the user for productivity, whereas a server is set to run and the user checks on it once in a while.

Yes, Zorin OS can be stripped down and converted into use as a server.
Just about any Linux distro can.
Or you can choose a Server Distro that is already set up and configured as a Server.

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