Where Amazon Linux 2023 put its effort, 2024 to 2026
Each square is one capability area in one year. The brighter it is, the more the area gained in the Enterprise Linux Ledger that year; 1, 2 and 3 mark that year's biggest pushes.
’24
’25
’26
Lifecycle and upgrades
Security and compliance
1
Hardware and architectures
1
Virtualization and cloud images
Containers and Kubernetes host
2
Software currency and packaging
Fleet management and automation
Storage and filesystems
Enterprise integration and certifications
AI and GPU readiness
3
no change+0.5+1+1.5 or moreScores out of 5 per area.
Biggest pushes overall: Security and compliance (+0.5), Hardware and architectures (+0.5), Containers and Kubernetes host (+0.5). Already strong in 2023: Lifecycle and upgrades, Security and compliance, Virtualization and cloud images.
Top focus each year: 2025 Hardware and architectures; 2026 Security and compliance. 1 of 3 years show no gain in any area.
Owner: Amazon Web Services (Amazon.com, Inc., public company)
Engine: Fedora derived package set with kernel.org long-term kernels (6.1, 6.12 and 6.18 offered side by side)
Licence: Open source packages; no charge; vendor support only through AWS Support plans on EC2; KVM, VMware and Hyper-V images run elsewhere without support
Support lifecycle: GA 2023-03-15; standard support with quarterly minors to 2027-06-30; maintenance with security and critical fixes to 2029-06-30
Next milestone: End of standard support 2027-06-30; no successor major announced
Support window: About 4 years standard plus 2 years maintenance for the single major; no paid extension (source: AL2023 release cadence page)
Tier: Cloud vendor distribution
Archetype: Integrated stack, one cloud
Evidence grade: B. Lifecycle dates, kernel versions, live patching, FIPS status, SELinux defaults, Secure Boot and the off-EC2 image list were read from the AL2023 user guide and FAQ; the ECS and EKS AMI pages supplied the container and GPU facts. Partner, fleet and integration scores are inferred from AWS service documentation rather than from AL2023 pages, and the first release dates of the GPU AMIs were not retrieved.
Quarterly minors since 2023 with dated builds every few weeks; the 2023.12 line was still being built on 2026-10-14
Roadmap transparency
3.5
Public GitHub issue tracker and release notes; FIPS validation schedule published; no written roadmap and no successor named
Say-do
3.5
Few promises made; kernel 6.1 FIPS validation completed, 6.12 pending inside its stated window; support dates have held
Velocity
3
Minors add runtimes and kernels; structural change inside a major is rare by design
Lifecycle stability
2.5
One major with 6 years total, no in-place upgrade to the next, and AL2 users had to rebuild by 2026-06-30
Commercial risk: 6.0 / 25 (lower is better)
Criterion
Score
Basis
Price and licence volatility
0.5
No charge, so nothing to raise; AWS Support plan prices apply only on EC2
Purchase constraints
1
Free in any quantity; vendor support exists only bundled with an AWS Support plan on EC2
Channel and access
1
Open download and public repositories; no partner programme and no resale, which is neutral for a free product
Owner stability
1
AWS is a stable owner; the distribution exists to serve EC2
Cost of staying supported
2.5
Six years per major, then a rebuild; no paid extension, as AL2's end on 2026-06-30 showed
Technical lock-in: 8.0 / 25 (lower is better)
Criterion
Score
Basis
Formats
1
RPM packages and standard qcow2, OVA and vhdx images
Export path
2
No binary compatibility with RHEL or any Fedora release; leaving is a re-platform, eased by standard DNF and systemd
Stack coupling
1
Nothing proprietary required; systemd-networkd and cloud-init are standard components
Hardware / cloud coupling
3
Tuned for EC2 and Graviton; AWS Support covers it only on EC2; repositories are hosted by AWS
Skills and tooling coupling
1
Fedora family skills transfer
Integrator fit: 11.0 / 20
Criterion
Score
Basis
Partner programme openness
2
AWS Partner Network covers it; nothing to resell and no distribution-specific programme
Multi-tenancy and self-service
2
Tenancy comes from AWS accounts, not from the OS
API and infrastructure-as-code
4
AMI IDs in SSM parameters, CloudFormation and Terraform, Systems Manager patching and live patching
Skills and certification
3
AWS certifications cover it; no Linux-specific certification
AI leverage: 4.0 / 20
How the product uses AI, scored per year like capability. Only GA counts.
Criterion
2019
2022
Today
Latest step
AI workload support
n/a
n/a
2.5
2025: ECS and EKS GPU and Neuron AMIs on AL2023; GPU sharing comes from Kubernetes and ECS, not from the OS
AI platform stack
n/a
n/a
0
2023: None; Deep Learning AMIs on AL2023 were not confirmed on the pages read
AI-assisted operations
n/a
n/a
0
2023: None
Agent openness
n/a
n/a
1.5
2023: AWS APIs and Systems Manager drive instances; nothing specific to the OS
Year by year: 2023: 3.5 · 2024: 3.5 · 2025: 4 · 2026: 4
AI say-do, 2023 to 2026: 2 AI items announced; 2 GA, 0 still preview, 0 pending, 0 dropped. Both items are ECS AMIs on AL2023 with GPU or Neuron drivers preinstalled; their announcement dates were not retrieved.
AL2023 carries NVIDIA and Neuron drivers in the ECS and EKS images that AWS builds, so GPU nodes work without extra steps on EC2. The distribution has no AI stack of its own, no assistant and no agent interface; the intelligence sits in AWS services around it.
Reading
Amazon Linux 2023 is a good operating system for one place. On EC2 it is free, patched quarterly, live patchable without a reboot and wired into Systems Manager, ECS and EKS, and its FIPS and CIS work is public. Off EC2 the images run but nobody supports them, and the lifecycle is one major of six years followed by a rebuild, with Amazon Linux 2 ending on 2026-06-30 and no paid extension on offer. A buyer should confirm that the 2029-06-30 date fits their refresh cycle, because no successor major has been named. The gap against RHEL-family distributions is portability rather than quality.
Open questions and items to re-score
The date on which the kernel 6.1 cryptographic module completed FIPS 140-3 validation is not on the FAQ; the step is placed in 2026 per the research notes. Kernel 6.12 validation is expected between 2026-07 and 2027-01, kernel 6.18 in mid-2027 (vendor schedule).
First release dates of the ECS and EKS optimized AL2023 GPU, Neuron and NVIDIA AMIs were not retrieved; the containers and AI steps are dated 2025 on the verified AL2 AMI retirement.
Whether AWS Deep Learning AMIs are built on AL2023 was not confirmed on the pages read (background knowledge says yes).
No DISA STIG or Common Criteria evaluation for AL2023 was found; the CIS benchmark exists at v1.0.0 (2023-06-26).
A successor major (Amazon Linux 2025 or later) is not announced on the pages read; check before planning past 2027-06-30.
History of Amazon Linux 2 end-of-support date changes before 2026-06-30 is background knowledge and was not used in the scores.
