Amazon Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Red Hat are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #19 with an average rating of 9.0, while Red Hat is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 0.2% mindshare in OSB, compared to Red Hat’s 8.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

Amazon Linux

Read 3 Amazon Linux reviews

427 Views
205 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

Read 365 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) reviews

19,554 Views
19,358 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Amazon Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Amazon Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Operating Systems (OS) for Business solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Linux vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Linux vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

September 2025

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Helped 869,202 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Linux

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

19th

Average Rating

9.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

365

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Amazon Linux is 0.2%. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 8.6%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	8.6%
Amazon Linux	0.2%
Other	91.2%

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

Martin Mato

Linux Support at HOSSTED

Extensive support experience and seamless deployment enable efficient troubleshooting

Red Hat is definitely the reason why we go for Linux and why we choose it above Ubuntu. The idea is security and the inbuilt security features. We don't have separate security experts here, so we configure it ourselves. We choose those systems that already have a lot of security features. Red Hat SE Linux is something we appreciate. Regarding the most valuable features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, flexibility is the biggest reason. The fact that I can easily manage kernel parameters is a testament to the flexibility of the operating system, and that is why we use it on virtually all our servers. There are two reasons why I always turn to either Amazon Linux or Ubuntu. My preference for Amazon Linux is because of its SE Linux implementations. My preference for Linux entirely is because of its customizable nature. It is flexible and I can change it to fit whatever my applications' needs are.

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Bruce Lundberg

Linux HPC Systems Administrator at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Reliable patch management, high uptime, and incredible knowledge base

In terms of security, it does a lot of things that most people still turn off. SELinux is turned on by default. They have pretty good firewall rules in their defaults. The audit rules always take tweaking, but, overall, it comes out of the box not too bad. I used to write scripts to harden them from there. There are multiple ways to provision and patch. You have everything from local repositories to doing it by hand. Their knowledge base is incredible. There is so much information out there. It has never taken me longer than 30 minutes to find an answer to anything, even very tough ones. One company I worked for was a security company, and we did a lot of patching on everything. It was designed around security and email hosting, and uptime was pretty much whatever we wanted it to be. I have had a couple of times when the uptime was bad, but it was caused by a third-party solution. In fact, the Norton antivirus was definitely the worst. Red Hat had nothing to do with it.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Whenever I deploy solutions on Amazon Linux, I almost never have to worry about the operating system."

"The most valuable features of the solution are in the areas of stability and scalability."

"I enjoy the patching processes and the way Red Hat Enterprise Linux has elements set up. I have never had a patch session fail, even when installing a thousand packages at a time."

"Since Red Hat is known as a popular option for many of our customers, it provides a standardized platform for us to deliver products on."

"The most valuable aspect of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is its ease of management."

"We run Satellite on a lot of these, so having a central repository that we can use for patch management and remote execution is huge. That's something that is very difficult in a Windows environment. We're very compliance driven, so to have that built into Red Hat is easy. We don't need an agent or anything like that to get a lot of work done, so Satellite and centralized automation are the most valuable features for us."

"RHEL benefits my company by providing a stable platform and strong support behind it, which are the motivating factors of using it in general."

"Insights is nice since I get information on my background and security matters, and it's been helpful to have it there as well."

"The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that I appreciate most are the standard ease of use through Satellite and Ansible, which help us keep up with our demands."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pros

Cons

"I have honestly never had any problems with Amazon Linux, aside from disk space issues."

"Most Indians will find Red Hat Enterprise Linux a little costly."

"Even though I don't have complaints, I would like them to focus even more on what they're doing with Lightspeed and the AI assistance, so they could look more into that."

"We have had issues with the identification of new volumes when you add new disks or storage."

"I agree that, when first downloading it, it makes sense that I have to provide my information. But when I want to update, it shouldn't be necessary. Sometimes, I'm just doing a proof of concept and once I'm finished, the server is gone... If Red Hat would remove that requirement, that would be great."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved by making the licensing easier for Amazon EC2 instances. When we try to do auto-scaling, the licensing is hard to automate."

"The customer service and technical support are good, though they have declined in quality compared to previous standards."

"Red Hat should improve its support services, specifically the responsiveness and expertise of its India-based team."

"I am not sure how Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be improved."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"If Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can reduce its pricing, then it would be easier to convince others that there is not much difference between open-source solutions while still receiving several features for a licensing cost."

"From a management point of view, it's quite good, but everyone is complaining that it's more expensive than the other operating systems."

"I do not know enough to give a comprehensive answer, but other operating systems are in use at my company because they have more favorable licensing terms."

"I am not involved in the budgetary aspect, but from what I understand, the pricing is competitive, similar to what we paid for SUSE."

"It's expensive."

"The product is on the expensive side."

"It is cost-effective."

"It's pretty expensive, but I'm not familiar with the pricing of other vendors for their operating systems. I'd rate it a seven out of ten in terms of pricing. Red Hat Enterprise Linux's main advantage is the support that you get by purchasing their subscriptions."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user281973

Storage and VMware Expert at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 24, 2017

It's improved our company's system environments that run Oracle databases.

Red Hat is mission critical to our environment Red Hat has improved the mission critical environments running Oracle databases, while CentOS has improved our web environment and MySQL. Oracle and SAP Environment and all HPC environments. 10 years No issues Very stable i don´t find any problem…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

19%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Energy/Utilities Company

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	84
Midsize Enterprise	47
Large Enterprise	249

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Amazon Linux?

In my opinion, for improvement, Amazon Linux could make better integration with third-party vendors, perhaps enhance user experience or lower the price compared to other Linux solutions. For the fu...

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What is your primary use case for Amazon Linux?

My use case for Amazon Linux is mostly for running containers. I am using SELinux for enhanced security in Amazon Linux, and it is helpful for me.

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What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Linux?

I am not using IPv6 and I'm okay with that. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Amazon Linux an eight.

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Which would you choose - RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or CentOS?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is fantastic. It is an inexpensive solution that has excellent security, performance, and stability, and also lots of features. I specifically like that the solution has fe...

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What do you like most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

It is open source. We can customize it as per our requirements.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing is that I strongly believe Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) offers a good relationship between value and price, and despite it being quite pric...

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Comparisons

Debian vs Amazon Linux

Compared 56% of the time

More Amazon Linux Competitors

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 18% of the time

Windows Server vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 14% of the time

Rocky Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 12% of the time

Ubuntu Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 9% of the time

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

September 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

September 2025

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Also Known As

No data available

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL

Overview

Amazon Linux is a secure, stable, and high-performance distribution optimized for Amazon EC2, providing a reliable execution environment for cloud applications. It is designed for users who need an OS that seamlessly integrates with AWS infrastructure.

Amazon Linux provides a powerful, efficient, and updated environment tailored for AWS users. It's based on the CentOS and Fedora lineage, ensuring compatibility and performance. With regular updates and security patches, it offers a stable platform to run various cloud-based applications. Its cost-effective nature and scalability make it a popular choice for organizations aiming to leverage AWS services effectively.

What are the key features of Amazon Linux?

Optimized for EC2: Integration with AWS services enhances performance and efficiency.
Security: Regular security patches ensure data protection.
Package Repository: Access to a rich repository of software packages.
Support for Latest Tools: Easily install and use the latest AWS tools and SDKs.

What benefits can users find in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Usage-based pricing reduces overall costs.
Scalability: Easily scalable to meet growing business demands.
Seamless AWS Integration: Direct integration simplifies management and deployment.
Reliability: Stable environment guarantees consistent application performance.

Amazon Linux is widely used in industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology where reliability and security are paramount. Its integration with AWS services allows companies in these sectors to develop and deploy applications rapidly, ensuring compliance and operational efficiency. The ability to easily scale and adapt to specific industry demands makes it a strategic choice for many businesses.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is recognized for its stability, security, and performance, serving diverse industries with its robust support and seamless cloud deployment capabilities.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides comprehensive server applications across cloud environments, featuring tools like Ansible for enhanced user experience. It integrates OpenShift, Identity Management, and automation, supported by extensive documentation. Users seek easier upgrades, enhanced network virtualization support, and improved live patching.

What are the key features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Stability and Security: RHEL is designed to provide a stable and secure environment, backed by consistent updates.
Cloud Deployment: Easily deployable across cloud platforms, enhancing flexibility.
Integration with Ansible: Enhances operational efficiency with powerful automation tools.
OpenShift and Containerization: Supports modern app development with integrated OpenShift features.
Extensive Documentation: Offers comprehensive resources for users to troubleshoot and optimize.

What are the benefits of using Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Reliable Support: Benefit from extensive support options for seamless operation.
Enhanced Security: Built-in features ensure data integrity and protection.
Increased Flexibility: Suitable for diverse deployment environments, including on-premises and cloud.
Operational Efficiency: Tools like automation and cloud navigation improve productivity.
Training and Resources: Access to comprehensive training contributes to smoother implementations.

In sectors like finance, telecommunications, and education, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is crucial for running stable, secure systems. Its application spans web servers, data management, and containerization through tools like Kubernetes. Organizations adopt it for on-premises, virtualized, and cloud environments, ensuring robust infrastructure management.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Travel Channel, Mohawk Industries, Hilti, Molecular Health, Exolgan, Hotelplan Group, Emory University, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, HCA Healthcare, Paychex, UPS, Intermountain Healthcare, Brinker International, TransUnion, Union Bank, CA Technologies

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Linux vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

September 2025

Free Report: Amazon Linux vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Linux vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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