Kali Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) comparison

Kali Linux and Red Hat are both solutions in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category. Kali Linux is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.8, while Red Hat is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.8. Kali Linux holds a 2.2% mindshare in OSB, compared to Red Hat’s 9.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Kali Linux users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

Kali Linux

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1,023 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

Read 275 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) reviews

32,560 Views
12,986 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Kali Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Kali Linux compete in the Linux distribution market. Users are happier with RHEL's support but believe Kali Linux offers better features, making it more valuable for specific use cases such as cybersecurity.

Features: RHEL is known for stability, security, and enterprise-level support. Kali Linux is valued for specialized tools, cybersecurity functionalities, and versatility. RHEL is preferred for enterprises, while Kali Linux is ideal for penetration testing.

Room for Improvement: RHEL could improve in cost and complexity of updates. Kali Linux users suggest enhancements in documentation and user-friendliness. The primary concern for RHEL is cost, and for Kali Linux, it is usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: RHEL is noted for extensive support and reliable deployment. Kali Linux, while efficient in deployment, offers less structured customer service. RHEL is easier to deploy in large-scale environments due to robust support.

Pricing and ROI: RHEL has higher setup costs but provides high ROI due to stability and support. Kali Linux has lower upfront costs, delivering good value for money but a lower ROI compared to RHEL. Red Hat generates better long-term returns despite higher initial expenses.

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

Buyer's Guide

Kali Linux vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

April 2025

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Helped 849,686 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

Kali Linux

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

11th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AWS Marketplace (3rd)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...

Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

275

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Kali Linux is 2.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 9.6%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Operating Systems (OS) for Business

Featured Reviews

GurpreetSingh4

Manager at Accenture company

Has small footprint and low maintenance cycles

Pre-installed tools can provide basic training and security measures, which is helpful. However, these tools may not be sufficient to secure your workload fully. That's why it's important to complement them with other specialized security tools to enhance your overall security. Before using Kali Linux, make sure you know its pros and cons. It's a good system to learn because it's the best choice for some situations. It has default firewall settings that block everything by default. It's up to the user to decide how much they want to open up. Learning Kali Linux takes time because it relies on command-line tasks instead of graphical interfaces. Practice is key to becoming comfortable with it.

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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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most effective features of Kali Linux include its stability as a Linux operating system, its flexibility in configuring resources such as partitions, its powerful and stable file system, and its multi-user capability, which allows for setting user privileges and rights. Additionally, Kali Linux provides access to a wide range of free and open-source applications for testing and development purposes."

"Additionally, it now includes comprehensive migration analytics and reporting capabilities."

"We use the product for open-source intelligence and identifying vulnerabilities."

"I use the tool with Nmap to perform network audits. We use it to find vulnerabilities in our network through attacks. It's for those who want to launch or create viruses or perform attacks on systems. With Kali Linux, you can conduct penetration testing for networks, web applications, and Android mobile apps."

"The solution's stability is very good."

"I'm mostly using for the web security web application, so end map and the troubleshoot will it's my price, and it's available in ColliNX."

"The most valuable feature of Kali Linux is the attack it performs using a CVE script that's already on the internet."

"The tools available in Kali Linux are incredibly effective for conducting security assessments."

More Kali Linux pros

"RHEL is stable, mature, and relatively easy to handle. I'm pretty confident in it. We haven't had to raise a serious support ticket for any server in I don't know how many years."

"The cloud platform provides a real-time experience, enabling us to practice for exams easily and enhance our Linux knowledge."

"The security features are better than many other solutions offer."

"It enables us to achieve security compliance. Our security team is quite happy, especially in terms of patching up our servers, etc. It's compliant with our security requirements."

"The built-in security features are quite good."

"The solution's technical support is really good and responsive. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten."

"From a security perspective, the most valuable feature is SELinux. SELinux provides good security. It's doing a good job of protecting my real estate."

"The most valuable features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are its stability and resilience in that we rarely have to take down the systems completely to patch them."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pros

Cons

"I would like to have automation in Kali Linux instead of manually configuring or setting up something in case of an upgrade."

"From an improvement perspective, it should be made possible for users to learn about the product easily."

"The product should improve its security features."

"There can be some lagging issues because the product gets stuck at times, making it an area of concern where improvements are required."

"Any new user or someone without deep expertise won't be able to understand how to scale or manage it"

"The product should integrate AI and GPT capabilities."

"The tool is slightly difficult to learn."

"From an improvement perspective, Kali Linux could include more ML to help with academic literature, as it is one of the areas where there are shortcomings in the solution."

More Kali Linux cons

"The organization moved away from Red Hat because IBM introduced paywalls and additional barriers that did not exist before, which made everything a lot harder."

"The cost of this solution could be improved."

"Workstations: More applications for graphics."

"There should be more upgrades to the security features."

"They can allow more access to their training and their products' testing. There are ways to do it now. You might have to get a certain type of account to test their products. It might be easier if you can just download the product and test it out."

"It is constantly improving. It is important to continue to improve."

"I'd like to see more of NCurses type menu systems in some instances. We're dealing with SUSE Enterprise Linux, they have an NCurses menu system. It's a menu system. It will write there. Even some of the higher-end Unix systems like AIX have some inner menu system where all the configuration tools are right there so your administrator doesn't have to jump through multiple directories to configure files if needed. I like the simplicity of Red Hat because it's pretty easy but having an NCurses menu when you have to get something done quickly would be nice."

"I don't prefer Red Hat Enterprise Linux for desktop over other options."

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Kali Linux offers a perpetual license, meaning you pay for it once and can use it. While free versions of Linux are available, Kali Linux, being an enterprise edition, usually comes with a perpetual license. I rate its pricing a five out of ten."

"Kali Linux is a free product, and you don't have to pay for a license."

"I use it free of charge."

"The price is good because Kali Linux already provides a good bundle of tools."

"There is no need to make any payments towards the licensing costs since it is a solution that is available for free."

"The tool is open-source."

"I have used the free version."

"It is an open-source tool."

More Kali Linux pricing and cost advice

"There are special academic offerings for academic institutes, which is pretty good. We need these offerings. In my personal opinion, the prices are okay. However, for educational purposes, they could be lower. For example, in Germany, the budget in the education sector for IT is lower compared to the huge universities in the US."

"The combined cost of implementing in hybrid and cloud environments to fulfill all our client's needs can be considerable."

"We charge €2,000 per system for three years."

"The licensing model of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is good, but lower prices are always preferable."

"This is not a cheap solution but it gets you the support if you ever need it."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux is expensive, particularly for governments operating with limited budgets."

"Pricing is something that needs to be worked out with the vendor. The more you have, the less you pay. That is the model nowadays in IT, but it is very cost-effective. You get what you pay for."

"Licensing is the most attractive part of it. With Red Hat Insights and Ansible, we now know that it was done with the intention of simplifying the licensing so that you get the support for what you have and not necessarily what you want to have."

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

15%

Computer Software Company

14%

University

13%

Educational Organization

10%

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Kali Linux?

I use the tool with Nmap to perform network audits. We use it to find vulnerabilities in our network through attacks. It's for those who want to launch or create viruses or perform attacks on syste...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kali Linux?

Kali Linux offers a perpetual license, meaning you pay for it once and can use it. While free versions of Linux are available, Kali Linux, being an enterprise edition, usually comes with a perpetua...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Kali Linux?

The tool is already stable and well-developed, so there's minimal feedback for enhancement or change. However, it should improve security, which is crucial, especially with the increasing use of Ka...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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

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

See all answers

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

Though a bit expensive compared to competitors, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is still recommended because it works effectively and delivers value for its pricing.

See all answers

Comparisons

Windows 10 vs Kali Linux

Compared 19% of the time

Windows 11 vs Kali Linux

Compared 15% of the time

CentOS vs Kali Linux

Compared 12% of the time

Rocky Linux vs Kali Linux

Compared 11% of the time

Security Onion vs Kali Linux

Compared 10% of the time

More Kali Linux Competitors

SUSE Linux Enterprise vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 23% of the time

Windows Server vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 15% of the time

Rocky Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 14% of the time

Oracle Linux vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Solaris vs Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Compared 4% of the time

More Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kali Linux

April 2025

Download Kali Linux product report

Buyer's Guide

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

April 2025

Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product report

Also Known As

No data available

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL

Overview

Kali Linux is widely used by organizations for penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, web application security, network audits, ethical hacking, and open-source intelligence, providing extensive free features.

Organizations run Kali Linux in virtualized environments alongside other operating systems, employing tools for automated scans, malware identification, infrastructure testing, and application development or hosting. These users benefit from lower maintenance requirements and a smaller footprint. The toolset includes Nmap, SQLMap, Metasploit, and Hydra, ensuring effective security assessments. Its high scalability, performance, user-friendly interface, and extensive documentation enhance the platform's usability. Known for stability, flexibility, and virus resistance, Kali Linux supports web security, troubleshooting, and configuration tasks comprehensively.

What are the most important features of Kali Linux?

Nmap: A network scanning tool for discovering hosts and services.
SQLMap: An SQL injection and database takeover tool.
Metasploit: A penetration testing platform with various exploit tools.
Hydra: A network log-in cracker supporting numerous protocols.
Documentation: Offers extensive resources for user guidance.
Stability: Provides a reliable and consistent operating environment.
Scalability: Adapts efficiently to growing security needs.
Performance: Ensures fast and efficient operations.
Virus Resistance: Enhances security through robust virus protection.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Free tools reduce operational expenses.
Operational Efficiency: Lower maintenance needs and quick setup.
Enhanced Security: Robust tools for comprehensive security measures.
Flexibility: Adaptable to different environments and requirements.

Kali Linux can support industries in improving security through stable and flexible environments that resist viruses and provide extensive documentation. Users employ it for web security, troubleshooting, and configuring capabilities. Necessary improvements include automation, user-friendliness, and integrating AI and blockchain. Enhancements in security features, faster installations, and better learning tools are also essential. Machine learning integration and non-enterprise user functionalities can address current limitations.

Kali Linux

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

Kali Linux vs. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

April 2025

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

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

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