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Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs SUSE Linux Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 21, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
RHEL enhances ROI with competitive pricing, stability, automation, and security, reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency for users.
Sentiment score
4.1
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers higher ROI and cost savings for SAP deployments compared to Red Hat, enhancing cloud migration value.
A long lifecycle is key to having a good return on investment.
Being able to transform common manual tasks that previously took all day into processes that take an hour, half an hour, or even less, demonstrates clear value.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has saved us time and increased productivity.
I have seen a return on investment by switching our clusters from on-prem to Azure public cloud, using our same Bring Your Own Licenses, which saved costs on licensing.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Red Hat Enterprise Linux support is responsive and effective, though some suggest improvements for quicker resolution of complex issues.
Sentiment score
6.6
SUSE Linux Enterprise boasts strong customer support with efficient responses, though costs and regional support quality may vary.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) support is great, as they go beyond their duty to help resolve issues and provide solutions even for third-party software such as XRDP.
When we do contact customer service, they are generally very knowledgeable and well-versed in our size.
Usually, I send the information, and they have something for me within hours, sometimes even minutes.
SUSE Linux Enterprise provides a stable, secure, and well-supported platform for enterprise workloads, with powerful management tools and robust support for clustering, cloud, and containers.
The customer support is good; whenever we have opened a case, they have provided detailed explanations of the issues and resolutions.
I rate the customer service 10 out of 10 because SUSE has 24/7 availability support, extended support, security, multi-Linux distribution support, upgradation, and everything is user-friendly.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux excels in scalability, seamlessly managing large infrastructures and integrating with diverse cloud and on-premises environments.
Sentiment score
6.3
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers scalable solutions for organizations, supporting seamless integration, maintenance, upgrades, and cloud compatibility to meet diverse needs.
Many of our applications scale really well, with some having several hundreds of VMs, which we couldn't accomplish on Windows.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) scales very well with the growing needs of our company.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) handles increases in users, applications, or data smoothly, which is why we use it for all our projects, as it provides us with confidence.
Its scalability is quite good since we are using Azure, which allows us to easily scale up or down our resources as needed.
SUSE Linux Enterprise is widely recognized for its strong scalability, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to global enterprises.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is favored for stability, security, and support, ideal for business-critical operations despite occasional third-party issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
SUSE Linux Enterprise is highly stable, with users rating its reliability between eight to ten, despite minor occasional glitches.
It works consistently with minimal downtime and very few bugs or glitches.
It just works, and that's really the key factor; I can't remember the last time we had a system go down and had to restore it due to a bad patch.
We've not had a service outage with Red Hat in six years.
When HANA is utilized by many applications, I notice that while utilization does increase, we have never faced lagging or server unresponsiveness.
I would rate stability for SUSE Linux Enterprise an eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

RHEL requires improvement in upgrade simplicity, application compatibility, support, cloud integration, training accessibility, and transitioning from CentOS.
SUSE Linux Enterprise needs improved management, integration, pricing, and support, alongside development of APIs, AI, and educational resources.
Addressing these limitations would significantly enhance the operating system's flexibility and efficiency.
The built-in security features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux were insufficient for our needs, necessitating the implementation of supplementary security measures.
By providing pre-installed, native automation tools within the operating system, Red Hat would streamline processes and improve user efficiency.
Security is a top concern, and further strengthening default security policies, simplifying compliance management, and integrating advanced vulnerability management tools would be a valuable improvement.
The software manager was different, making it challenging to install certain applications.
The license we subscribed to should carry over within the same instance family.
 

Setup Cost

RHEL pricing and licensing are costly for small businesses, but offer value and stability for larger enterprises.
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers flexible support options with varying costs, appreciated for its open-source nature and straightforward licensing.
It may be considered expensive compared to other solutions like CentOS or Ubuntu, which offer some of the same features without additional costs.
Its pricing has room for improvement because it's more expensive in the local market due to purchasing power parity in India.
Windows Servers base their cost on the number of users and have high licensing fees, while Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers free versions alongside its paid, supported versions.
Upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.
I would rate pricing for SUSE Linux Enterprise considering one is a high price and ten is a low price.
The licensing cost is a bit high.
 

Valuable Features

RHEL is favored for its stability, security, automation, and integration, benefiting businesses with efficient management and compliance.
SUSE Linux Enterprise is acclaimed for its robust security, SAP integration, scalability, stability, efficient management, and comprehensive support.
It also has strong security features, is OIS and FIPS certified, and has built-in Linux security configurations.
There is also no downtime.
The operating system allows for the simple addition of kernels, modules, and other applications, making it highly adaptable to various needs.
SUSE Linux had a clean user interface, which was a valuable feature for me.
It has a stable and reliable OS.
The LVM is very easy to configure, along with simple disk scanning compared to other systems.
 

Categories and Ranking

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
366
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
36
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 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 8.6%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 6.4%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)8.6%
SUSE Linux Enterprise6.4%
Other85.0%
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Bruce Lundberg - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
MoezCHEBBI - PeerSpot reviewer
Has delivered expert training and enabled smooth migrations using automated deployment tools
SUSE Linux Enterprise is a mature and reliable platform, but there are areas where it can be improved. Modernizing the system management tools is important as many users appreciate YaST for its centralized management, but there is a growing demand for more modern, web-based, and modular tools. The introduction of tools such as Agama, a web-based installer, and Cockpit in newer releases is a step in the right direction.SUSE has made progress with multi-Linux support, allowing organizations to manage and support not just SUSE systems but also other distributions such as Red Hat and CentOS; continuing to expand these capabilities, especially for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, will help organizations manage diverse infrastructure more effectively. Security is a top concern, and further strengthening default security policies, simplifying compliance management, and integrating advanced vulnerability management tools would be a valuable improvement.
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Comparison Review

it_user281973 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business83
Midsize Enterprise47
Large Enterprise249
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What do you like most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
It is open source. We can customize it as per our requirements.
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...
What do you like most about SUSE Linux Enterprise?
The initial setup is simple and takes five minutes for deployment and if you have automation in place, it will take four minutes.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
We are facing an issue with licensing usage. The subscription does not carry over within the same instance family, so upgrading an instance results in overlapping or double subscription fees.
What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?
Whatever SUSE has is a better solution, and I'm not that much of an expert to suggest improvements or say how SUSE can improve, because SUSE is always improving themselves, and I know that soon the...
 

Also Known As

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for AWS
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Air India, Akademicki Szpital Kliniczny (ASK), Allone, Altran, Apollo, ARCHIVA, Asia Innovatory Management School, ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH, AutoData Norge AS, Baldor Electric, Business Connexion, CASIO, Ciclum Farma, Delta Lloyd, Edumate , HPE,  SAP SE,  Lenovo, BMW, T-Systems, UCX, Turners & Growers, Shenzhen Development Bank, Bosch Group, JK Tyres & Industries, IOCL, European Space Agency, Daimler AG, China Minsheng Banking Corp, Café Coffee Day, Unisys,  Petrochina Company Ltd, Fitch Ratings, ABeam Consulting Co Ltd, Tyro Payments, Rackspace, Pacific Textiles, ...
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,655 professionals have used our research since 2012.