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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 9.2%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 6.9%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ubuntu Linux is 12.2%, down from 20.1% 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)9.2%
Ubuntu Linux12.2%
SUSE Linux Enterprise6.9%
Other71.7%
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.
Naveen Venugopal - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient IT management with crucial automatic updates but needs developer-friendly configuration
Sometimes it is a bit of work for developers to change the configurations. Some kernels will not fit with some packages, and this aspect could be improved. Furthermore, the system's rigidity when updating packages and services needs improvement. Additionally, there should be more loosely bound functionalities to improve developer experience.
PrashantSharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs efficiently but requires overcoming a learning curve
There are many differences between Ubuntu Linux and Windows as they are totally different systems. You need to have more knowledge about Linux before using Ubuntu Linux. Although it is designed as a desktop system, basic knowledge is still required. Windows can be used by any layman, which is the main difference. I do not know much about security breaches or potential issues. The Wi-Fi and wireless capabilities work perfectly fine. Excluding the learning curve, I would rate it a 10. However, considering the learning curve, I would give it a six or seven. My advice would be to have patience. Overall rating: 10 out of 10.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The reliability and long support lifespan of RHEL are crucial for us. It lasts for ten years, meaning we don't need frequent changes."
"My decision to go with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) was influenced by three main factors: 1. The IT team’s familiarity with Red Hat due to its previous deployment in other units. 2. Competitive pricing, which was 25 to 30 percent lower than other options. 3. The perception that Red Hat offered long-term service pack support for an additional fee; something that other providers like SUSE may not have offered."
"I would describe my experience with deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as very easy."
"I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) overall at least a solid ten out of ten."
"I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) a ten out of ten."
"The automation is great."
"The most significant advantage is that it is more stable and secure than other operating systems."
"The solution's stability is great, and patching it with Ansible is very easy."
"The most important feature is the automatic kernel lifecycle subscription, which is critical for us because the server cannot go down once we start offering any services on the cluster."
"The main feature is that Linux is flexible to work with for most web-based applications."
"SUSE Linux had a clean user interface, which was a valuable feature for me."
"I have not experienced any issues with this operating system."
"It's a flexible solution."
"The solution offers a secure operation system."
"Linux is easy to use. You have more control on a Unix system."
"It's easy to set up."
"There is value in the long-time supported distribution LPS."
"I like that everything is in the command line. It is really helpful."
"It has a good support system for loading databases."
"There are several manuals online that are free and available to help you."
"The feature that I most like in Ubuntu is that it is really easy to use. Ubuntu is very easy to use and comes with many available packages. I think that Ubuntu is a good solution for the small business or a small lab."
"The most valuable features of Ubuntu Linux is the reliability, the ease of package management, and the ease of upgrading from one version to the next."
"This open source operating system promotes very secure environments with less possibility of being attacked. Support for this system is great because of its quick SLA."
"Ubuntu is very easy to use and you can manage it on your own."
 

Cons

"Its pricing is good and competitive."
"Red Hat Insights are instrumental in identifying vulnerabilities. I am still learning, but my understanding is that it is not directly connected to your environment to deploy a patch or vulnerability fix. It is going to give a YAML playbook to do that. It does not actually execute it."
"Some libraries supported by others, such as Oracle, are not supported by Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Especially in terms of Java, as now Java is with Oracle, if the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system could align with those libraries, it would be helpful for end-users, eliminating the need to figure out which library is causing issues."
"All resources should be available on the website."
"The only issue we have had with it is around the SELinux configuration because the way Ansible installs, it sticks the platform passwords in a flat file. We want that locked down more strongly than what is there currently with SELinux."
"The price is something that can be improved, as they are still being undercut."
"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."
"Network virtualization resources could be better. When you have any kind of trouble with network virtualization, such as with OVS, which is like a switch in a virtual environment, it takes many hours to find what is happening. Other vendors, such as VMware, and even other Linux implementations for network virtualization have better resources. It is much easier to escalate, and there is better documentation."
"I have not seen an ROI with this solution."
"The solution is expensive."
"We have had trouble integrating Autodesk with the SUSE manager."
"The quality of support offered by SUSE Linux Enterprise is not that great, making it an area where improvements are required."
"The only stability issues that I can recall encountering with SUSE would be with KDE. However, that is limited to just the desktop environment as I have not had stability issues with ​most server functions."
"Compared with the competition, of late actually, the solution has increased its pricing tremendously."
"The product must improve its UI."
"I would like to see GUI improved, it could be more user-friendly."
"Lack of integration with other operating systems."
"Ubuntu should create some specific features, like Red Hat. Red Hat has provided many features for open-source, like FreeIPA."
"The user interface could be improved, as it looks a little bit older."
"The encryption of the partition regarding software systems could be improved."
"Stability could be improved."
"Similar to Windows 10, I would like the ability to manage it on Azure or integrate it with Azure."
"Ubuntu Linux does not easily detect the drivers of new devices, and you need to do some trial and error for some of the third parties porting into it."
"The solution could improve by being more user-friendly, you need to know how to use the command-line interface which you might not understand."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm unsure what the standard RHEL license costs for one machine. We pay for premium support that guarantees a response in two hours."
"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."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a more cost-effective solution than Windows Servers."
"For me, it is not too bad, but my company pays the bill, so I do not worry too much about it."
"RHEL has a decent pricing model. It's a subscription, which makes sense. The OS itself is free, but you pay for the support. I have never heard any complaints about the pricing."
"With Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you need to pay a massive upfront licensing fee in order to get support."
"It is cost-efficient."
"Pricing depends on the model used, costing about $3,000 per virtual host in the virtual environment. It varies depending on whether you get high availability. There are modules that are upsold such as kernel patching, which we do not use due to cost considerations."
"I would advise others to download the free or strictly open source versions, then test them in their environment before committing to a purchase. This will allow for testing suitability for applications that they want to run."
"Anyone can use Linux because it is open-source."
"Regarding pricing, everybody would want it to be cheaper."
"There is a free tier and a paid support tier. If you do not need support, then the solution is free to use. If you need support then there is an option for that as well."
"When we first implemented this product, we had licenses for support."
"The price is reasonable."
"I have to pay for a license in order to get support."
"The license we pay is for Oracle. We make use of the community edition."
"Ubuntu is a free product."
"Ubuntu Linux is free."
"The use of the solution is inexpensive and the hardware it needs to operate can be priced very low. There is not a license for the solution but there is for the hardware."
"It comes as free software, where there is an option for you to buy support licenses."
"I use the free version, so I don't have any license fees."
"I use Ubuntu Linux free of cost."
"I don't need to pay for the license."
"This is a free solution."
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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
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
University
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business82
Midsize Enterprise44
Large Enterprise241
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business83
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise53
 

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 st...
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 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) has been largely positive, though there was a significant shift in...
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 f...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
I used the open-source version, so there were no setup costs.
What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?
The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu. The software manager was different, ...
Which would you choose - Ubuntu Linux or Oracle Linux?
Ubunto Linux is a complete Linux operating system that is freely available with both community and professional suppo...
What do you like most about Ubuntu Linux?
It has a good support system for loading databases.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ubuntu Linux?
My experience with the pricing for Ubuntu Linux is that I always use the free version, so I never paid for any instal...
 

Also Known As

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3
Ubuntu
 

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, ...
Samsung, eBay, AT&T, Walmart, Cisco, Time Warner Cable, Bloomberg, Best Buy, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Ericsson, Orange, Wells Fargo
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat, Canonical, Oracle and others in Operating Systems (OS) for Business. Updated: August 2025.
866,088 professionals have used our research since 2012.