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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 3, 2025

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

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
337
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) allow our company to standardize our fragmented ecosystem, which consists of a lot of Windows systems and different development environments, so that we can move away from the 'it works on my machine, it doesn't work on your machine' issues."
"One of Red Hat Enterprise Linux’s valuable features is its enterprise-level security. We are guaranteed that it's secure, and that's important for us because we need to comply with security regulations. Security always remains a top priority."
"The solution has features that simplify adoption for non-Linux users. There is an interface that you can activate on RHEL systems, and on other Linux systems as well, so that you will get a graphical user interface instead of just a shell. It's easier for an administrator who is used to only working on Windows."
"The most valuable features of using RHEL for us are the standard way to run Linux and tools like NetworkManager. They make things easier for us."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux's ease of use in a controlled system, especially when dealing with constant repository updates, is valuable."
"The GUI for network adapters and built-in tools provided by RHEL, such as the Mozilla browser, have been valuable. Since they come built-in, it saves the time of having to install them, and you have everything necessary with the installation itself."
"My experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in terms of stability and reliability is excellent."
"The most valuable features are ease of support and the ability to run a read-only course on the operating system."
"The operating system is efficient in terms of security."
"SUSE Linux Enterprise is scalable."
"The initial setup for most modern Linux distributions is normally straightforward. Most of the common distributions use an ncurses or GUI install."
"The most valuable features of the solution are patching and the BTRFS file system."
"Out-of-the-box SLES supported all of our HBAs and hardware specific components."
"From a functionality perspective, the suite is quite rich. We like that."
"It's easy to set up."
"SUSE Linux's most valuable feature is the documentation - there is a lot of documentation about how to create custom servers."
 

Cons

"I am still trying to figure out the features it has. There is so much that it can do."
"The cost could be lower. Red Hat is considered a costly solution. It can be expensive if you want all the features in the license. A cheaper license would make Red Hat more accessible to a broader range of users."
"The only thing that I really have difficulty with is SELinux, so perhaps there is room to make it more accessible."
"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."
"We had issues migrating from the old to the new RHEL version in the virtual environment. It forced us to spin up a new virtual environment to have the new RHEL version."
"Red Hat should improve its support services, specifically the responsiveness and expertise of its India-based team."
"To become more competitive, they might consider changing their licensing model, for instance, by offering an instance-based payment for cloud computing services."
"RHEL could be improved in several ways, especially regarding transparency and communication of new features."
"They should provide chatbot support for customers to open the troubleshooting cases directly."
"We previously had trouble integrating Autodesk with the SUSE Manager, but the issue was resolved."
"Red Hat has more packages that are available than SUSE does. I'd love to see more projects based on SUSE."
"All distributions of Linux could use some improvement."
"The product must improve its UI."
"I would appreciate the product's future releases being lighter and operating more efficiently on smaller systems."
"I would like to see better functionality for interacting with cloud-based systems."
"Sometimes it is a bit of work for developers to change the configurations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Regarding the prices, the new changes are actually not bad as it works for enterprise solutions."
"Lowering the cost of enterprise-level offerings could attract organizations seeking operating systems or Kubernetes solutions, as these tools are essential for many businesses in the region."
"It is pretty expensive, but it is worth it. Generally, in an enterprise environment, there is no cheap solution. This is coming from someone who is working with a company that provides a lot of solutions a bit cheaper than the industry standard. In the enterprise environment, I believe no solution is inexpensive, but RHEL is still pretty expensive. Additional costs that I am aware of are usually for support and setup."
"While the cost of Red Hat Enterprise Linux may seem high, it's necessary to support Red Hat's extensive research and development, which includes maintaining long update cycles for the operating system."
"RHEL is expensive."
"I do not know the overall cost, but I know that Red Hat is cheaper than Windows."
"The setup cost is non-existent. With licensing, there was a little snafu because I misread something. There was a slight learning curve because we use virtual data center licensing. We had to understand how it all maps. We had to understand how that mapping works when the hypervisors are Red Hat or VMware. There is a slight learning curve, but it worked out. It ends up being easy."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux is expensive, particularly for governments operating with limited budgets."
"As far as licensing goes, there is nothing unusual here. The price and model have worked fine for my organization."
"The tool is expensive compared to Red Hat. I rate its pricing a nine out of ten."
"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."
"The product is expensive. We purchase its yearly license."
"Regarding pricing, everybody would want it to be cheaper."
"The price is reasonable."
"When we first implemented this product, we had licenses for support."
"The product's licensing options align well with the evolving landscape of Linux variants."
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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%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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)?
The licensing cost for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is comparable to SUSE for premium support. For approximately $2,000 per year, you can get premium support for one subscription which allows yo...
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?
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, making it challenging to install certain applications. Additionally, I encounter...
 

Also Known As

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL
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: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.