According to the price and if your use case is more worth saving, you can go with that. I can help determine what use case you want to pursue. If it is a small scale operation, you do not need to choose that option. If it is a huge business, you can definitely invest in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
Openshift Administrator at Value Point Systems Pvt Ltd
User-friendly platform has enabled quick support and efficient subscription management
Pros and Cons
- "We are saving more costs because we are getting immediate support; if any issue arises, we do not have to wait for someone to respond and can get immediate quick responses from the support team."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The system is user-friendly and they have a cloud console for managing all the subscriptions you have purchased. From that perspective, it is very user-friendly to manage your subscription, and you can list out all the systems where you have installed this Linux, managing them from a single console.
We are saving more costs because we are getting immediate support. If any issue arises, we do not have to wait for someone to respond. We can get immediate quick responses from the support team. We are saving lots of time and from the customer side, we have heard that they are achieving significant cost savings from this.
What needs improvement?
The main disadvantage is that you may find the price is too high.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have two years of experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and I am currently doing projects with it.
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
May 2026
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How are customer service and support?
I would rate the customer service nine out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is basically from Fedora. I worked with Fedora and CentOS. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Fedora, and CentOS are all from the same Linux family. I have also used Ubuntu.
What about the implementation team?
We are a service-based company delivering services. We provide subscriptions to customers, implement them, and then complete our work.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
You definitely need to consider the cost and determine if it is worth the investment. If your use case is larger and you need immediate solutions, then you should consider the cost. Technology-wise, it is very good and reliable.
What other advice do I have?
I am working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and am certified with the OpenShift platform, which is a Kubernetes platform. The company I currently work for operates both on-premise and in cloud environments.
Regarding patching, if any issues arise or security issues such as hacking or vulnerability issues occur, they will first address it through engineering and provide patch support to customers as the first priority. After that, they release it to the open source part. This patching process makes it more secure.
The immediate support and response time are good reasons to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). My overall rating for this solution is 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Implementer
Senior Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Custom applications smoothly run on an extensively supported platform
Pros and Cons
- "Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) nine out of ten."
- "The technical support from Red Hat could be rated six out of ten because of the slow response times."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case involves running custom applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We mainly deploy it on-premises, with applications and custom-made solutions running on RHEL for our customers.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features include the classical operating system features, extensive community support, and the integration of open-source with enterprise support. Our customers often choose Red Hat because they receive support for open-source software, which is a major reason for its use.
What needs improvement?
I am not sure what needs improvement as our customers haven't shared any specific feedback. Perhaps some minor enhancements like a more user-friendly knowledge base and faster technical support could be beneficial.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for over ten years, with a recent focus on it in the last few months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I find that Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is highly stable, and I would rate its stability nine or ten out of ten. It is a fully enterprise-grade operating system, and stability is crucial for our customers.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is very scalable, and I would rate its scalability at nine or ten. Scalability is vital for our customers as they often expand their infrastructure.
How are customer service and support?
While the technical support could be faster, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) community service is excellent. The technical support from Red Hat could be rated six out of ten because of the slow response times.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very easy and straightforward. I didn't experience any problems during the setup process, similar to other operating systems.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment process depends on customer specifications. After discussing and agreeing on the specifications, we proceed with the deployment. We guide customers and provide recommendations as needed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I do not have specific knowledge about pricing as I am not a seller. The price varies depending on the customer and the project. Therefore, I cannot provide an exact evaluation of pricing.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) nine out of ten. The knowledge base could be improved to be more user-friendly as it currently requires getting used to.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. integrator
Buyer's Guide
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
May 2026
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2026.
894,807 professionals have used our research since 2012.
System administrator at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Extensible integration enhances open-source projects while addressing hypervisor compatibility
Pros and Cons
- "Automation makes compliance a lot easier."
- "We have encountered compatibility issues with certain hypervisors, mainly with RHEL six hosts on the newer versions of FoxMox."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution primarily for simulation and CAD solutions. It serves as the main use for our operating systems.
How has it helped my organization?
The openness of the operating system makes auditing a lot easier, plus the tools for auditing make that a lot easier to maintain.
Automation makes compliance a lot easier.
The knowledge gained from using the system completely makes troubleshooting easier and increases the knowledge pool in the company.
What is most valuable?
The extendibility of the solution and its openness, along with its integration with all of our other open-source projects, are highly valuable.
We appreciate that it is one of the few enterprise-enabled Linux operating systems we can use.
It is very extensible, which aids as our needs change.
What needs improvement?
We have encountered compatibility issues with certain hypervisors, mainly with Red Hat Enterprise Linux six hosts on the newer versions of FoxMox.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for over ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution has performed really well for our business-critical applications and is very stable. I have no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is very extensible, adapting perfectly as our needs change.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support is very helpful and insightful. I would rate it very well, approximately an eight on a scale of one to ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What was our ROI?
The biggest return on investment is the knowledge gained by using the system. The access we have to the operating system increases user involvement and facilitates troubleshooting, thus expanding the company's knowledge pool.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing and licensing are reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
For non-business critical applications, a third-party Linux OS may suffice, however, for something running 24/7, it is advisable to go for stability and enterprise support.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior System Engineer at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
The built-in security features are excellent
Pros and Cons
- "I like open source and prefer it over some closed proprietary software. In my early days, I was involved in the open-source community of the Red Hat Directory Server, communicating with developers to ensure password policies were implemented and asking questions. It showed me the power of open source."
- "I'm happy with the value RHEL delivers, but there's always room to improve."
What is our primary use case?
We are a telco company hosting internal applications on the OpenShift platform. It's for general IT workloads, such as backend systems for billing. We are also using it for containerization projects.
How has it helped my organization?
With an open-source solution, there is no vendor lock-in at the OS layer, so it's more flexible. I am happy with the value Red Hat delivers, so we don't see a reason to change that.
What is most valuable?
I like open source and prefer it over some closed proprietary software. In my early days, I was involved in the open-source community of the Red Hat Directory Server, communicating with developers to ensure password policies were implemented and asking questions. It showed me the power of open source.
While the built-in security features are excellent, we don't use all of them. It has many available capabilities, but it's not always up to the infrastructure people to decide what to use for security.
What needs improvement?
I'm happy with the value Red Hat Enterprise Linux delivers, but there's always room to improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for almost twenty years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I've never heard of any issues with Red Hat Enterprise Linux's performance on business-critical workloads. If there is a problem, it's mostly on the application layer, not the operating system.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has native containerization, so it can scale. It uses open-source technology and has Kubernetes underneath, which gives you the scaling you need. .
How are customer service and support?
I rate Red Hat support seven out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have been a Red Hat customer for over a year, and we are happy with the value it delivers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't know the exact pricing. Red Hat's subscription model is cost-effective because you pay as you go, which is better than paying upfront high license costs.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux eight out of 10. If you plan to implement Red Hat Enterprise Linux, make sure you get a vendor who can deliver and support it correctly.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Platform architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Has a centralized development with a secure, standardized environment
Pros and Cons
- "RHEL performs quite well for business-critical applications."
- "Better comparisons between different stack providers in pricing and functionalities could help, especially since public clouds often appear less expensive during planning but are more costly in practice."
What is our primary use case?
We run IT and telco workloads and applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helped us centralize development. We use a complete ecosystem of Red Hat for end-to-end development, deployment, and operations.
Centralizing development is achieved as we have clearly defined platforms to host applications, like OpenShift.
Additionally, the ACS on top of containers scans to ensure they are compliant, reducing vulnerabilities within our software.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a standardized environment with Kubernetes and good support behind it. The end-to-end delivery for developing, testing, and deploying containers in the same ecosystem is a very valuable feature.
The built-in security features are fine, we don't receive complaints about them.
What needs improvement?
One area for improvement is dealing with specifics developed by Red Hat Enterprise Linux that are now end of life. We have to remediate these changes, which is a disadvantage.
Additionally, better comparisons between different stack providers in pricing and functionalities could help, especially since public clouds often appear less expensive during planning but are more costly in practice.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Red Hat Enterprise Linux personally since joining my company ten years ago. Within the company, it has been used for more than 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux performs quite well for business-critical applications. Although we have some outages, it's not unusual, and I cannot blame RHEL entirely for it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scaling Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS is smooth and without complaints. We are planning to widen its use by moving from OpenStack to bare metal according to Red Hat's roadmap.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service rating varies at around an eight or nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
They conducted tests with Ubuntu. That said, it was less expensive and not as stable or developed as Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What was our ROI?
There is a return on investment since we can host our applications on top of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is quite expensive, yet the technical support, available roadmaps, and services justify the cost. We receive value for the price we pay, including technical support, which enables business continuity and compliance.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Ubuntu, but it was less stable.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise trying it out to see for yourself. Red Hat provides great technical support. That said, the pricing may need careful evaluation, especially when comparing with public cloud offerings.
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Systems Specialist at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Offers the greatest return on investment through reduced maintenance requirements and improved employee productivity
Pros and Cons
- "Red Hat's support and the latest versions offer significant advantages, including efficient resource utilization with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, allowing us to run more workloads with fewer resources."
- "There's room for improvement with some Linux tools."
What is our primary use case?
We are running standard workloads such as Spring Boot, Node.js, React platforms, and Liferay on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
We chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux for our workloads primarily due to its strong support system and the extensive open-source community surrounding it, making it a widely known and utilized operating system globally.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has enabled us to centralize our development using the OpenShift platform, where our developers utilize Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers for software runtimes.
It provides support, version updates, and security features that assist our containerization projects.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has performed well in our critical business operations.
We rely on Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its built-in security features, timely support, and rapid release of the latest patches and updates.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux helped reduce risk and improve efficiency by enabling us to achieve more with fewer resources.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has significantly contributed to business continuity and compliance efforts due to its seamless integration with our existing environment.
We are currently deploying our operator in the OpenShift environment, along with advanced cluster security. This automated solution scans Red Hat Enterprise Linux server images and can be customized to meet our needs.
The portfolio helps lower the total cost of ownership for our enterprise landscape due to its robust support system and rapid updates, making it the optimal solution.
What is most valuable?
Red Hat's support and the latest versions offer significant advantages, including efficient resource utilization with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, allowing us to run more workloads with fewer resources. Furthermore, the seamless integration with our existing systems adds substantial value.
What needs improvement?
My primary focus on assisting development projects and CI/CD pipelines has been largely issue-free. However, there's room for improvement with some Linux tools.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for around 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has consistently delivered strong performance for our business-critical operations.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is scalable due to the container environment, which is beneficial as our needs change.
How are customer service and support?
The support from Red Hat is top-tier.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
What was our ROI?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers the greatest return on investment through reduced maintenance requirements and improved employee productivity due to its stability, security, and ease of management.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have limited information regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux pricing and licensing, but our managers appear satisfied.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux ten out of ten.
While some may consider third-party Linux operating systems, Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers superior robustness, maintenance, and consistent platform upgrades, making it a more reliable choice due to its dedication to providing a consistently updated environment.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Support Engineer at Alcadis
Enables a stable, more secure environment that is well-supported
Pros and Cons
- "I find the most valuable aspect of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to be its comprehensive support, encompassing both technical and security issues."
- "The deployment learning curve for Red Hat Enterprise Linux could be more user-friendly."
What is our primary use case?
We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux for our infrastructure, and in recent years, we have also been using it for Ansible, primarily for appliance deployment on the customer side.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is deployed on-premises on our virtual machines.
How has it helped my organization?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux provided our organization with increased stability over the past decade.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux has allowed us to centralize development and focus on our projects by providing a consolidated platform for our enterprise distribution.
We are satisfied with Red Hat's built-in security features, which effectively reduce risk, ensure business continuity, and maintain compliance. Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a more secure operating system than other Linux solutions due to its robust security features and a supported kernel that receives regular security updates.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, when used with Ansible, has significantly automated various tasks, leading to a reduction in the total cost of ownership.
It has helped save the organization costs.
What is most valuable?
I find the most valuable aspect of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to be its comprehensive support, encompassing both technical and security issues.
Red Hat's comprehensive documentation eliminates the need to contact technical support for any issues encountered.
What needs improvement?
The deployment learning curve for Red Hat Enterprise Linux could be more user-friendly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Red Hat Enterprise Linux for 14 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers exceptional stability, with downtime limited to scheduled maintenance periods.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Although Red Hat Enterprise Linux is designed for scalability, our current deployments are not large.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Our organization has always used Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be challenging, but the documentation provides valuable assistance.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What was our ROI?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux offers a significant return on investment through Ansible, a powerful tool that enables the automation of our environment.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux nine out of ten.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux distinguishes itself from other vendors by offering exceptional support and ensuring that organizations have readily available assistance when needed.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the industry standard compared to other Linux vendors.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Consultant at a transportation company with 51-200 employees
It has high availability, built-in disaster recovery, and SSH features
Pros and Cons
- "I like RHEL's clustering capabilities and high-level architecture. It has high availability, built-in disaster recovery, SSH features, and scripting."
- "It would be great if Red Hat had its cloud instead of using AWS, Azure, or GCP. RHEL should have a dedicated cloud. I would also like to see more Windows support."
What is our primary use case?
We use Red Hat Enterprise Linux for file transfers and changing file permissions. It is also used to check file spaces and for migration purposes. Our tools are hosted on the Linux environment, and our agent services run on it.
How has it helped my organization?
We use Red Hat Linux to start and stop our agent services during migration, install new agents, and transfer files. The primary benefit is that it's a widely used open-source solution with good support. Now that we've migrated from CentOS to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, we will realize some benefits. Red Hat Enterprise Linux has more features.
What is most valuable?
I like Red Hat Enterprise Linux's clustering capabilities and high-level architecture. It has high availability, built-in disaster recovery, SSH features, and scripting.
The documentation is excellent. Since it was acquired by IBM, the open-source tools and technologies hosted on the Linux environment have been updated with many new features.
What needs improvement?
It would be great if Red Hat had its cloud instead of using AWS, Azure, or GCP. Red Hat Enterprise Linux should have a dedicated cloud. I would also like to see more Windows support.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux could also be more user-friendly and use AI or machine learning to automate processes. That is the most dynamic feature in the information technology industry.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Red Hat for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have intermittent issues with stability, but we're hoping they will improve in the latest version.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is quite scalable. We can place a lot of agents on Linux servers, some on the cloud, and a few on-prem. It can handle the workload.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Red Hat support eight out of 10. We have communicated with Red Hat support via email.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
The first deployment of Red Hat Enterprise Linux had a learning curve, but I've learned a lot since then. Once you know the process, then it's straightforward. It uses a command-based process, but if it were based on a GUI or a console, like a Windows installer, that would be a significant improvement.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux requires some housekeeping. We have to restart and patch servers weekly or biweekly and check the CPU, memory size, file size, the database used, and whether the IP network protocols are defined. All this happens monthly, weekly, or fortnightly.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Red Hat Enterprise Linux eight out of 10.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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