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Kubernetes vs Red Hat OpenShift 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.5
Organizations see varied ROI from Kubernetes, influenced by expertise, scaling, technology adoption, and transitioning from VMs.
Sentiment score
7.4
Red Hat OpenShift boosts ROI with enhanced productivity, scalability, and security, offering efficient integration and modernization despite initial costs.
We receive revenue and returns from its deployment due to improved services and applications.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
I have seen a return on investment, and the metrics in return for the investment are very fast.
Site Reliability Engineer at Tiendanube
With OpenShift combined with IBM Cloud App integration, I can spin an integration server in a second as compared to traditional methods, which could take days or weeks.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Moving to OpenShift resulted in increased system stability and reduced downtime, which contributed to operational efficiency.
Infrastructure Manager at Appzone Group
It is always advisable to get the bare minimum that you need, and then add more when necessary.
Vice President at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.2
Kubernetes support is community-driven, with users favoring self-help, vendor options, and experiencing varied satisfaction levels with official channels.
Sentiment score
6.8
Red Hat OpenShift support is praised for expertise and community support but criticized for delays and complex documentation.
The application is stable, and I seldom require support.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
Red Hat's technical support is responsive and effective.
Infrastructure Manager at Appzone Group
Customer support is really good because so far in our case, we have always received a prompt response, and they have been really helpful to us.
ML Engineer - Specialist at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I have been pretty happy in the past with getting support from Red Hat.
Manager IT Infrastructure at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Kubernetes efficiently scales for all sizes, supports horizontal and vertical growth, and integrates well with cloud services.
Sentiment score
7.4
Red Hat OpenShift efficiently scales nodes and applications, supports large operations, but some desire improved on-premise capabilities.
Kubernetes is highly scalable, earning a rating of eight out of ten.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
By using horizontal pod autoscalers, Kubernetes automatically adjusts the number of pods based on CPU, memory usage, or other metrics.
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Kubernetes is a scalable platform, which is why we are using it.
Senior Manager at pnb metlife
The on-demand provisioning of pods and auto-scaling, whether horizontal or vertical, is the best part.
Manager IT Infrastructure at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
OpenShift's horizontal pod scaling is more effective and efficient than that used in Kubernetes, making it a superior choice for scalability.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Red Hat OpenShift scales excellently, with a rating of ten out of ten.
System Analyst at Freelancer
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Kubernetes is stable and reliable, supported by extensive testing, automated repairs, and handles high-loads efficiently, despite occasional issues.
Sentiment score
7.7
Red Hat OpenShift is praised for high stability, efficiently handling production, with improvements minimizing external-impact issues.
Our organization performs robust testing before sending changes to production, ensuring the stability of Kubernetes in live environments.
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Kubernetes offers high stability, allowing for easy scaling of ports and containers.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
If any containers take more space, sometimes the cluster goes down.
Senior Manager at pnb metlife
It provides better performance yet requires more resources compared to vanilla Kubernetes.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I've had my cluster running for over four years.
Infrastructure Manager at Appzone Group
It performs well under load, providing the desired output.
System Analyst at Freelancer
 

Room For Improvement

Kubernetes needs improved UI, security, management, cloud integration, and native features to enhance user experience and simplify processes.
Red Hat OpenShift requires improvements in documentation, security, integration, support, GUI, scalability, resource demands, and user experience.
Improved documentation would help in gaining scalable knowledge and making it more understandable.
Scholar Trainee/Project Engineer at Wipro Limited
After the upgrade, some pods were not up as expected, leading to downtime.
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Although we face issues when migrating to new versions of Kubernetes, such as misunderstandings on using new features or integration with proxy services, these issues can be addressed with proper preparation.
Head of Data Science center of excellence at Ameriabank CJSC
Learning OpenShift requires complex infrastructure, needing vCenter integration, more advanced answers, active directory, and more expensive hardware.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Red Hat OpenShift's biggest disadvantage is they do not provide any private cloud setup where we can host on our site using their services.
Vice President at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We should aim to include VMware-like capabilities to be competitive, especially considering cost factors.
System Analyst at Freelancer
 

Setup Cost

Kubernetes is affordable for large enterprises but can be costly for smaller entities due to variable infrastructure and operational costs.
Red Hat OpenShift offers comprehensive features but is criticized for high costs, especially when upgrading to the licensed version.
Since we use Kubernetes on-premises, the costs are related to our expertise and the personnel we hire.
Head of Data Science center of excellence at Ameriabank CJSC
the setup costs are high.
Site Reliability Engineer at Tiendanube
Initially, licensing was per CPU, with a memory cap, but the price has doubled, making it difficult to justify for clients with smaller compute needs.
Senior Technical Lead at MORO
The pricing for Red Hat OpenShift is considered quite high.
Manager for Middleware at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Red Hat can improve on the pricing part by making it more flexible and possibly on the lower side.
Manager IT Infrastructure at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Kubernetes excels in scalability, automation, and container management, offering self-healing, cloud integration, and efficient microservices deployment.
Red Hat OpenShift provides fast CI/CD, scalability, security, automation, and integration for seamless, secure, and flexible application deployment.
Kubernetes also offers rollback control and auto-scaling capabilities, which are crucial for maintaining an application's availability even if nodes or pods go down.
AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
For us, having fast storage classes is very important.
Head of Data Science center of excellence at Ameriabank CJSC
The most valuable feature of Kubernetes is its support for load balancing.
Senior Manager at pnb metlife
Because it was centrally managed in our company, many metrics that we had to write code for were available out of the box, including utilization, CPU utilization, memory, and similar metrics.
Vice President at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The concept of containers and scaling on demand is a feature I appreciate the most about Red Hat OpenShift.
Manager IT Infrastructure at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
A valuable feature of Red Hat OpenShift is its ability to handle increased loads by automatically adding nodes.
System Analyst at Freelancer
 

Categories and Ranking

Kubernetes
Ranking in Container Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Red Hat OpenShift
Ranking in Container Management
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (3rd), Server Virtualization Software (11th), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (5th), Agile and DevOps Services (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Kubernetes is 6.1%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat OpenShift is 3.5%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Kubernetes6.1%
Red Hat OpenShift3.5%
Other90.4%
Container Management
 

Featured Reviews

Leonardo Brito - PeerSpot reviewer
Site Reliability Engineer at Tiendanube
Migration to managed containers has accelerated microservice deployments and reduced downtime
I am using add-ons for EKS Kubernetes that stand out to me. The useful add-ons help with administrating multiple clusters and accounts in AWS. My company uses Kubernetes for microservices within the organization. I advise others to look into using Kubernetes and not to pursue other options. Kubernetes is something I want to emphasize before we wrap up. I have given this review an overall rating of 80.
Pratul Shukla - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Adopting a flexible and efficient approach with noticeable improvements in operational costs and continued challenges in job management
Currently, one of the biggest challenges we face is with services and jobs. For spawning batches, although it has crons, it is not easy to integrate with enterprise systems such as Autosys. The entire company uses Autosys, but we are not able to integrate it effectively. We need intermediate servers to run OC utility commands and initiate the cron job. We have to do a lot of modifications to ensure our batches work properly. With physical or virtual servers, even in AWS, we are able to write and manage multiple jobs. Managing batches in Red Hat OpenShift has been a significant challenge. Integrating third parties is a challenge with Red Hat OpenShift. For example, with Elasticsearch, onboarding itself was difficult, running file beats and dealing with routing issues. It is not straightforward, especially since we have some components in AWS as. AWS has many capabilities that come out of the box and are easier to work with compared to Red Hat OpenShift. Red Hat OpenShift's biggest disadvantage is they do not provide any private cloud setup where we can host on our site using their services. The main reason we went with Red Hat OpenShift was because it is a private cloud, and we have regulatory requirements that prevent us from using public cloud.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise47
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise43
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Kubernetes?
There are many good features. I feel that the scale-out features, like replica sets, are very good. The number of running containers can be autoscaled.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kubernetes?
I have had a good experience with pricing, but the setup costs are high.
What needs improvement with Kubernetes?
Kubernetes can be improved, though I cannot specify exactly how at this time.
How does OpenShift compare with Amazon AWS?
Open Shift makes managing infrastructure easy because of self-healing and automatic scaling. There is also a wonderful dashboard mechanism to alert us in case the application is over-committing or ...
Which would you recommend - Pivotal Cloud Foundry or OpenShift?
Pivotal Cloud Foundry is a cloud-native application platform to simplify app delivery. It is efficient and effective. The best feature is how easy it is to handle external services such as database...
What do you like most about OpenShift?
OpenShift facilitates DevOps practices and improves CI/CD workflows in terms of stability compared to Jenkins.
 

Also Known As

K8
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

China unicom, NetEase Cloud, Nav, AppDirect
UPS, Cathay Pacific, Hilton
Find out what your peers are saying about Kubernetes vs. Red Hat OpenShift and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.