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Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pros and cons

Vendor: Red Hat
4.4 out of 5
Badge Ranked 1

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Enterprise support is highly valued due to its responsiveness and technical expertise, allowing for quick issue resolution.
The stability and reliability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are frequently emphasized, with users experiencing minimal downtime and long periods of uninterrupted operation.
Security features are crucial and highly praised, providing robust protection and compliance with security standards without requiring frequent reboots.
Integrations with tools like Ansible and Satellite facilitate automation and ease of management, enhancing productivity and efficiency.
The comprehensive documentation and knowledge base are valuable resources, offering clear guidance and support for various deployments and configurations.

CONS

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) pricing structure is perceived as high and can be prohibitive for some individuals, small businesses, and regions aiming for cost optimization.
Documentation and knowledge base of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are considered fragmented, outdated, or challenging to navigate, leading to difficulties in issue resolution.
The upgrade process for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), particularly between major versions, is identified as cumbersome, with incompatibilities and complex migration paths being cited as concerns.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) support is noted as lacking in responsiveness and expertise, with delayed responses and ineffective communication cited as challenges.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) faces criticism for the complexity of its licensing model, with calls for clearer, simpler, and more predictable licensing paths.
 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Pros review quotes

AL
Software Engineer at a security firm with 10,001+ employees
Feb 14, 2018
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.
it_user840444 - PeerSpot reviewer
Growth Incubation Leader, Poland and Baltics at IBM
Mar 19, 2018
Open architecture allows for accelerated growth while secure repositories guarantee stability.
FL
Systems Analyst at Intraservice/City of G̦teborg
May 27, 2020
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.
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
FA
Linux Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Dec 21, 2020
Its security is the most valuable. It is very stable and has many features. It also has good performance. Some of our clients were using Windows servers and products. I suggested Red Hat Linux to them and described the features. They switched to it, and they really loved it. There were around 50 servers in my last company, and they switched all those servers from Windows to Red Hat. I used to manage those servers.
IS
Associate Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jan 14, 2021
Customer support is valuable.
reviewer1486413 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Analyst - AIX and Linux at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Feb 9, 2021
The integrated solution approach reduces our TCO tremendously because we are able to focus on innovation instead of operations.
reviewer1571253 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
May 18, 2021
We find the Red Hat Satellite deployments very useful. It integrates well with other solutions.
JonathanShilling - PeerSpot reviewer
System Analyst II at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 26, 2021
I like the fact that most of the system configuration is Namespace so it's easy to get to and easy to configure, and most of it still uses text documents. Not all of it's a menu-driven-type entry. I also like the fact that it's a very standard file system layout so it's easy to navigate.
it_user1652145 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Ithaca College
Aug 18, 2021
The feature that I like the most is that we can integrate it easily with our existing infrastructure. We found that it is much easier to deploy RHEL in our environment compared to a competing distribution like Ubuntu.
BY
Senior Systems Engineer at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Sep 1, 2021
This is a very robust product that doesn't require a lot of handling. It just works.
 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Cons review quotes

AL
Software Engineer at a security firm with 10,001+ employees
Feb 14, 2018
I really think that the upgrade policies between the major versions, like from from RHEL 5 to RHEL 6, should be much easier, similar to what is in place for upgrading from RHEL 6 to RHEL 6.8.
it_user840444 - PeerSpot reviewer
Growth Incubation Leader, Poland and Baltics at IBM
Mar 19, 2018
Workstations: More applications for graphics.
FL
Systems Analyst at Intraservice/City of G̦teborg
May 27, 2020
Sometimes they don't have new versions for applications like Apache or PHP. I understand it's because they have to have support for them, so they can't have the latest version all the time, but that's the main thing I see that could be improved.
Learn what your peers think about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
FA
Linux Administrator at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Dec 21, 2020
It is mostly better than other solutions. However, it is sometimes difficult for disaster recovery, so we have to plan accordingly.
IS
Associate Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jan 14, 2021
Their pricing and documentation can be improved.
reviewer1486413 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Analyst - AIX and Linux at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Feb 9, 2021
Linux overall needs improvement. They cannot go much beyond what Linus Torvalds's kernel implementation can do. I come from AIX, and there were very cool things in AIX that I am missing dearly, e.g., being able to support not only adding, but also reducing memory and number of processors. That is not supported on Linux right now, and it is the same for the mainstream file systems supported by Red Hat. There is no way of reducing a file system or logical volume. Whereas, in AIX, it was a shoo-in. These are the little things where we can say, "Ah, we are missing AIX for that."
reviewer1571253 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
May 18, 2021
It could be a bit more user-friendly. It could also be cheaper.
JonathanShilling - PeerSpot reviewer
System Analyst II at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 26, 2021
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.
it_user1652145 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Ithaca College
Aug 18, 2021
The biggest thing that is crushing RHEL is documentation. Their documentation is haphazard at best. The man pages that you can use locally are pretty good, they've been fleshed out pretty well, but the documentation from Red Hat itself really needs somebody to go through it and review it.
BY
Senior Systems Engineer at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Sep 1, 2021
The price is something that can be improved, as they are still being undercut.