Kubernetes vs Red Hat OpenShift comparison

Kubernetes and Red Hat are both solutions in the Container Management category. Kubernetes is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.4, while Red Hat is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.6. Kubernetes holds a 4.9% mindshare in CM, compared to Red Hat’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Kubernetes users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

Kubernetes

Read 78 Kubernetes reviews

3,802 Views
2,519 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Red Hat OpenShift

Read 61 Red Hat OpenShift reviews

389 Views
343 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Kubernetes

Red Hat OpenShift

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Container Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Kubernetes vs. Red Hat OpenShift Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Kubernetes vs. Red Hat OpenShift

April 2025

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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

Kubernetes

Ranking in Container Management

4th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Red Hat OpenShift

Ranking in Container Management

12th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

PaaS Clouds (3rd), Server Virtualization Software (9th), Hybrid Cloud Computing Platforms (7th), Agile and DevOps Services (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Container Management category, the mindshare of Kubernetes is 4.9%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat OpenShift is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Container Management

Featured Reviews

Venu Boddu

AWS DevOps Engineer at Hexaware Technologies Limited

Manage infrastructure automation and smooth application deployment with robust auto-scaling capabilities

Kubernetes is highly valuable for its node-based setup, which allows for the running of multiple pods. This feature is essential for infrastructure automation and 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. Additionally, Kubernetes supports load balancing to distribute traffic efficiently across multiple pods.

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Mikhael Ibrahim

Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

Seamlessly monitor microservices with streamlined DevOps capabilities

Most benefit from it, however, I work with Kubernetes, and installing Vanilla Kubernetes is easy. That said, it introduces many tools that need to be set up individually. OpenShift comes ready out of the box, with all tools installed and configured. Red Hat certifies and confirms that all the components are compatible with each other. OpenShift's superior dashboard is a notable strength, especially when compared to Kubernetes. The integrated DevOps capabilities, such as pipelines and the container registry, are extremely beneficial. Additionally, its capability to monitor microservices and containers with integrated tools like Prometheus is a major advantage. The horizontal pod scaling exceeds the scalability features I found in Kubernetes.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the Zero Touch Operations, which involves a new way of performing operations and support. We do not have to do maintenance, the operations are very simple."

"The most important feature is container orchestration."

"Provision of a managed platform as a service."

"I like Kubernetes' scalability, built-in redundancy, and ease of deployment."

"All the current features are quite harmonic."

"It has a complete loading feature set for replica site deployment."

"Offers a crucial feedback process"

"The easy management of containers is one of the main features I have found useful."

More Kubernetes pros

"We have found the cluster management function to be very good with this product."

"The company had a product called device financing, where the company worked as a partner with Google. It allowed customers to take mobile phones on loan or via credit. When we migrated those services to OpenShift in February last year, we were able to sell over 100,000 devices in a single day, which was very good."

"The developers seem to like the source-to-image feature. That makes it easy for them to deploy an application from code into containers, so they don't have to think about things. They take it straight from their code into a containerized application. If you don't have OpenShift, you have to build the container and then deploy the container to, say, EKS or something like that."

"I would recommend Red Hat OpenShift, especially for its automation capabilities."

"We want to build a solution that can be deployable to any cloud because of client requirements and OpenShift allows us to do this."

"The initial setup is simple, and OpenShift is open-source, so it's easy to install on any cloud platform."

"The most valuable feature of OpenShift is the security context constraint (SCC). The solution’s security throughout the stack is good. And security context constraints provide port-level security. It's a granular level of control, where you can give privileges to certain users to work on certain applications."

"The stability has been good."

More Red Hat OpenShift pros

Cons

"Kubernetes can be complicated to understand. Improved documentation would help in gaining scalable knowledge and making it more understandable."

"One thing I noticed is when you have multiple deployments and your node count increases beyond eight or nine, the container creation process doesn't copy properties correctly."

"This solution is not very easy to use."

"The initial setup of Kubernetes is difficult. However, if you are used to the flow then it is easier. The length of time it takes for the implementation depends on the project."

"Kubernetes is a complex solution. The product needs to be more manageable and user-friendly."

"This product should have a more advanced built-in scheduler that uses real application metrics in the scheduling strategy."

"There are several areas where Kubernetes could improve."

"Kubernetes could improve by having better integration with VMware solutions."

More Kubernetes cons

"OpenShift's storage management could be better."

"Latency and performance are two areas of concern in OpenShift where improvements are required."

"I want easier node management and more user-friendly scripts for installing master and worker nodes."

"One of the features that I've observed in Tanzu Mission Control is that I can manage multiple Kubernetes environments. For instance, one of my lines of business is using OpenShift OKD; another one wants to use Google Anthos, and somebody else wants to use VMware Tanzu. If I have to manage all these, Tanzu Mission Control is giving me the opportunity to completely manage all of my Kubernetes clusters, whereas, with OpenShift, I can only manage a particular area. I can't manage other Kubernetes clusters. I would like to have the option to manage all Kubernetes clusters with OpenShift."

"This is a fairly expensive solution."

"They could work on the pricing model, making it more flexible and possibly lower."

"The solution needs to support the new features in Kubernetes more quickly."

"While Red Hat OpenShift is stable, monitoring and reporting capabilities need improvement. Integration with tools like Grafana and Prometheus is necessary for capturing logs, and manually managing these aspects is time-consuming."

More Red Hat OpenShift cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The management layer is free, which is perfect. You don't need to pay money for the management layer, but in AWS develop service, you need to pay. I think it is €75 per month for the management layer. It is free here, so you can have as many Kubernetes clusters as you need. You are paying just for the workload, that is, for the machine, CPU, memory, and everything."

"It's an affordable solution"

"There is a license to use Kubernetes."

"In addition to Kubernetes, you have to pay for support."

"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs associated with its use."

"Kubernetes is open-source. Kubernetes is free, but we're charged for AWS utilization."

"Kubernetes is open-source."

"I would say the solution is worth the money, but it depends on the required workloads, the type of workload, and the scaling requirements etc."

More Kubernetes pricing and cost advice

"The licensing cost for OpenShift is expensive when compared to other products. RedHat also charges you additional costs apart from the standard licensing fees."

"It's expensive. It may be cheaper to invest in building Vanilla Kubernetes, especially if security is not the number one motivation or requirement. Of course, that's difficult, and in some business areas, such as banking, that's not something you can put as a second priority. In other situations, a Vanilla Kubernetes with a sufficiently strong team can be cheaper and almost as effective."

"OpenShift is really good when we need to start, but once we get to a certain scale, it becomes too expensive."

"This solution is fairly expensive but comes at an average cost compared to other solutions in the market."

"The cost is quite high."

"We had a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) license for all our servers' operating systems. By having multiple Red Hat products together, you can negotiate costs and leverage on having a sort of enterprise license agreement to reduce the overall outlay or TCO."

"The solution is cost-effective."

"The pricing for OpenShift includes support and licensing, which costs approximately $400."

More Red Hat OpenShift pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

32%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kubernetes?

Since we use Kubernetes on-premises, the costs are related to our expertise and the personnel we hire.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Kubernetes?

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 p...

See all answers

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 ...

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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...

See all answers

What do you like most about OpenShift?

OpenShift facilitates DevOps practices and improves CI/CD workflows in terms of stability compared to Jenkins.

See all answers

Comparisons

VMware Tanzu Platform vs Kubernetes

Compared 41% of the time

Nutanix Kubernetes Engine NKE vs Kubernetes

Compared 20% of the time

Portainer vs Kubernetes

Compared 10% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform vs Kubernetes

Compared 7% of the time

Google Kubernetes Engine vs Kubernetes

Compared 5% of the time

More Kubernetes Competitors

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) vs Red Hat OpenShift

Compared 18% of the time

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs Red Hat OpenShift

Compared 17% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs Red Hat OpenShift

Compared 14% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Red Hat OpenShift

Compared 9% of the time

Google Cloud vs Red Hat OpenShift

Compared 8% of the time

More Red Hat OpenShift Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kubernetes

April 2025

Download Kubernetes product report

Buyer's Guide

Red Hat OpenShift

April 2025

Download Red Hat OpenShift product report

Also Known As

No data available

Overview

Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
It groups containers that make up an application into logical units for easy management and discovery. Kubernetes builds upon 15 years of experience of running production workloads at Google, combined with best-of-breed ideas and practices from the community.

Kubernetes

Red Hat OpenShift offers a robust, scalable platform with strong security and automation, suitable for container orchestration, application deployment, and microservices architecture.

Designed to modernize applications by transitioning from legacy systems to cloud-native environments, Red Hat OpenShift provides powerful CI/CD integration and Kubernetes compatibility. Its security features, multi-cloud support, and source-to-image functionality enhance deployment flexibility. While the GUI offers user-friendly navigation, users benefit from its cloud-agnostic nature and efficient lifecycle management. However, improvements are needed in documentation, configuration complexity, and integration with third-party platforms. Pricing and high resource demands can also be challenging for wider adoption.

What are the key features of Red Hat OpenShift?

Security: Comprehensive security features ensure safe deployments and operations.
Scalability: Auto-scaling and monitoring capabilities cater to high-demand environments.
CI/CD Integration: Seamless integration for efficient continuous deployment processes.
Cloud Compatibility: Supports multi-cloud and on-premise solutions with ease.
GUI: Simplifies platform management and enhances usability.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Improved Efficiency: Streamlined operations reduce time and resource investments.
Enhanced Flexibility: Adapt quickly to changing demands and environments.
Quick Deployment: Fast application deployment supports agile project timelines.
Robust Support: Access to dependable customer support services.

Red Hat OpenShift is strategically implemented for diverse industries focusing on container orchestration and application modernization. Organizations leverage it for migrating applications to cloud-native environments and managing CI/CD pipelines. Its functionality facilitates efficient resource management and microservices architecture adoption, supporting enterprise-level DevOps practices. Users employ it across cloud and on-premises platforms to drive performance improvements.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

China unicom, NetEase Cloud, Nav, AppDirect

UPS, Cathay Pacific, Hilton

Buyer's Guide

Kubernetes vs. Red Hat OpenShift

April 2025

Free Report: Kubernetes vs. Red Hat OpenShift

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