What is Red Hat OpenShift used for?

Red Hat OpenShift is an enterprise Kubernetes application platform for building, deploying and managing apps across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. It is a good fit for modernizing legacy applications onto containers, running Kubernetes consistently across clouds and deploying AI workloads in regulated industries.

How much does Red Hat OpenShift cost?

Red Hat OpenShift is a paid product with no free plan. A free trial is available. Cloud-service reserved instances are available from $0.076/hour on a 4 vCPU, 3-year contract. Self-managed editions are priced by sizing and subscription; free trials are offered.

Is Red Hat OpenShift open source?

No. Red Hat OpenShift is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to Red Hat OpenShift include Kubernetes, K3s and Rancher.

Can I self-host Red Hat OpenShift?

Yes. Although Red Hat OpenShift is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers, and the vendor also offers a hosted version.

What are some alternatives to Red Hat OpenShift?

Red Hat OpenShift competes with Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes Engine and Azure Kubernetes Service. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Red Hat OpenShift alternatives.

Red Hat OpenShift: features, pricing and alternatives

About Red Hat OpenShift

Red Hat OpenShift is an application platform built on Kubernetes and sold by Red Hat. The vendor positions it as a way for organizations to modernize existing applications, build new ones and speed up AI adoption across data centers and clouds.

OpenShift sits inside Red Hat's wider hybrid cloud portfolio next to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Ansible Automation Platform and Red Hat AI products such as OpenShift AI. Its pages cover use cases including application development, virtualization, security, automation, edge computing and digital sovereignty, with industry solutions for sectors like financial services, healthcare and telecommunications.

OpenShift is commercial software with Red Hat subscriptions and support, and it can be run on infrastructure you manage as well as consumed as a managed service on public clouds. The site provides trial options and a pricing page.

Key features

Kubernetes-based application platform
Hybrid and multi-cloud deployment
OpenShift AI for building and serving models
Virtualization alongside containers
Integration with Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Security and automation tooling

Good fit for

→Modernizing legacy applications onto containers
→Running Kubernetes consistently across clouds
→Deploying AI workloads in regulated industries

Tags: kubernetes; containers; hybrid-cloud; red-hat; paas; enterprise; multi-cloud

Red Hat OpenShift: questions and answers

What is Red Hat OpenShift used for?: Red Hat OpenShift is an enterprise Kubernetes application platform for building, deploying and managing apps across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. It is a good fit for modernizing legacy applications onto containers, running Kubernetes consistently across clouds and deploying AI workloads in regulated industries.
How much does Red Hat OpenShift cost?: Red Hat OpenShift is a paid product with no free plan. A free trial is available. Cloud-service reserved instances are available from $0.076/hour on a 4 vCPU, 3-year contract. Self-managed editions are priced by sizing and subscription; free trials are offered.
Is Red Hat OpenShift open source?: No. Red Hat OpenShift is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to Red Hat OpenShift include Kubernetes, K3s and Rancher.
Can I self-host Red Hat OpenShift?: Yes. Although Red Hat OpenShift is closed source, it can be self-hosted on your own servers, and the vendor also offers a hosted version.
What are some alternatives to Red Hat OpenShift?: Red Hat OpenShift competes with Amazon EKS, Google Kubernetes Engine and Azure Kubernetes Service. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Red Hat OpenShift alternatives.