# Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription

16 Hacker News commenters recommended Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription and 22 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend Red Hat as a dependable Linux vendor for servers, and it shows open-source businesses can succeed. Critics say it has declined since IBM bought it.

## Why people recommend it

- Dependable choice for servers (3 comments): "Linux was smart to pivot to servers and retained 60% of market share to this day, Ubuntu is great; it works and very rarely has any reliability issues, along with Red Hat and Debian." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48456697)) "If your answer doesn't include either Debian, Red Hat, Canonical or Suse it is probably the wrong choice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46183031)) "this is why redhat is still relevant in 2025" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46478685))
- Proof open-source businesses can succeed (3 comments): "Even if you might not like their specific distros for one reason or another, they've found a way to make money" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575578)) "Open business models aren't less likely to be successful here than closed ones. Red Hat sold for $34B." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48965497)) "Look at Red Hat, GitLab, etc for examples of how to make OSS successful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47655312))

## What people warn about

- Declined since IBM acquisition (5 comments): "It would've meant something really good if IBM would just continue to provide services for free software" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49923490)) "Red Hat has gone downhill in terms of both reliability and open source since IBM's acquisition." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48360951)) "they bought Redhat and seem actively hostile to any FOSS projects that don't make them money" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46147779))
- Shifts focus toward enterprise customers (2 comments): "they bought Redhat and seem actively hostile to any FOSS projects that don't make them money" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46147779)) "since they've made their choice as they're entitled to move towards enterprise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46251344))
- Reliability worse after recent changes (2 comments): "Red Hat has gone downhill in terms of both reliability and open source since IBM's acquisition." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48360951)) "they backport entire features back to old versions (together with bugs!)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48119955))
- Feels like big tech to deal with (2 comments): "even dealing with Red Hat feels like you're dealing with big tech" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46080318)) "Red Hat is IBM, the OG big tech really" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46080452))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [SmartOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/smartos.md): 20 recommend
- [IncusOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/incusos.md): 15 recommend
- [Fedora CoreOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fedora-coreos.md): 8 recommend
- [YunoHost](https://hackerapproved.com/p/yunohost.md): 7 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.redhat.com/en)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription", https://hackerapproved.com/p/red-hat/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).