Azure Red Hat OpenShift review
A strong fit for enterprises standardizing on managed, private OpenShift clusters in Azure.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Azure Red Hat OpenShift is a jointly operated, fully managed OpenShift service from Microsoft and Red Hat. It provides single-tenant, high-availability Kubernetes clusters on Microsoft Azure for containerized applications, virtual machines, and cloud-native workloads. Customers manage applications through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, APIs, the OpenShift web console, and built-in developer tools. It is designed for enterprises that want OpenShift operations handled by the platform providers rather than maintaining the control plane themselves.
Pricing follows a usage-based model, with Azure virtual machines, networking, storage, and OpenShift license charges billed separately. That structure can support deployments with varied infrastructure requirements, but it makes the overall cluster cost dependent on the selected Azure resources and configuration. The service also connects with Azure Virtual Network, Private Link, ExpressRoute, Azure Monitor, Azure Container Registry, and Azure CLI, giving organizations an Azure-centered operating model. Teams seeking a fixed, easily comparable plan structure may find the billing approach harder to evaluate.
Operational coverage is broad for a managed Kubernetes offering. Deployments can span multiple availability zones, use private API and ingress visibility, add NVIDIA GPU VM sizes, and configure cluster and machine autoscaling. Microsoft and Red Hat provide managed upgrades and automatic critical patch updates, while Prometheus and Grafana support monitoring. OpenShift Virtualization allows virtual machines to run alongside containers, and built-in CI/CD, application services, and Helm deployments extend the platform beyond cluster hosting. Azure Red Hat OpenShift suits organizations committed to OpenShift and Azure; teams needing another cloud, a narrower hosting service, or a simpler pricing model should consider alternatives.
Azure Red Hat OpenShift pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Microsoft and Red Hat manage the OpenShift control plane
- Multi-zone, private, GPU-enabled clusters with autoscaling
- Integrated monitoring, upgrades, virtualization, and CI/CD tools
- Where it doesn't
- Usage-based pricing separates Azure and OpenShift charges
- Limited to the Microsoft Azure cloud
- Hosted control planes are currently in public preview
Azure Red Hat OpenShift fact sheet, pricing and score →
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