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Red Hat, SUSE and Nutanix Lead Multicloud Container Platform Research Report

• By David Ramel
• 07/31/2025

Forrester's new research, "The Forrester Wave: Multicloud Container Platforms, Q3 2025," has evaluated vendors in the multicloud container platform market, identifying leaders based on current offering, strategy, and market presence. The report aims to assist infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals in selecting appropriate solutions for their multicloud strategies.

A Reshaped Market Landscape
Forrester's report indicates a significant evolution in the multicloud container platform market. Over the past decade, the Linux ecosystem, via Kubernetes, has led to this market's emergence, which now includes enterprise IT platforms, AI-focused neo-platform-as-a-service (PaaS) providers, and operational technology (OT)-focused vendors. The market has "reshaped" as container platforms aim to justify their value by offering superior orchestration and cloud-native technologies, especially as serverless and automated container services have raised expectations.

The evaluation explores how these platforms are adapting by focusing on enterprise-grade solutions for cloud, data center, and edge, or by targeting specialized use cases like AI and industrial operations. Enterprises are increasingly seeking platforms that address factors such as risk mitigation, workload affinity, and nontechnical reasons like geographic availability or sovereignty. Multicloud container platform providers are creating abstractions to allow users to shift workloads and leverage partnerships across cloud providers and bare metal deployments.

This market shift also highlights the growing importance of AI strategy for both early adopters and those testing generative AI (genAI). All evaluated multicloud container platforms address this demand in various ways, from one-stop AI shops to curated PaaS-like offerings and domain-specific implementations. Furthermore, the report notes continued innovation at the edge, focusing on automation, management, intermittently disconnected operations, and AI inferencing, addressing the "last-mile problem" for enterprise IT created by large region-based public cloud infrastructures.

Report Methodology and Key Findings
The Forrester Wave report assesses vendors against three high-level categories: Current Offering, Strategy, and Market Presence. Vendors are positioned on a Wave graphic, indicating their strength in these areas. The report emphasizes the increasing adoption of containers and Kubernetes across diverse infrastructure environments, including public clouds, private clouds, and edge locations. It notes that enterprises are seeking platforms to manage these deployments consistently across their multicloud footprints.

The evaluation identified several vendors as "Leaders" in the report. These platforms demonstrated strong capabilities in areas such as unified management, hybrid and multicloud deployment options, security, and developer experience. The report highlights the importance of features that enable consistent policy enforcement and governance across disparate environments. Leaders this year included Red Hat, SUSE and Nutanix.

In fact, Red Hat led the pack, being furthest on both axes: strength of strategy and strength of offering. In the Wave chart, Red Hat also earned a double halo icon, indicating it received the highest level of customer feedback and was designated a “Customer Favorite” among all evaluated platforms. The report notes that Red Hat helped standardize Kubernetes and has leveraged its data science and AI expertise for genAI. The company's strategy offsets premium pricing with high-value offerings like OpenShift AI and OpenShift Virtualization, positioned as a VMware alternative. Red Hat excels in core Kubernetes capabilities, including powerful management and automation. Its OpenShift platform provides SLAs of 99.95% for managed public cloud services and received "above-par scores" for developer experience, microservices, DevOps automation, and integration.

"Red Hat OpenShift is a good fit for enterprises that prioritize support, reliability, and advanced engineering, particularly in regulated industries such as financial services," was the firm's take on Red Hat.

Forrester also recognized vendors in the "Strong Performers," "Contenders," and "Challengers" categories, detailing their respective strengths and areas for improvement. Vendors categorized as Strong Performers or Contenders include Mirantis, Spectro Cloud, Canonical, Rafay, Diamanti, and Kubermatic. While these platforms may lack the full breadth of capabilities seen in the Leaders, many were noted for strengths in developer experience, edge deployment, automation, or AI enablement. The research suggests that while many vendors offer robust container orchestration capabilities, differentiation often lies in their approach to multicloud governance, cost management, and advanced automation features.

Strategic Considerations for I&O Professionals
The report advises I&O professionals to consider several factors when selecting a multicloud container platform. These include the platform's ability to support existing and future application architectures, its integration with current enterprise tools and workflows, and the vendor's roadmap for evolving multicloud capabilities. Security and compliance are also critical considerations, with a focus on platforms that offer robust identity and access management, vulnerability scanning, and policy-as-code capabilities across all environments.

Forrester's analysis underscores that the decision for a multicloud container platform extends beyond technical features to encompass vendor support, community ecosystem, and long-term strategic alignment. The report is accessible for free from vendors covered, easily discoverable through a quick web search.