Is Red Hat suitable for personal use and is it really free?

Fedora is actually the go-to version for personal use if you're looking at Red Hat. It's free, which is excellent, but you'll need to add in non-free codecs from RPM Fusion to get everything up and running smoothly. Red Hat itself focuses more on business environments and requires a subscription, although you can technically access it for free with some limitations.

Using Red Hat for personal needs is possible, but it comes with limited updates. Recently, they've opened up access to RHEL for free under certain conditions. Alternatively, Rocky Linux is another option that offers a similar experience without needing a Red Hat account, which many find beneficial.

Just to clarify, Red Hat Linux itself doesn't exist anymore; it evolved into what we know as Fedora now. You can still get Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), but for individuals, Fedora is a much better option. RHEL is not entirely free since it offers support services with a subscription plan but signing up gives you some free access, like documentation.