Receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) and RIPK3 trigger pro-inflammatory cell death termed “necroptosis.” Studies with RIPK3-deficient mice or the RIPK1 inhibitor necrostatin-1 suggest that necroptosis exacerbates pathology in many disease models. We engineered mice expressing catalytically inactive RIPK3 D161N or RIPK1 D138N to determine the need for the active kinase in the whole animal. Unexpectedly, RIPK3 D161N promoted lethal RIPK1- and caspase-8–dependent apoptosis. In contrast, mice expressing RIPK1 D138N were viable and, like RIPK3-deficient mice, resistant to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–induced hypothermia. Cells expressing RIPK1 D138N were resistant to TNF-induced necroptosis, whereas TNF-induced signaling pathways promoting gene transcription were unperturbed. Our data indicate that the kinase activity of RIPK3 is essential for necroptosis but also governs whether a cell activates caspase-8 and dies by apoptosis.