Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Amazon ElastiCache VS Redis

Compare Amazon ElastiCache VS Redis and see what are their differences

Amazon ElastiCache logo Amazon ElastiCache

Amazon ElastiCache offers fully managed Redis and Memcached. Seamlessly deploy, operate, and scale popular open source compatible in-memory data stores.

Redis logo Redis

Redis is an open source in-memory data structure project implementing a distributed, in-memory key-value database with optional durability.
  • Amazon ElastiCache Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-28
  • Redis Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-19

Redis is an open source (BSD licensed), in-memory data structure store, used as a database, cache and message broker. It supports data structures such as strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets with range queries, bitmaps, hyperloglogs, geospatial indexes with radius queries and streams. Redis has built-in replication, Lua scripting, LRU eviction, transactions and different levels of on-disk persistence, and provides high availability via Redis Sentinel and automatic partitioning with Redis Cluster.

Amazon ElastiCache features and specs

  • Scalability
    Amazon ElastiCache allows for seamless scaling of your cache cluster. You can easily add or remove nodes to adjust to the workload demands, ensuring efficient resource management.
  • Managed Service
    ElastiCache is fully managed by AWS, meaning that infrastructure tasks such as hardware provisioning, patching, and maintenance are handled by Amazon, reducing operational overhead for users.
  • High Performance
    Designed for delivering low latency and high throughput, ElastiCache can significantly improve the performance of applications by reducing the time to retrieve data from databases.
  • Compatibility
    It supports popular caching engines such as Redis and Memcached, allowing users to work with familiar technologies and migrate existing setups to the AWS environment with ease.
  • Security and Compliance
    ElastiCache provides robust security features including VPC integration, data encryption, and IAM policies, helping to ensure compliance with various industry standards.

Possible disadvantages of Amazon ElastiCache

  • Cost
    As a premium managed service, ElastiCache can become expensive, especially for large-scale deployments or when utilizing advanced features, which may not be ideal for all budget constraints.
  • Limited Customization
    Because it is a managed service, there are limits to the customization of infrastructure and configurations when compared to self-managed solutions, which might not accommodate all specific needs.
  • Dependency on AWS Ecosystem
    Using ElastiCache ties your infrastructure to AWS, which might not be suitable for organizations seeking a multi-cloud strategy or those who wish to avoid vendor lock-in.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may face a learning curve, especially if they are not already familiar with AWS services and console navigation, potentially requiring additional training or support.
  • Regional Limitations
    Not all features may be available in every AWS region, which could impact global deployments and necessitate strategic planning for distribution and redundancy.

Redis features and specs

  • Performance
    Redis is an in-memory data store, which allows it to provide extremely fast read and write operations. This makes it ideal for applications requiring real-time interactions.
  • Data Structures
    Redis offers a variety of data structures, such as strings, hashes, lists, sets, and sorted sets. This flexibility helps developers manage data more efficiently in different scenarios.
  • Scalability
    Redis supports horizontal scalability with features like clustering and partitioning, allowing for easy scaling as your application grows.
  • Persistence
    Though primarily an in-memory store, Redis provides options for data persistence, such as RDB snapshots and AOF logs, enabling data durability across reboots.
  • Pub/Sub Messaging
    Redis includes a built-in publish/subscribe messaging system, which can be used to implement real-time messaging and notifications.
  • Simple API
    Redis has a simple and intuitive API, which can speed up development time and make it easier to integrate Redis into various application stacks.
  • Atomic Operations
    Redis supports atomic operations on data structures, reducing the complexity of concurrent programming and making it easier to maintain data consistency.

Possible disadvantages of Redis

  • Memory Usage
    Being an in-memory data store, Redis can become expensive in terms of memory usage, especially when working with large datasets.
  • Data Persistence Limitations
    While Redis offers data persistence, it is not as robust as traditional databases. There can be data loss in certain configurations, such as when using asynchronous persistence methods.
  • Complexity in Scaling
    Although Redis supports clustering, setting up and managing a Redis cluster can be complex and may require significant DevOps expertise.
  • Single-threaded Nature
    Redis operates on a single-threaded event loop, which can become a bottleneck for certain workloads that could benefit from multi-threading.
  • Limited Query Capabilities
    Compared to traditional relational databases, Redis offers limited querying capabilities. Complex queries and joins are not supported natively.
  • License
    As of Redis 6 and higher, the Redis modules are under the Server Side Public License (SSPL), which may be restrictive for some use cases compared to more permissive open-source licenses.

Amazon ElastiCache videos

Introduction to Amazon ElastiCache for Redis

More videos:

  • Review - AWS re:Invent 2019: Supercharge your real-time apps with Amazon ElastiCache (DAT208)

Redis videos

Improve your Redis developer experience with RedisInsight, Redis Labs

More videos:

  • Review - What is Redis? | Why and When to use Redis? | Tech Primers
  • Review - Redis Enterprise Overview with Yiftach Shoolman - Redis Labs
  • Review - Redis Labs "Why NoSQL is a Safe Bet"
  • Review - Redis system design | Distributed cache System design
  • Review - What is Redis and What Does It Do?
  • Review - Redis Sorted Sets Explained

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Amazon ElastiCache and Redis)
Databases
7 7%
93% 93
NoSQL Databases
7 7%
93% 93
Key-Value Database
5 5%
95% 95
Graph Databases
8 8%
92% 92

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Amazon ElastiCache and Redis

Amazon ElastiCache Reviews

Comparing the new Redis6 multithreaded I/O to Elasticache & KeyDB
KeyDB was introduced nearly a year ago as a multithreaded fork of Redis with major performance gains. Soon after Amazon announced their enhanced io handling for Redis using Elasticache. Redis is now in the process of releasing their multithreaded io option in version 6.0. Unlike Redis6 and Elasticache, KeyDB multithreads several aspects including placing the event loop on...
Source: docs.keydb.dev

Redis Reviews

Redis Alternative for App Performance | Gigaspaces
Redis offers a RESTful API for accessing data stored within its in-memory technology data structures. This API provides a simple and efficient way to interact with Redis, enabling developers to leverage its capabilities seamlessly in their applications. Developers also need to manage the Redis cached data lifecycle, it’s the application responsibility to store the data &...
Are Free, Open-Source Message Queues Right For You?
A notable challenge with Redis Streams is that it doesn't natively support distributed, horizontal scaling. Also, while Redis is famous for its speed and simplicity, managing and scaling a Redis installation may be complex for some users, particularly for persistent data workloads.
Source: blog.iron.io
Redis vs. KeyDB vs. Dragonfly vs. Skytable | Hacker News
1. Redis: I'll start with Redis which I'd like to call the "original" key/value store (after memcached) because it is the oldest and most widely used of all. Being a long-time follower of Redis, I do know it's single-threaded (and uses io-threads since 6.0) and hence it achieves lesser throughput than the other stores listed above which are multi-threaded, at least to some...
Memcached vs Redis - More Different Than You Would Expect
Remember when I wrote about how Redis was using malloc to assign memory? I lied. While Redis did use malloc at some point, these days Redis actually uses jemalloc. The reason for this is that jemalloc, while having lower peak performance has lower memory fragmentation helping to solve the framented memory issues that Redis experiences.
Top 15 Kafka Alternatives Popular In 2021
Redis is a known, open-source, in-memory data structure store that offers different data structures like lists, strings, hashes, sets, bitmaps, streams, geospatial indexes, etc. It is best utilized as a cache, memory broker, and cache. It has optional durability and inbuilt replication potential. It offers a great deal of availability through Redis Sentinel and Redis Cluster.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Redis seems to be a lot more popular than Amazon ElastiCache. While we know about 216 links to Redis, we've tracked only 13 mentions of Amazon ElastiCache. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Amazon ElastiCache mentions (13)

  • Setting up Ruby on Rails with RVM, Puma, Mina, Nginx, Sidekiq and Redis on Amazon Linux 2
    Sidekiq (For background jobs processing)+ Redis (As persistence engine for Sidekiq). Since you are in AWS ecosystem you could also use Elasticache instead of local Redis, just parameterize correctly your Sidekiq if you want to do so. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Choosing the Right AWS Database: A Guide for Modern Applications
    Key-value databases are designed to store and retrieve data using simple key-value pairs, making them ideal for applications that require fast and simple data access. AWS offers a fully managed key-value database service called Amazon ElastiCache that supports popular key-value engines such as Redis and Memcached. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How to Effectively Use Caching to Improve Microservices Performance
    Cloud-Based Caching Services: Evaluate the use of cloud-based caching services, such as Amazon ElastiCache or Redis Cloud, for managed caching solutions that offer scalability, resilience, and reduced maintenance overhead. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • AWS Beginner's Key Terminologies
    Amazon ElastiCache (database) Amazon ElastiCache is a web service that simplifies deploying, operating and scaling an in-memory cache in the cloud. The service improves the performance of web applications by providing information retrieval from fast, managed, in-memory caches, instead of relying entirely on slower disk-based databases. Https://aws.amazon.com/elasticache/. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) vs ElastiCache : Which One to Use?
    Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) and ElastiCache both are fully managed caching services from AWS. DAX is designed especially for DynamoDB on the other hand ElastiCache can cache anything including DynamoDB. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Redis mentions (216)

  • Finding Bigfoot with Async Generators + TypeScript
    Of course, these examples are just toys. A more proper use for asynchronous generators is handling things like reading files, accessing network services, and calling slow running things like AI models. So, I'm going to use an asynchronous generator to access a networked service. That service is Redis and we'll be using Node Redis and Redis Query Engine to find Bigfoot. - Source: dev.to / 13 days ago
  • Caching Isn’t Always the Answer – And Here’s Why
    Slap on some Redis, sprinkle in a few set() calls, and boom—10x faster responses. - Source: dev.to / 13 days ago
  • RisingWave Turns Four: Our Journey Beyond Democratizing Stream Processing
    Real-time serving: Many push processed data into low-latency serving layers like Redis to power applications needing instant responses (think fraud detection, live recommendations, financial dashboards). - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • Setup a Redis Cluster using Redis Stack
    Redis® Cluster is a fully distributed implementation with automated sharding capabilities (horizontal scaling capabilities), designed for high performance and linear scaling up to 1000 nodes. . - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Modern Web Development Sucks? How PostgreSQL Can Replace Your Tech Stack
    Instead of spinning up Redis, use an unlogged table in PostgreSQL for fast, ephemeral storage. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Amazon ElastiCache and Redis, you can also consider the following products

memcached - High-performance, distributed memory object caching system

MongoDB - MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance NoSQL database.

Amazon RDS - Easy to manage relational databases optimized for total cost of ownership.

ArangoDB - A distributed open-source database with a flexible data model for documents, graphs, and key-values.

Apache Cassandra - The Apache Cassandra database is the right choice when you need scalability and high availability without compromising performance.

Ninox - Ninox is a human-friendly database. Create your own Business Application with Ninox that matches your workflow. Ninox lets you integrate CRM, ERP, HR and many more...