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CouchDB VS Redis โ„ข

Compare CouchDB VS Redis and see what are their differences

CouchDB logo CouchDB

HTTP + JSON document database with Map Reduce views and peer-based replication

Redis logo Redis

Redis is an open source in-memory data structure project implementing a distributed, in-memory key-value database with optional durability.
  • CouchDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-14
  • 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.

CouchDB features and specs

  • Schema-Free Design
    CouchDB is a NoSQL database with a schema-free design, which means it allows for flexible and dynamic data modeling. This is particularly useful for applications where requirements may change over time or where data is highly variable.
  • Replication
    CouchDB provides robust replication capabilities that enable data to be synchronized across multiple servers. This is useful for scalability, high availability, and disaster recovery.
  • RESTful HTTP API
    CouchDB uses a RESTful HTTP API for database operations, making it easy to interact with using standard web technologies. This simplifies development and integration with web applications.
  • Multi-Master Replication
    CouchDB supports multi-master replication, allowing for concurrent writes on different nodes without conflict. This feature is valuable for distributed systems and offline-first applications.
  • Eventual Consistency
    CouchDB ensures eventual consistency, which allows the database to be highly available and partition tolerant. This is beneficial for applications that need to remain operational even under network partitions.
  • MapReduce Queries
    CouchDB supports MapReduce functions for creating views and indexes, enabling powerful data querying and aggregation. This makes it easier to perform complex data analysis within the database.
  • Built-in Administration Interface
    CouchDB comes with a built-in web-based administration interface called Fauxton, making it easy to manage databases, documents, and replication.

Possible disadvantages of CouchDB

  • Performance
    In some scenarios, CouchDB may exhibit slower performance compared to other NoSQL databases, particularly when handling a high volume of writes or complex queries.
  • Limited Querying Capabilities
    While CouchDB does provide querying through MapReduce functions and CouchDB Query Language (Django Query Language), it lacks the rich querying capabilities of some other databases like SQL-based databases or more advanced NoSQL databases.
  • Eventual Consistency
    While eventual consistency is a pro, it can also be a con for applications that require strong consistency guarantees, as data may not be immediately consistent across all nodes.
  • Complex Concurrency
    Handling concurrent write operations can be complex due to CouchDB's multi-master replication feature. Developers need to implement conflict resolution logic, which can add overhead to application development.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    CouchDB has a smaller community and ecosystem compared to some other databases like MongoDB or PostgreSQL. This can result in fewer third-party tools, libraries, and less community support.
  • Learning Curve
    CouchDB's unique features and design principles, such as its use of HTTP for database operations and eventual consistency model, can present a steep learning curve for developers new to the system.

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.

Analysis of CouchDB

Overall verdict

  • CouchDB is considered good for applications that require reliable, scalable, and easy-to-use database solutions, particularly those that benefit from replication and data synchronization features.

Why this product is good

  • CouchDB is a highly reliable NoSQL database that is known for its ease of use, strong support for multi-version concurrency control, and ability to scale seamlessly. It uses a RESTful HTTP/JSON API, making it accessible for developers familiar with these technologies. CouchDB is particularly well-suited for applications that require a distributed database system with offline-first capabilities and synchronized data replication.

Recommended for

  • Applications needing reliable data replication and synchronization
  • Use cases where offline-first architecture is important
  • Projects that require easy scalability and high availability
  • Developers familiar with RESTful HTTP/JSON APIs
  • Applications needing multi-version concurrency control

CouchDB videos

couchdb

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 Labs "Why NoSQL is a Safe Bet"
  • Review - Redis Enterprise Overview with Yiftach Shoolman - Redis Labs
  • 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 CouchDB and Redis)
Databases
24 24%
76% 76
NoSQL Databases
24 24%
76% 76
Relational Databases
41 41%
59% 59
Key-Value Database
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

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

CouchDB Reviews

12 Best Open-source Database Backend Server and Google Firebase Alternatives
CouchDB is a multipurpose open-soure database engine with a developer-friendly API and rich web admin dashboard. It offers user crud operation and authentication out-of-the-box. It also supports documents upload, file attachment and storage.CouchDB is proven to build offline-first apps with PouchDB support. It has a dead-simple configuration and works seamlessly on Windows,...
Source: medevel.com
16 Top Big Data Analytics Tools You Should Know About
The prominent big data analytics tools that use non-relational databases are MongoDB, Cassandra, Oracle No-SQL, and Apache CouchDB. Weโ€™ll dive into each one of these and cover their respective features.
9 Best MongoDB alternatives in 2019
CouchDB is an open source NoSQL data which is based on the common standard to offer web accessibility with a variety of devices. Data in CouchDB is stored in JSON format, and organized as key-value pairs.
Source: www.guru99.com
20+ MongoDB Alternatives You Should Know About
Nice round-up Peter, I would suggest an edit to the CouchDB section that seems to mix up Couchbase with it. They are two different products and deserve a section for each.
Source: www.percona.com

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, itโ€™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 should be more popular than CouchDB. It has been mentiond 226 times since March 2021. 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.

CouchDB mentions (24)

  • Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud
    CouchDB on the serer and PouchDB on the client was an attempt at making such an environment: - https://couchdb.apache.org/ - https://pouchdb.com/ Also some more pondering on local-first application development from a "few" (~10) years back can be found here: https://unhosted.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Sync Engines Are the Future
    The author would be excited to learn that CouchDB solves this problem since 20 years. The use case the article describes is exactly the idea behind CouchDB: a database that is at the same time the server, and that's made to be synced with the client. You can even put your frontend code into it and it will happily serve it (aka CouchApp). https://couchdb.apache.org. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Sync Engines Are the Future
    That was my first thought! https://couchdb.apache.org/ is pretty good though is it still the incremental views with JS? - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • CouchDB: Offline-first with multi-master synchronization using Docker and Docker-compose
    In this post, I'll show how to simulate a multi-master synchronization with Apache CouchDB considering an off-line scenario. To reach this goal, I'll use Docker and Docker compose. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • MongoDB takes a swing at PostgreSQL after claiming wins against rival
    If you like the document db idea there are a lot of choices, especially https://arangodb.com/ which I think gets little attention because people who use it see it as a secret weapon. Too bad about the license though. Also https://couchdb.apache.org/ and https://developer.marklogic.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
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Redis mentions (226)

  • Hacktoberfest 2025 with Ghostfolio
    The software is fully written in TypeScript and organized as an Nx workspace, utilizing the latest framework releases. The backend is based on NestJS in combination with PostgreSQL as a database together with Prisma and Redis for caching. The frontend is developed with Angular. - Source: dev.to / 6 days ago
  • Redis Explained: What It Is, Why You Need It, and How to Install It the Easy Way
    Hereโ€™s the thing: sometimes itโ€™s not your databaseโ€™s fault. Whatโ€™s missing is a speed booster in your architecture: Redis. - Source: dev.to / 29 days ago
  • Real-Time Sync Alternatives: Vaultrice vs. localStorage, DIY, Firebase, Pusher
    This is the path of ultimate control. You spin up a Node.js server, add the socket.io library for WebSocket communication, and use a Redis instance to manage connection state and pub/sub messaging across multiple server instances. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Is Your Fraud Screening Process Ignoring Local Patterns?
    Your Database: This is your system's memory. It can be a fast in-memory store like Redis for temporary data (perfect for velocity checks) or a persistent relational database like PostgreSQL for long-term data (like blacklists). - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Redis vs. Memcached: How to Choose Your NoSQL Champion
    Redis is also an in-memory system with exceptional performance. But unlike Memcached, Redis is known as a "data structure server." It doesn't just support simple key-value pairs; it offers a rich variety of complex data structures like Lists, Hashes, Sets, and Sorted Sets. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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

PostgreSQL - PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source object-relational database system.

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

RethinkDB - The open-source database for the realtime web

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

memcached - High-performance, distributed memory object caching system