Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Redis VS Cloud Firestore

Compare Redis VS Cloud Firestore and see what are their differences

Redis logo Redis

Redis is an open source in-memory data structure project implementing a distributed, in-memory key-value database with optional durability.

Cloud Firestore logo Cloud Firestore

Use our flexible, scalable NoSQL cloud database to store and sync data for client- and server-side development.
  • 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.

  • Cloud Firestore Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-07

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.

Cloud Firestore features and specs

  • Real-time Updates
    Cloud Firestore offers real-time data synchronization, which ensures that any changes to the database are immediately reflected across all connected clients.
  • Scalability
    Firestore can handle massive amounts of data and traffic, scaling automatically as your app grows without requiring manual intervention.
  • Ease of Use
    Firestore provides a simple and intuitive API, which is easy to use for developers, especially those already familiar with Firebase services.
  • Offline Support
    Cloud Firestore allows your application to remain functional and retain data even when offline, synchronizing changes when the connection is restored.
  • Security
    Firestore uses Firebase Authentication and security rules to protect data, which is crucial for ensuring that your data is safe and that only authorized users can access it.
  • Flexible Data Model
    It allows you to store data in a flexible, hierarchical structure which can adapt to various use cases and data requirements.

Possible disadvantages of Cloud Firestore

  • Pricing Complexity
    Firestore uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model based on operations and data storage, which can become expensive and complex to manage as application usage scales.
  • Query Limitations
    While Firestore supports a range of queries, there are limitations compared to SQL-based databases, such as the lack of JOIN operations and complex queries.
  • Data Hierarchy Constraints
    Though it offers flexibility, the JSON-like data structure may require a rethink of data architecture, especially for complex relational data models.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Using Cloud Firestore ties your application to Google's ecosystem, which can make it challenging to migrate to another platform or database in the future.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers new to NoSQL or real-time databases might encounter a learning curve, as Firestore’s data modeling and querying concepts differ from traditional relational databases.

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

Cloud Firestore videos

What is a NoSQL Database? How is Cloud Firestore structured? | Get to know Cloud Firestore #1

More videos:

  • Review - Cloud Firestore Data Modeling (Google I/O'19)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Redis and Cloud Firestore)
Databases
93 93%
7% 7
NoSQL Databases
92 92%
8% 8
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Key-Value Database
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

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.

Cloud Firestore Reviews

We have no reviews of Cloud Firestore yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Redis should be more popular than Cloud Firestore. It has been mentiond 216 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.

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 / 3 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 / 3 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 / 17 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 1 month 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

Cloud Firestore mentions (46)

  • How to write clean, typed Firestore code
    Ever since I started using Firestore more than 7 years ago, I have been wanting to find a better way to type my code and reduce boilerplate. In this article I will describe my journey, and how I finally found a way to write clean, strongly-typed code with abstractions that are easy to use and adopt in any Typescript project. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Unlocking the Power of JSON Patch
    Weird, you work at Mozilla and haven't heard of JSON in DBs. A few resources to get you started: https://www.mongodb.com/ https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/datatype-json.html https://firebase.google.com/docs/firestore. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Are Sync Engines The Future of Web Applications?
    If you've been following trends in the web-dev world, you'd know that sync engines have been a centrepiece in several of them, namely: progressive web apps, offline-first apps, and the lately trending term: local-first software. You might have even looked into some of the databases that offer a built-in sync engine such as PouchDb or online services that do the same (e.g., Firestore). I have too, but my general... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • 5 Best Instant Messaging APIs
    Firebase is an app development platform backed by Google that famously replaces the need for a backend. It accomplishes this by providing developers with a variety of services, including authentication, push notifications, and a database called Cloud Firestore that can be adapted to store and broadcast chat messages in realtime. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How do you handle different user roles?
    Within the Firebase system, I use Firestore. To minimize queries of multiple collections ( keep server costs down ) I keep users in one collection. Within each user object I have a "roles" property that is a sub-object referencing the different roles available:. Source: over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

Firebase - Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications for mobile and web.

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

Firebase Authentication - Application and Data, Application Utilities, and User Management and Authentication

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

Cloud Functions for Firebase - Serverless / Task Processing