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Redis VS RocksDB

Compare Redis VS RocksDB 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.

RocksDB logo RocksDB

A persistent key-value store for fast storage environments
  • 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.

  • RocksDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-12

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.

RocksDB features and specs

  • High Performance
    RocksDB is designed for high throughput and low latency, making it suitable for performance-intensive applications. It optimizes for fast read and write operations, leveraging the LSM-tree data structure.
  • Rich Feature Set
    Includes advanced features like transactions, column families, data compression, and support for various storage engines, providing flexibility for developers to tailor it to their needs.
  • Scale and Efficiency
    Handles large volumes of data efficiently, making it suitable for applications that require significant scalability. It does this by using efficient memory and disk utilization techniques.
  • Embedded Database
    As an embedded database, it allows applications to integrate storage capabilities directly into their processes, reducing the overhead associated with connecting to a separate database service.
  • Strong Community and Support
    Developed by Facebook, RocksDB has a strong community with extensive documentation, regular updates, and active development, ensuring continuous improvement and support.

Possible disadvantages of RocksDB

  • Complex Configuration and Tuning
    RocksDB is highly configurable, which can be a double-edged sword. Properly tuning parameters for optimal performance can be complex and requires a deep understanding of the internals.
  • Limited SQL Support
    RocksDB is a key-value store and does not support SQL out of the box. This may require additional layers or integration with other systems like MySQL or MariaDB to provide SQL capabilities.
  • Memory Usage
    Performance optimizations often involve significant memory usage, which could be a limitation in environments where memory resources are constrained.
  • Lack of Built-in Replication
    While RocksDB itself does not provide built-in replication capabilities, external tools or custom solutions are necessary to achieve data replication and high availability.
  • Learning Curve
    The complexity and rich feature set of RocksDB come with a steep learning curve, especially for developers unfamiliar with LSM-tree data structures and database internals.

Redis videos

What is Redis? | Why and When to use Redis? | Tech Primers

More videos:

  • Review - Improve your Redis developer experience with RedisInsight, Redis Labs
  • 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

RocksDB videos

How Online Backup works in MyRocks and RocksDB

More videos:

  • Review - RocksDB Meetup 2020 at Rockset
  • Review - TokuDB vs RocksDB

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Redis and RocksDB)
Databases
96 96%
4% 4
NoSQL Databases
97 97%
3% 3
Key-Value Database
96 96%
4% 4
Graph Databases
96 96%
4% 4

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 RocksDB

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.

RocksDB Reviews

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Redis seems to be a lot more popular than RocksDB. While we know about 216 links to Redis, we've tracked only 13 mentions of RocksDB. 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 / 6 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 / 6 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 / 20 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
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RocksDB mentions (13)

  • Introducing Gridstore: Qdrant's Custom Key-Value Store
    When we started building Qdrant, we needed to pick something ready for the task. So we chose RocksDB as our embedded key-value store. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • The Home Server Journey - 4: Enter The Matrix
    One thing you should know is that the K8s architecture is optimized for stateless applications, which don't store changing information within themselves and whose output depend solely on input from the user or auxiliary processes. Conduit, on the contrary, is tightly coupled with its high-performance database, RocksDB, and has stateful behavior. That's why we need to take extra care by not replicating our process... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • How to choose the right type of database
    RocksDB: A high-performance embedded database optimized for multi-core CPUs and fast storage like SSDs. Its use of a log-structured merge-tree (LSM tree) makes it suitable for applications requiring high throughput and efficient storage, such as streaming data processing. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Fast persistent recoverable log and key-value store
    [RocksDB](https://rocksdb.org/) isn’t a distributed storage system, fwiw. It’s an embedded KV engine similar to LevelDB, LMDB, or really sqlite (though that’s full SQL, not just KV). - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • The Hallucinated Rows Incident
    To output the top 3 rocks, our engine has to first store all the rocks in some sorted way. To do this, we of course picked RocksDB, an embedded lexicographically sorted key-value store, which acts as the sorting operation's persistent state. In our RocksDB state, the diffs are keyed by the value of weight, and since RocksDB is sorted, our stored diffs are automatically sorted by their weight. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

memcached - High-performance, distributed memory object caching system

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.

Aerospike - Aerospike is a high-performing NoSQL database supporting high transaction volumes with low latency.

KeyDB - KeyDB is fast NoSQL database with full compatibility for Redis APIs, clients, and modules.