What are 5 good alternatives to Redis?

Redis is one of the fastest databases currently available. The solution is ideal if you need responses in real time. On the other hand, data is stored directly in the working memory, making it not well suited for large volumes of data. Keep reading to find out about different alternatives to Redis.

What is Redis and what alternatives are there?

Speed can be everything. For real-time applications, like gaming, e-commerce or the Internet of Things, companies rely on databases with the shortest response times. One of the fastest and most popular database management systems is Redis.

Redis (Remote Dictionary Server) was developed in 2009 by Salvatore Sanfilippo and is freely available under the BSD open-source license. It’s a user-friendly in-memory database, meaning that data is stored in key-value pairs directly in the main memory. This enables response times of less than one millisecond. Thanks to its non-relational approach and the horizontal and vertical scaling options, the database can grow with your requirements.

Redis makes a good case for itself. The speed is hard to beat, it’s user-friendly and the basic version of the system costs nothing. Having said that, the database isn’t suitable for every task. If you need to store and manage complex data, Redis will quickly reach its limit. Its use of key-value storage means that queries can only be made via the keys. Storage in RAM is also costly and space-intensive. The following list of alternatives to Redis focuses on databases for large data volumes in particular.

MongoDB—The most flexible alternative to Redis

If the use of the in-memory database is problematic for the reasons mentioned above, MongoDB is probably your best Redis alternative. The NoSQL solution is optimized for use with large and diverse amounts of data. These can be structured, semi-structured or unstructured and are stored in the form of binary JSON documents, which are then combined into collections.

In principle, MongoDB’s horizontal scaling capacity is infinite. As such, the database can handle increasing volumes of data without issue. The system doesn’t have its own query language but instead relies on object-specific methods from common programming languages. Due to its use of sharding, the database has a high level of reliability, which ensures that data is available on different nodes.

What are the advantages of MongoDB?

  • Unlimited horizontal scalability
  • High flexibility
  • High availability and reliability through sharding
  • Suitable for many data types
  • User-friendly
  • Enables data replication
  • Compatible with numerous languages, platforms and systems
  • Very effective in combination with Redis

You can find out about the differences and similarities between MongoDB and Redis in detail in our Digital Guide.

Tip

How do you get the most out of MongoDB? With managed MongoDB from IONOS. Not only can you choose from different plans, you can also say goodbye to administration by letting our experts take care of managing and updating the database for you.

Firebase—The development platform with a real-time database

If you don’t want to give up Redis’ high speed, check out this option from Google. Strictly speaking, Google’s Firebase is a complete development platform. It consists of a total of 18 services including a powerful cloud database that can synchronize data in real time. You can test Firebase for free, but some of the services in the Firebase portfolio are only available upon purchase.

Firebase is particularly suitable for mobile solutions and web applications. It’s embedded within the Google ecosystem, so it makes use of numerous Google services. It uses sharding to increase reliability and availability and has been part of the company’s portfolio since 2014.

What are the advantages of Firebase?

  • Fast read and write speeds
  • Synchronization in real time
  • Ideal for mobile applications
  • Close integration with Google and its various services
  • Numerous solutions for all aspects of application development
  • Good cloud connection
  • Fast and strong support
  • High availability and reliability

DynamoDB—The managed database from Amazon

Amazon has created one of the most user-friendly alternatives to Redis: DynamoDB. It has been a part of Amazon Web Services (AWS) since 2012 and comes completely managed. This means you never have to install upgrades or manage security settings or scaling yourself, ensuring your system is always up to date. Scaling options are unlimited and managed according to your requirements.

Billing is also dependent on your individual needs. DynamoDB is a NoSQL serverless system that guarantees high data availability and works at impressively high speeds. The close integration into the AWS environment isn’t beneficial for every project, but it does have its advantages.

What are the advantages of DynamoDB?

  • User-friendly due to complete administration
  • Always automatically up to date
  • Very secure solution
  • Strong embedding in the AWS ecosystem
  • High availability
  • Billing as required
  • Unlimited scalability
  • High read and write speed

Apache Cassandra—A free solution for large data volumes

Apache Cassandra is an open-source, column-oriented NoSQL database. It’s flexible, fail-safe and allows for limitless horizontal and vertical scaling. The database uses multiple nodes simultaneously to ensure high data availability and uses its own query language (CQL), which is based on Structured Query Language.

It also stores data in key-value pairs and allows for replication. But it’s the high speed of the solution that makes it so attractive for large companies. Apple, Spotify and X (formerly Twitter) are just some of the companies that use Apache Cassandra for data storage.

What are the advantages of Apache Cassandra?

  • Open source
  • Maximum scalability
  • CQL is similar to SQL
  • High level of reliability and availability
  • Data replication is possible
  • Suitable for numerous different data types
  • High fault tolerance
  • Fast read and write operations

Read more about Apache Cassandra and its characteristics in our Digital Guide.

MySQL—The relational alternative to Redis

Although NoSQL systems are widely available, there are relational alternatives to Redis that we also recommend. MySQL has been one of the most popular table-based databases for many years. SQL uses a common query language and is considered comparatively flexible despite its relational approach.

If you want to store large amounts of structured data in a clear and secure manner, MySQL is worth considering. The solution is mostly open source, but Oracle also provides commercial versions of the database management system. Used by companies like Google and YouTube, MySQL has earned its reputation as a robust and secure option and a great relational alternative to Redis.

What are the advantages of MySQL?

  • Open source
  • Designed for large amounts of data
  • Very user-friendly and clear
  • Supported by a large community
  • Easily scalable
  • Part of the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)
  • SQL query language
  • Can be combined with NoSQL databases
  • High availability and reliability

Thinking about using MySQL? Take a look at our Digital Guide where we go over the relational database in more detail.

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