Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs Redis

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

The first all-in-one spend management platform

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Redis logo

Redis

Technology

The real-time data platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Redis has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Airbase airbase was acquired by Paylocity; its pricing page now redirects to paylocity.com/pricing and the product is marketed as 'Airbase, a Paylocity Company' within Paylocity's HCM platform rather than as a standalone product.; Redis licensing changed from BSD to AGPL in 2025, impacting open-source usage
  • They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Corporate cards, Redis covers In-memory data store.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and Redis actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and Redis differ
AttributeAirbaseRedis
Starting price$29/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryAccountingTechnology
Founded20172009

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Airbase

  • Corporate cards
  • Bill payments
  • Expense management
  • Procurement
  • Approvals
  • NetSuite
  • Sage Intacct
  • QuickBooks

Only in Redis

  • In-memory data store
  • Data structures
  • Pub/Sub messaging
  • Lua scripting
  • Transactions
  • Persistence options
  • Replication
  • Clustering

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Airbase

  • Spend managementnot Redis
  • Expense reportingnot Redis
  • Vendor paymentsnot Redis

Redis

  • Cachingnot Airbase
  • Session managementnot Airbase
  • Real-time analyticsnot Airbase
  • Message queuingnot Airbase
  • Leaderboardsnot Airbase

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Airbase

  • Airbase was acquired by Paylocity; its pricing page now redirects to paylocity.com/pricing and the product is marketed as 'Airbase, a Paylocity Company' within Paylocity's HCM platform rather than as a standalone product.

Redis

  • Licensing changed from BSD to AGPL in 2025, impacting open-source usage
  • All data must fit in memory, limiting scalability to available RAM
  • No built-in support for multi-tenancy
  • Limited transaction support compared to traditional databases

Pricing, plan by plan

Airbase

$29/month
  • StandardFree
    • Corporate cards
    • Expense reports
    • Bill pay
  • Premium$10/month
    • Advanced approvals
    • NetSuite sync
    • Procurement
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Custom workflows
    • API access
    • Dedicated support

Redis

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Redis review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Airbase if

  • You need corporate cards.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want bill payments.
Airbase review

Choose Redis if

  • You need in-memory data store.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want data structures.
Redis review

Questions people ask

Is Airbase or Redis better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Redis at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbase or Redis?
Redis has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Airbase and Free for Redis.
Does Airbase or Redis run on more platforms?
Airbase runs on Web, Ios, Android. Redis runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Redis for free?
Yes. Redis has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Airbase starts at $29/month.
What is Airbase best used for?
Airbase is most often used for spend management, expense reporting, vendor payments. Of those, spend management and expense reporting are not what Redis is typically brought in for.
What can Airbase do that Redis cannot?
Airbase covers Corporate cards, Bill payments, Expense management, Procurement. Redis covers In-memory data store, Data structures, Pub/Sub messaging, Lua scripting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Airbase: What is Airbase and why is no pricing published on its website?

Airbase is a Paylocity Company offering unified expense management across finance, HR, and IT functions. Pricing is not published on the Airbase website and customers must contact Paylocity directly for a quote.

Source
Redis: Is Redis open source?

Redis was open source under the BSD license since its inception in 2009 and has remained open source. However, in 2024-2025, Redis Labs changed licensing to source-available and AGPL, prompting the creation of Valkey, a BSD-licensed open-source fork.

Source
Airbase: Does Airbase integrate with Paylocity?

Yes, Airbase is owned by Paylocity and integrates with Paylocity's human resources and payroll systems for unified financial management.

Source
Redis: What is Redis used for?

Redis is an in-memory data structure store used primarily as a cache, database, and message broker. It provides high-speed data access for real-time applications, sessions, leaderboards, real-time analytics, and other use cases requiring fast data retrieval.

Source
Airbase: How do I get pricing information and schedule a demo for Airbase?

Airbase directs customers to contact Paylocity or explore interactive product tours, but specific pricing rates must be obtained directly from the sales team. The company does not publish rate information publicly.

Source
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