Is MariaDB or Redis better?

Neither clearly leads. MariaDB starts at Free and Redis at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, MariaDB or Redis?

MariaDB starts at Free and Redis at Free.

Does MariaDB or Redis run on more platforms?

MariaDB runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS. Redis runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.

Can I use MariaDB for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is MariaDB best used for?

MariaDB is most often used for transaction processing, data storage, application backend, reporting. Of those, transaction processing and data storage are not what Redis is typically brought in for.

What can MariaDB do that Redis cannot?

MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, Aria Storage Engine, ColumnStore, Galera Cluster. Redis covers In-memory data store, Data structures, Pub/Sub messaging, Lua scripting.

Databases · head to head

MariaDB vs Redis

MariaDB

Databases

The open source relational database for the enterprise

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Redis

Technology

The real-time data platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: MariaDB jSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions; Redis licensing changed from BSD to AGPL in 2025, impacting open-source usage
They diverge on capability: MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, Redis covers In-memory data store.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which MariaDB and Redis actually diverge.

Attributes where MariaDB and Redis differ
Attribute	MariaDB	Redis
Platforms	Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS	Linux, macOS, Windows
Category	Databases	Technology

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Unknown), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), founded (2009).

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 MariaDB

MySQL Compatibility
Aria Storage Engine
ColumnStore
Galera Cluster
MaxScale
Spider Engine
Temporal Tables
phpMyAdmin

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.

MariaDB

Transaction processingnot Redis
Data storagenot Redis
Application backendnot Redis
Reportingnot Redis
Data analyticsnot Redis

Redis

Cachingnot MariaDB
Session managementnot MariaDB
Real-time analyticsnot MariaDB
Message queuingnot MariaDB
Leaderboardsnot MariaDB

Where each one falls short

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

MariaDB

JSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions
Galera Cluster maximum performance limited to the slowest node in cluster
InnoDB tables limited to 1,017 columns and 64 secondary indexes
Transaction size limits in Galera (128K rows and 2GB by default)
Less strict SQL type checking than PostgreSQL; allows implicit conversions

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

MariaDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the MariaDB review.

Redis

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Redis review.

Which should you pick?

Choose MariaDB if

You need mysql compatibility.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS.
You also want aria storage engine.

MariaDB 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 MariaDB or Redis better?: Neither clearly leads. MariaDB starts at Free and Redis at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, MariaDB or Redis?: MariaDB starts at Free and Redis at Free.
Does MariaDB or Redis run on more platforms?: MariaDB runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS. Redis runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use MariaDB for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is MariaDB best used for?: MariaDB is most often used for transaction processing, data storage, application backend, reporting. Of those, transaction processing and data storage are not what Redis is typically brought in for.
What can MariaDB do that Redis cannot?: MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, Aria Storage Engine, ColumnStore, Galera Cluster. Redis covers In-memory data store, Data structures, Pub/Sub messaging, Lua scripting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

MariaDB: Is MariaDB completely free and open source?

Yes. MariaDB Server is licensed under GPLv2 and guaranteed to remain perpetually free and open source, independent of any commercial entities.

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

MariaDB: Is MariaDB backward compatible with MySQL?

Yes. MariaDB was designed as a drop-in replacement for MySQL. Every application, driver, and configuration that worked with MySQL works with MariaDB without code changes.

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

MariaDB: What are the storage engine options in MariaDB?

MariaDB supports multiple storage engines including InnoDB (transactional, default), Aria (crash-safe, good for read-heavy workloads), and MyISAM. The Aria engine is faster than InnoDB for certain read-heavy queries and full table scans.

Source

MariaDB: How much does MariaDB cost?

MariaDB Community Server is completely free to download and use. MariaDB offers paid enterprise support and managed cloud services for organizations needing professional support.

Source

MariaDB: Does MariaDB support native JSON storage?

MariaDB stores JSON using text fields (the JSON type is an alias for LONGTEXT), not as a native binary type like MySQL does. JSON support exists but is less sophisticated than MySQL's JSON functions and syntax.

Source

MariaDB: What scaling options does MariaDB provide?

MariaDB supports both scaling up (more cores, memory, storage) and scaling out (read replication, Galera Cluster with multi-node replication). However, Galera Cluster performance cannot exceed the slowest node in the cluster.

Source

MariaDB vs Redis

MariaDB

Redis

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in MariaDB

Only in Redis

What people use each for

MariaDB

Redis

Where each one falls short

MariaDB

Redis

Pricing, plan by plan

MariaDB

Redis

Which should you pick?

Choose MariaDB if

Choose Redis if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on MariaDB

More on Redis

Keep looking

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