Is QuestDB or Redis better?

Neither clearly leads. QuestDB 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, QuestDB or Redis?

QuestDB starts at Free and Redis at Free.

Does QuestDB or Redis run on more platforms?

QuestDB runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP). Redis runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.

Can I use QuestDB for free?

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

What is QuestDB best used for?

QuestDB is most often used for time-series analytics ingesting up to 20m rows/second from iot sensors or financial data feeds, real-time dashboarding with 32ms time-to-first-row latency for minute-level analytics, applications requiring multi-tier storage (hot ingest, real-time sql, cold parquet archive). Of those, time-series analytics ingesting up to 20m rows/second from iot sensors or financial data feeds and real-time dashboarding with 32ms time-to-first-row latency for minute-level analytics are not what Redis is typically brought in for.

What can QuestDB do that Redis cannot?

QuestDB covers High Throughput Ingestion, SQL Support, Time-series Optimization, SIMD Vectorization. Redis covers In-memory data store, Data structures, Pub/Sub messaging, Lua scripting.

Databases · head to head

QuestDB vs Redis

QuestDB

Databases

Fast open source time-series database for high throughput ingestion

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: QuestDB open-source edition lacks high-availability, distributed architecture, and enterprise security features; Redis licensing changed from BSD to AGPL in 2025, impacting open-source usage
They diverge on capability: QuestDB covers High Throughput Ingestion, 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 QuestDB and Redis actually diverge.

Attributes where QuestDB and Redis differ
Attribute	QuestDB	Redis
Pricing model	open-source	Unknown
Platforms	Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP)	Linux, macOS, Windows
Category	Databases	Technology
Founded	2014	2009

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 QuestDB

High Throughput Ingestion
SQL Support
Time-series Optimization
SIMD Vectorization
Column-oriented Storage
Built-in Web Console
InfluxDB Line Protocol
PostgreSQL

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.

QuestDB

Time-series analytics ingesting up to 20M rows/second from IoT sensors or financial data feedsnot Redis
Real-time dashboarding with 32ms time-to-first-row latency for minute-level analyticsnot Redis
Applications requiring multi-tier storage (hot ingest, real-time SQL, cold Parquet archive)not Redis

Redis

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

Where each one falls short

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

QuestDB

Open-source edition lacks high-availability, distributed architecture, and enterprise security features
Enterprise edition pricing not published; requires contacting sales for custom quote
Ingestion limit of 20M rows/sec platform-dependent; may not scale to extreme throughput requirements

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

QuestDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the QuestDB review.

Redis

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Redis review.

Which should you pick?

Choose QuestDB if

You need high throughput ingestion.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP).
You also want sql support.

QuestDB 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 QuestDB or Redis better?: Neither clearly leads. QuestDB 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, QuestDB or Redis?: QuestDB starts at Free and Redis at Free.
Does QuestDB or Redis run on more platforms?: QuestDB runs on Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP). Redis runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use QuestDB for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is QuestDB best used for?: QuestDB is most often used for time-series analytics ingesting up to 20m rows/second from iot sensors or financial data feeds, real-time dashboarding with 32ms time-to-first-row latency for minute-level analytics, applications requiring multi-tier storage (hot ingest, real-time sql, cold parquet archive). Of those, time-series analytics ingesting up to 20m rows/second from iot sensors or financial data feeds and real-time dashboarding with 32ms time-to-first-row latency for minute-level analytics are not what Redis is typically brought in for.
What can QuestDB do that Redis cannot?: QuestDB covers High Throughput Ingestion, SQL Support, Time-series Optimization, SIMD Vectorization. Redis covers In-memory data store, Data structures, Pub/Sub messaging, Lua scripting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

QuestDB: How much does QuestDB Enterprise cost?

QuestDB does not publish specific pricing for the Enterprise tier. Customers must contact QuestDB via their enterprise contact form to receive a custom 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

QuestDB: Does QuestDB offer a free version?

Yes, QuestDB Open Source is completely free and recommended for evaluation, prototyping, and pilot projects. Enterprise features, high availability, security, and dedicated support require the paid Enterprise tier.

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

QuestDB: What deployment options does QuestDB offer?

QuestDB offers open source deployment, Enterprise deployment, and Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) deployment. Pricing details for BYOC and Enterprise tiers are not published and require direct contact with sales.

Source

QuestDB vs Redis

QuestDB

Redis

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in QuestDB

Only in Redis

What people use each for

QuestDB

Redis

Where each one falls short

QuestDB

Redis

Pricing, plan by plan

QuestDB

Redis

Which should you pick?

Choose QuestDB if

Choose Redis if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on QuestDB

More on Redis

Keep looking

Other head to heads