Redis Enterprise vs. Redis Open Source: Why Make the Switch?

Redis Enterprise is a robust in-memory NoSQL database platform built by the people who develop open source Redis. It maintains the simplicity and high performance of Redis, while adding many enterprise-grade capabilities.

Best-in-class performance at scale

In any architecture, taking full advantage of infrastructure is a constant challenge, especially as core density increases. Redis Enterprise helps you get the most out of today’s multi-core infrastructure. Powered by a distinctive shared-nothing cluster architecture, Redis Enterprise delivers infinite linear scaling without imposing non-linear overhead in a scale-out architecture. Redis Enterprise fully uses your infrastructure by splitting loads across multiple cores on every compute node. Performance is optimized on many levels, including enhanced connection management, request scheduling, and high-performance pipeline execution to deliver unparalleled sub-millisecond performance across all data types and models. Automatic re-sharding and rebalancing ensure the best use of infrastructure resources while delivering superior application performance and a high scale.

High availability with 99.999% uptime

Failing to recover from a database failure in a timely manner may result in loss of data and millions of operations. Redis Enterprise offers uninterrupted high availability, completely transparent to users, with diskless replication, instant failure detection, and single-digit-seconds failover across racks, zones, and geographies. It delivers high throughput and low latency even during cluster-change operations such as adding new nodes to the cluster, upgrading software, rebalancing, and re-sharding data. This unique combination of high-availability technologies guarantees four-nines (99.99%) uptime and five-nines (99.999%) in Active-Active deployments.

Active-Active Geo-Distribution

The need for deploying an application in a distributed manner is well known, however maintaining the same dataset in all geo-locations at any given time is very challenging, especially with a fast database like Redis. Redis Enterprise offers Active-Active deployment for globally distributed databases, enabling simultaneous read and write operations on the same dataset across multiple geographic locations. Using academically proven conflict-free replicated data types (CRDTs) technology, Redis Enterprise automatically resolves conflicting writes, without changing the way your application uses Redis. It delivers local latency and enables a disaster-proof architecture for geo-distributed applications.

Built-in durability

Many users consider Redis a non-durable data store. Others struggle to achieve effective durability while maintaining Redis performance. Redis Enterprise is a fully durable database, providing multiple persistence options on both primary and replica shards. Our enhanced storage engine ensures high disk IOPS without affecting Redis performance, even under heavy write loads. In a cloud environment, Redis Enterprise persists data to network-attached storage (NAS), guarding against the ephemeral nature of local instance storage, which makes it an ideal choice for cloud-native architectures.

Intelligent tiered access to memory (DRAM, SSD, persistent memory)

High DRAM prices drive users to deploy small workloads on Redis while keeping larger datasets on slower but lower-cost storage. This limits the overall performance of the application. Redis Enterprise offers a cost-effective solution for hosting large datasets by combining DRAM, SSD (Flash), and persistent memory (such as Intel® Optane™ DC). Using an innovative tiered approach that places frequently accessed hot data in memory and colder values in Flash or persistent memory, Redis on Flash delivers high performance similar to Redis on DRAM, while saving you up to 70% on infrastructure costs.

Backup, cluster recovery, and disaster recovery

The growing probability of a major outage in a cloud native environment requires robust backup, cluster-recovery, and disaster-recovery mechanisms. Redis Enterprise provides a full suite of these capabilities to protect against data loss and allow fast recovery in case of disaster. Redis Enterprise allows you to create backups in a timely and consistent manner across all database shards. It achieves fast auto-cluster recovery by rebuilding the cluster from scratch from the config file, maintaining the same endpoints and database configurations. Backup files are then transferred directly to the cluster nodes where shards are located, and the data is subsequently loaded in parallel in the most optimal way. Instant disaster recovery is achieved with Active-Active deployment in which reading and writing to each replica is allowed at any given time, supported by an academically proven conflict-resolution mechanism (conflict-free replicated data types, or CRDTs).

Multi-layer security and compliance

Enterprises need robust security and compliance safeguards. Redis Enterprise ensures production data is isolated from administrative access and offers multi-layer security for role-based access-control, authentication, authorization, and encryption (data in transit and data at rest). It safeguards your deployment from Redis buffers overflow, implements CPU throttling, blocks Lua scripts from accessing the host, and protects from other vulnerabilities for greater reliability. Redis Enterprise is SOC2 and HIPAA eligible. Redis Enterprise extends Redis 6’s native access control lists (ACLs) by implementing a role-based access control (RBAC) layer, which enables controlling access to data and commands by a centrally administered set of user roles. RBAC reduces complexity during security audits and simplifies user administration overall.

Flexible deployment options (cloud, on-premises, hybrid)

Enterprises are embracing multi-cloud and hybrid deployment strategies. Redis Enterprise can be deployed on any cloud platform, on-premises, and in multi-cloud or hybrid architectures. It is also available on Kubernetes and as a native service on platforms like Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition (PKS), Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), and RedHat OpenShift. By utilizing Active-Active technology Redis Enterprise allows organizations to smoothly migrate their application to the cloud, or between clouds while avoiding a painful cutoff process.

Multiple data models with dedicated engines

Modern databases are expected to offer multiple data modeling options. However, most of them achieve this through API adaptations, without changing the underlying engine, which can impact performance and latency when processing requests across multiple data models. Redis Enterprise extends the functionality of Redis to support multiple data types and models in a single database platform, with modules such as RediSearch, RedisJSON, RedisGraph, RedisTimeSeries, RedisBloom and RedisAI. Each module is designed from the ground up with an optimized engine and purpose-built data structures to provide best-in-class performance. Redis Enterprise introduces a unique architecture for multi-model operation, including (1) direct inter-module integration, enabling the execution of operations like search on a graph; (2) a single dataset copy across modules and Redis core, thereby eliminating the need to store multiple data copies and the overhead associated with memcpy operations, and (3) RedisGears, a serverless in-database engine supporting synchronous (transaction-based) and asynchronous (trigger-based) operations across modules and Redis core with sub-millisecond latency.

Serverless engine for Redis, RedisGears

RedisGears is a serverless engine for Redis, it runs inside Redis, closer to where your data lives and allows any cluster-wide operations across shards, nodes, data-structures and data-models, in a fully programmable manner, at a sub-millisecond speed. By using Python and soon Java, Scala and other JVM languages, you can program Gears to (1) support advanced caching use cases like write-behind/write-through; (2) control event-driven processing in a reliable way; (3) cluster-wide real-time data analytics and (4) orchestrate AI serving.

Automation and support

Keeping Redis up and running with well-defined SLAs is key, especially in high-volume production environments. Redis Enterprise provides complete automation of day-to-day Redis database operations, including re-sharding, shard migration, and setting up triggers for auto-balancing, without impacting your application. In addition, it provides deep visibility into important Redis metrics like throughput, performance, and utilization with triggers for notifications. The same team that develops Redis Enterprise offers round-the-clock support for all your issues.