Redis
In-memory key-value data store used as a cache, message broker, and database.
Liked as a fast cache123 that is quick to set up and rarely needs maintenance,456 and as a backend for job queues.789 The most common complaint is its license changes, which pushed some commenters to Valkey,101112 and several warn against using it as the primary store for relational or critical data.131415
Why people recommend it
Caching speed · 3
Commenters call it very fast and much quicker than querying the database for cached values.
“it is much faster than your db query if cache is set, there is some amount of robustness if your db is temporarily unavailable”
“redis is 7 times better”
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“Redis (or valkey.io) is also amazing and very fast.”
Easy to operate · 3
Commenters say it is trivial to set up, rarely crashes, and has low ops overhead as a cache.
“it's trivial to set up and it ~never crashes or requires maintenance.”
“For many use cases I have not had to think more than 30s to setup redis.”
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“For caching, though, I wouldn’t drop Redis so fast.”
Job queues · 3
Commenters use it as a queue backend, often with Celery, and call it solid for background jobs.
“it's always better to use something like SQS, Redis queues, etc.”
“I've been using Redis for background jobs for years and it's been solid”
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“I use Celery with Redis”
Reliability · 2
Commenters report it staying up for years without complaints.
“Well, that and Redis. No complaints ever.”
“I've been using Redis for background jobs for years and it's been solid”
Data structures · 3
Valued as a versatile tool for shared data structures such as sets, counters and locks.
“While I love Redis as a versatile tool for external data structures”
“L1: Redis Hot Pool (Sets) for O(1) matching of currently active volunteers.”
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“treating every agent action as a transaction against a Redis counter”
Pairs with Postgres · 3
Commenters say Redis alongside PostgreSQL covers many needs.
“something like clickhouse or redis combined with postgresql might be more than enough for many things”
“Go + HTMX + PostgreSQL + Redis can go a long mile”
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“We use redis as infrastructure. To route events and as a cache.”
Caveats and dissent
License changes · 3
Its license changes eroded trust and led some commenters to move to Valkey.
“we have seen the Redis train-wreck in slow-mo”
“So much software I love keeps doing this. redis, docker, now bitwarden.”
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“The feature set was fine five years ago and I don't think we're using anything in Valkey that wouldn't work in Redis.”
Not a primary store · 3
Commenters warn against using it for relational data or as the only store for important data.
“He insisted we use Redis for a project with a lot of relational data. We ended up building a mini relational database on top of redis.”
“We use redis as infrastructure. To route events and as a cache.”
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“For caching, though, I wouldn’t drop Redis so fast.”
Complex HA · 1
High availability is described as overly complicated, and it cannot be embedded like SQLite.
“While I love Redis as a versatile tool for external data structures”
Client libraries · 1
Client libraries are often lacking, with redis-py's async client cited as an example.
“Redis is great, but the client libraries are often lacking.”
Memcached comparison · 1
One commenter says memcached is much faster for simple key-value caching.
“at notion we use redis for a lot of things, but actual caching we leave to memcached”
Ops overhead · 2
Running it as a separate service adds operational overhead and cost.
“I've been using Redis for background jobs for years and it's been solid”
“I have spun up new apps with Redis so many times”
Often compared with
6 moved from Redis to Valkey
1 moved from Redis to PostgreSQL
1 moved from Redis to SolidQueue
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (August 2026) 3 mentions
- You probably don't need another database 3 mentions
- In Praise of Memcached 3 mentions
- Redis 8.8: New array data structure, rate limiter, performance improvements 3 mentions
- PostgreSQL Is Enough 2 mentions
- I Love You, Redis, but I'm Leaving You for SolidQueue 2 mentions
Data: redis.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 43
“redis is 7 times better”
“In my case that state is a knowledge graph and redis.”
“So much software I love keeps doing this. redis, docker, now bitwarden.”
“Redis (I forget if that was for filestash or the container registry, but can be configured to be very light weight).”
“PostgreSQL, Kafka, Redis”
“I used redis multiple times in the past, I have no resentment towards the project or its author(s).”
“I used to scoff at redis' single threaded design but it makes sense in a memory bound db.”
“He insisted we use Redis for a project with a lot of relational data. We ended up building a mini relational database on top of redis.”
“I really just disagreed with the assessment that redis is not good enough for the job for a reservation system.”
“Postgres/pgvector, Redis, Celery, Docker”
“Celery/Redis for async ingestion returning an immediate job ID”
Location:Cape town. Remote: Yes. Obviously. I don’t do office culture. I prefer quiet dark room with a 4K monitor and a mechanical keyboard. Willing to relocate: Only if the relocation involves a data center, a hackerspace, or a country with no extradition treaties. Otherwise, no. Technologies:Go, Rust, C, C++., Docker, FreeBSD, and I once fixed a mainframe. Don’t ask how. MongoDB, I’ve written my own key value store
“then I use Redis as a Raw storage for all the files and docs”
“it's always better to use something like SQS, Redis queues, etc.”
“Tech I reach for: TypeScript, Python, React/Next, Node/FastAPI, Postgres + pgvector, Redis, AWS, Claude API and Claude Code.”
“Well, that and Redis. No complaints ever.”
“I have spun up new apps with Redis so many times”
“Why wait until, ahem, Postgres is pushed to the limit before you spin up a Redis cluster?”
“it's trivial to set up and it ~never crashes or requires maintenance.”
“it is much faster than your db query if cache is set, there is some amount of robustness if your db is temporarily unavailable”
“something like clickhouse or redis combined with postgresql might be more than enough for many things”
“Redis deduplication to detect incoming deposits”
“If I had a smaller cache need and was already using Redis, I'd probably just use that.”
“at notion we use redis for a lot of things, but actual caching we leave to memcached”
“For many use cases I have not had to think more than 30s to setup redis.”
“Redis for caching”
Location: Istanbul, Türkiye (relocating to Guildford, UK in Sept 2026) Remote: Yes — full EU overlap; US-East evenings (UTC+3, moving to UTC+0) Willing to relocate: No Technologies: TypeScript, Node.js, NestJS, Fastify, Next.js, React, React Native/Expo, PostgreSQL/Prisma, Redis/BullMQ, Claude API, RAG, tool-calling/MCP, pgvector, Playwright Résumé/CV: https://github.com/denizcakiroglu322 Email: denizcakiroglu322@gma
“We use redis as infrastructure. To route events and as a cache.”
“The feature set was fine five years ago and I don't think we're using anything in Valkey that wouldn't work in Redis.”
“While I love Redis as a versatile tool for external data structures”
“Redis is great, but the client libraries are often lacking.”
“if I can write it with redis and python with Claude support in all the boilerplate I'm more likely to go that route”
“Postgres & Redis”
“and caches in Redis”
“Redis (or valkey.io) is also amazing and very fast.”
“Our tech stack: Go, CockroachDB, RocksDB, WebRTC, Raft, and Redis.”
“Go + HTMX + PostgreSQL + Redis can go a long mile”
“Redis for real-time presence”
“Redis changed how the industry thinks about caching”
“I use Celery with Redis”
“we have seen the Redis train-wreck in slow-mo”
“For caching, though, I wouldn’t drop Redis so fast.”
“I've been using Redis for background jobs for years and it's been solid”