CockroachDB vs Redis Cloud
A detailed comparison to help you choose between CockroachDB and Redis Cloud.
Quick Verdict
4.2/5
CockroachDB
0 reviews
3.6/5
Redis Cloud
0 reviews
CockroachDB is rated higher (4.2 vs 3.6). CockroachDB is a distributed SQL database built to survive datacenter failures. Postgres-compatible, strong consistency, and automatic scaling across regions. Managed plans: Basic (usage-based, free tier), Standard and Advanced (provisioned), plus BYOC and the new Cockroach Continuum editions. Redis Cloud is the official managed Redis service from Redis Ltd, the creators of Redis. Offers Redis Stack with JSON, search, and time series. Multi-cloud on AWS, GCP, Azure.
CockroachDB Distributed SQL database that survives failures | Redis Cloud Managed Redis from the original creators | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.2 (0 reviews)✓ | 3.6 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best for | Applications where the database must survive region loss without losing transactions — payments, ledgers, identity, multi-region SaaS, global gaming backends — and teams ready for distributed-SQL trade-offs | Teams running business-critical caching, session, real-time or vector workloads who want the Redis engine operated by its creators, with backups and SLAs included on paid plans. |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | 2 vCPU | — |
| RAM | — | — |
| Storage | — | — |
| Bandwidth | — | — |
| SLA uptime | 99.99% | 99.99% |
| Data-center count | — | — |
| €/vCPU/mo | €0.00 | — |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ||
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ||
| Free tier | ||
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | AWS, GCP and Azure regions across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific (multi-region clusters) | — |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tiermanaged optionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi access | free tiermanaged optionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenterapi access |
| Visit CockroachDB → | Visit Redis Cloud → | |
CockroachDB
Pros
- + True multi-region survivability with serializable transactions and Postgres wire compatibility
- + Generous free tier: Basic at $0/month with 50M RUs and 10 GiB free monthly, $400 trial credits, no card required
- + Contractual SLAs: 99.99% availability, up to 99.999% multi-region on Advanced; P1 response targets published
- + Transparent per-component cost documentation and a public pricing calculator
- + Enterprise compliance path (CMEK, PCI DSS, HIPAA) and AWS/GCP/Azure coverage
Cons
- - Production costs climb fast: storage billed at 4.5x durability multiplier, plus backups, CDC and egress
- - September 2026 plan restructure (Cockroach Continuum) splits new and existing customers onto different rate cards
- - Distributed-SQL learning curve: RU model, planner differences from vanilla Postgres, cross-region latency
- - Overkill for single-region applications — managed Postgres is far cheaper for the same job
- - Proprietary managed plane; open-core self-hosting shifts the operational burden back to you
Redis Cloud
Pros
- + Managed by the stewards of upstream Redis, running the same engine (Redis 8) rather than a fork
- + Real free tier for learning and a low $5/month Essentials entry with published per-hour math
- + Paid plans include scheduled backups (daily on Essentials, hourly-capable on Pro) to your own S3/GCS/Azure/FTP
- + Broad footprint: AWS, Google Cloud and Azure regions across multiple continents, private connectivity on Pro
- + Redis 8 turns the cache into a document, search, vector and time-series engine in one binary
Cons
- - Costs compound fast at production scale — in-memory data plus HA plus multi-region is expensive
- - Free plan is tiny (30 MB, 100 ops/sec, no replication, no backups) and Essentials caps throughput per tier
- - Essentials database size includes replication — HA halves usable capacity
- - Published storage ceilings conflict between pages (12 GB vs 100 GB for Essentials)
- - Licensing history (2024 source-available switch) requires reading the license matrix for embedded use
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