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Google Cloud Spanner vs Redis comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Cloud Spanner
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (8th)
Redis
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (3rd), Managed NoSQL Databases (5th), In-Memory Data Store Services (1st), Vector Databases (5th), AI Software Development (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Database Services solutions, they serve different purposes. Google Cloud Spanner is designed for Database as a Service (DBaaS) and holds a mindshare of 7.3%, up 5.5% compared to last year.
Redis, on the other hand, focuses on In-Memory Data Store Services, holds 21.7% mindshare, up 21.9% since last year.
Database as a Service (DBaaS) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Google Cloud Spanner7.3%
Amazon RDS12.7%
MongoDB Atlas10.3%
Other69.7%
Database as a Service (DBaaS)
In-Memory Data Store Services Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Redis21.7%
Amazon ElastiCache14.0%
Google Cloud Memorystore11.3%
Other53.0%
In-Memory Data Store Services
 

Featured Reviews

LJ
System Architect at UST Global España
Offers good performance to users
The tool lacks to offer AI features. In the future, I would like the product to offer AI features to users. Nowadays, we are creating small acronyms for our SQL Server. We put some templates. If I just put your name and stop it, the entire cloud can be explored, but such features are not there in Google Cloud Spanner. As a layman rather than a developer, if I create a tool or a procedure. If I write a procedure and then when you describe a procedure, a dummy procedure will be written for you, and it will be available for you as a template in SQL Server, but such kind features are not there in Google Cloud Spanner.
RituRaj - PeerSpot reviewer
SDE 2 at Virtusa
Caching has improved response times and reduces database load for high-traffic applications
Redis is very reliable, but it could be improved in areas such as monitoring, debugging, and feasibility into memory use. Better built-in tools for observability would help teams manage it more effectively at scale. Managing memory efficiently and troubleshooting issues can sometimes require additional tooling, so these areas can also be improved.One practical challenge I experienced is managing memory efficiently. Since Redis is in-memory, we need to carefully configure eviction policies and monitor usage. Debugging cache-related issues such as stale data or cache invalidation can sometimes be tricky. Additionally, tuning memory usage and eviction policies needs to be planned very carefully.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Google Cloud Spanner is stable."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is its scalability. Scalability comes with two options, among which Google Cloud Spanner can scale horizontally, compared to other relational databases that scale vertically."
"We can scale the solution if we need to."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"The application deployment in the cloud is the best feature of the infrastructure."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"Redis has had a positive impact by improving application performance, reducing database load, and making the system more scalable."
"It makes operations more efficient. The information processing is very fast, and very responsive. It's all about the technology."
"Redis is good for distributed caching management."
"Redis has multiple valuable features such as being a free and reliable open-source tool."
"The solution is fast, provides good performance, and is not too expensive."
"The ability to fetch and save data quickly is valuable."
"I find Redis valuable primarily for its caching capabilities, particularly in handling cache requests effectively. Its simplicity in managing key-value pairs for caching is one of its strengths, making it a preferred choice over more complex databases like MongoDB for specific use cases. However, I haven't explored Redis extensively for managing complex data structures beyond caching, as MongoDB might be more suitable for such scenarios."
"Redis is a powerful and reliable tool for improving application performance."
 

Cons

"The tool needs to improve horizontal scaling."
"The cost can be a bit high."
"I want to improve the deployment of cameras and surveillance infrastructure."
"The tool lacks to offer AI features."
"Google came up with something called Cloud Spanner Emulator, which fails to work like the real product if I want to develop some code and run a database locally on my machine."
"For the PubSub feature, we had to create our own tools to monitor the events."
"The only thing is the lack of a GUI application. There was a time when we needed to resolve an issue in production. If we had a GUI, it would have been easier."
"It's actually quite expensive."
"There is room for AWS to provide more options for server types or a way to configure more or less memory for them."
"Making management easier, especially for teams operating large Redis clusters, would be helpful."
"The solution's pricing for a local installation is very expensive."
"There is a lack of documentation on the scalability of the solution."
"The initial setup of Redis was difficult, with a rating of two or three out of ten."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."
"Price-wise, I heard that Google Cloud Spanner is on the higher side."
"The solution is expensive."
"Google Cloud Spanner is an expensive solution."
"We saw an ROI. It made the processing of our transactions faster."
"The tool is open-source. There are no additional costs."
"Redis is not an overpriced solution."
"Redis is an open-source solution. There are not any hidden fees."
"Redis is an open-source product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
University
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Spanner?
Google Cloud Spanner has all the features of a traditional relational database, including schemas, SQL queries, ACID transactions, and provides excellent integration and monitoring tools as well as...
What needs improvement with Redis?
Making management easier, especially for teams operating large Redis clusters, would be helpful. More advanced built-in observability, performance insights, and automated recommendations would help...
What is your primary use case for Redis?
Redis is used primarily as a caching layer to provide a high-performance caching solution that improves application response times and reduces load on backend services and databases. We use it main...
What advice do you have for others considering Redis?
There are a couple of things to consider when using Redis. It is a supporting layer, not a main database. Identifying specific use cases where Redis can provide the most value, such as caching, ses...
 

Also Known As

Google Spanner
Redis Enterprise
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Streak, Optiva, Mixpanel
1. Twitter 2. GitHub 3. StackOverflow 4. Pinterest 5. Snapchat 6. Craigslist 7. Digg 8. Weibo 9. Airbnb 10. Uber 11. Slack 12. Trello 13. Shopify 14. Coursera 15. Medium 16. Twitch 17. Foursquare 18. Meetup 19. Kickstarter 20. Docker 21. Heroku 22. Bitbucket 23. Groupon 24. Flipboard 25. SoundCloud 26. BuzzFeed 27. Disqus 28. The New York Times 29. Walmart 30. Nike 31. Sony 32. Philips
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), MongoDB and others in Database as a Service (DBaaS). Updated: September 2026.
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