Question: Is Redis Enterprise free to use?

Answer

No, Redis Enterprise is not free. It's a commercial product offered by Redis Labs that provides an enhanced version of open-source Redis with additional features like automated scaling, higher availability, and data persistence among others.

While the open-source Redis software is free to use, Redis Enterprise comes with a cost because of its added functionality and support. Pricing details for Redis Enterprise can be found on the Redis Labs' official website.

However, Redis Labs does offer a free tier of their managed database service called "Redis Cloud", which could be suitable for small projects or development/testing scenarios. It has some limitations compared to the enterprise version.

It's important to note that while Redis Enterprise isn't free, it offers advantages such as:

• Active-Active Geo-Distribution: This allows your database to continue operating even if one geographic region goes down.
• Scaling: Redis Enterprise enables automatic, instant scaling without any downtime.
• Data Persistence: Even in-memory databases need to persist data sometimes. Redis Enterprise makes this easy.
• Support: Access to 24/7 customer support can be invaluable for businesses depending upon Redis for critical applications.

To use Redis for free, you would typically install the open-source version yourself using commands like these on a Unix-based system:

$ wget http://download.redis.io/redis-stable.tar.gz
$ tar xvzf redis-stable.tar.gz
$ cd redis-stable
$ make

Then, you would run Redis using the resulting executable:

$ src/redis-server

Remember that using the open-source version requires more effort from you in terms of setup, maintenance, and manually handling issues like scaling and high availability.