Upstash

Serverless data for Redis and Kafka

From $0/mo

About Upstash

Upstash provides serverless data infrastructure that scales to zero—you only pay for actual requests, not idle capacity. Redis for caching and session storage, Kafka for event streaming, QStash for reliable message queues and scheduled jobs, and Vector for AI embeddings search. All services work seamlessly from edge functions (Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy) with HTTP-based access that doesn't require persistent connections. The generous free tier (10,000 commands/day for Redis) makes it perfect for indie projects and prototypes. Pay-as-you-go pricing scales predictably: Redis costs $0.2 per 100K commands. Popular for rate limiting, caching, session management, and background jobs in serverless architectures.

Key Features

Serverless Redis with HTTP access for edge functions

Serverless Kafka for event streaming at scale

QStash for reliable webhooks and scheduled jobs

Vector database for AI/ML embedding search

Global replication for low-latency access

Works with Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Deno Deploy

Pros & Cons

Pros

• True serverless—scales to zero, pay only for usage
• HTTP-based access works from any edge environment
• Generous free tier for development and small projects
• Simple, predictable pricing without surprises
• Multiple products (Redis, Kafka, QStash, Vector) in one platform

Cons

• Not suitable for primary database needs
• Higher latency than dedicated Redis instances
• Limited to specific use cases (caching, queuing)
• Advanced Kafka features may be limited

Best For

Edge applications needing caching and rate limiting Serverless functions requiring Redis without connections Background jobs and scheduled tasks with QStash AI applications needing vector similarity search