With the rise of NoSQL databases, a number of falsehoods have flourished regarding how to choose a database engine. This talk focuses specifically on Redis and PostgreSQL, and why one might choose one or the other.

At small scales, we can often get by thinking of database servers as black boxes, but as we scale, the internals and architecture become more and more important. This talk focuses on behavior of these systems at scale and under load.

In this presentation you will learn:

• How Redis and PostgreSQL differ architecturally
• How differences in architecture affect scalability and performance
• Cases here Redis is the clear winner
• Cases where PostgreSQL is the clear winner

Additionally, some notes will be offered in terms of where PostgreSQL can improve in to compete with the sorts of workloads that generally favor Redis.