Amazon CloudFront vs Redis (2026): Pricing, Features & Verdict
Amazon CloudFront is our pick, scoring 7.9/10 against 7.3/10 for Redis on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria. Its biggest advantage: higher Analytics score (7/10 vs 5/10). For 10 users, Amazon CloudFront and Redis are both free; both Amazon CloudFront and Redis have a free plan.
Last updated: November 2026
Amazon CloudFront
7.9/10
Amazon CloudFront is the AWS content delivery network. It caches and serves websites, APIs and media from more than 750 edge locations, and includes DDoS protection, WAF and edge compute.
Redis
7.3/10
In-memory data platform with vector search, semantic caching and agent memory, plus the Redis Iris context engine, for developers building real-time AI applications.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | A Amazon CloudFront | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.9/10 | 7.3/10 |
| Integration | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Customization | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 9/10 | 9/10 |
| Reliability | 9/10 | Not listed |
| Ease of Use | 5/10 | 6/10 |
| Analytics | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $15/mo Pro (flat-rate) | $5/mo Essentials |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free (flat-rate) | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Multiple Regions | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | Not listed | |
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| More features | ||
| AI Agents | Not listed | |
| Private Deployment | Not listed | |
| Knowledge Base Search | Not listed | |
| API Access | Not listed | |
| Enterprise Controls | Not listed | |
Amazon CloudFront vs Redis cost by team size
Amazon CloudFront and Redis cost the same at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Amazon CloudFront | Redis |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeFree |
| 5 users | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeFree |
| 10 users | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeFree |
| 25 users | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeFree |
| 50 users | FreeFree (flat-rate) | FreeFree |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Who Amazon CloudFront and Redis suit
| Audience | Amazon CloudFront | Redis |
|---|---|---|
| Developers | 9/10It offers a full API, works with CloudFormation and the SDKs, and runs code at the edge, which suits engineers who want deep control. | 9/10Redis is developer infrastructure with client libraries like RedisVL and integrations with LangChain and LlamaIndex. |
| Enterprise | 8/10It holds PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOC and FedRAMP Moderate compliance, offers custom pricing, and runs on a very large edge network. | 8/10Pro adds active-active multi-region deployment, on-prem software and broad compliance certifications. |
| SaaS Companies | 8/10It integrates natively with AWS origins and supports blue/green continuous deployment, a good fit for SaaS products hosted on AWS. | 8/10Its sub-millisecond caching and vector search suit production SaaS AI features. |
| Startups | 7/10The always-free tier and the $15 Pro flat-rate plan keep early costs low. | 7/10The free 30 MB tier and Essentials from about $5 a month make it cheap to start. |
| Small Business | 5/10Reviewers cite configuration complexity and costs as hurdles for smaller teams that are not technical. | Not rated |
Which One Should You Choose?
AWhy choose Amazon CloudFront
- Higher Analytics score (7/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Integration score (9/10 vs 8/10)
Why choose Redis
- Higher Ease of Use score (6/10 vs 5/10)
Pros & Cons
AAmazon CloudFront
Pros
- The network is very large, with more than 750 PoPs plus over 1,140 PoPs embedded inside ISP networks.
- Data transfer from AWS origins such as S3 and EC2 to CloudFront costs nothing, which lowers costs for workloads hosted on AWS.
- Flat-rate plans start at $15 a month with no overage charges, which makes bills predictable.
- It has strong compliance coverage, including PCI-DSS Level 1, HIPAA, SOC, ISO and FedRAMP Moderate.
- Two tiers of edge compute are available: CloudFront Functions at $0.10 per million invocations and Lambda@Edge for heavier code.
Cons
- G2 and Capterra reviewers report complex configuration and a steep learning curve for people new to AWS.
- Capterra-network reviewers rate customer support poorly, around 3.4 out of 5.
- Flat-rate plans lack some features, such as real-time logs, dedicated IP SSL and continuous deployment, and going over the allowance reduces performance.
- Dedicated IP SSL at $600 a month and Anycast Static IPs at $3,000 a month are expensive extras.
- Users on AWS re:Post and GitHub report cache invalidations that occasionally hang for hours or time out during deploys.
Redis
Pros
- Sub-millisecond vector and semantic lookups, which suit real-time AI features.
- Teams already running Redis can add vector search and caching without learning a new database.
- Wide compliance coverage, including SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001.
- Runs as a managed service on AWS, Azure or GCP, as on-prem Redis Software, or as open source.
- A free 30 MB tier and Essentials from about $5 a month make it cheap to try.
Cons
- Data size is limited by RAM, so costs rise quickly as memory grows.
- Reviewers describe the pricing as complex, and Pro has a $200 monthly minimum.
- Scaling beyond a single node needs careful architectural planning.
- Some reviewers say the documentation is hard for newcomers to follow.
- It is infrastructure, not a finished AI app, so you need engineering effort to get value from it.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon CloudFront scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7.9/10 against 7.3/10 for Redis. The largest gap is in Analytics: 7/10 for Amazon CloudFront and 5/10 for Redis.
Both are free for 10 users.
Yes, both Amazon CloudFront and Redis have a free plan.
