Portkey vs Redis (2026): Pricing, Features & Verdict
Portkey is our pick, scoring 7.8/10 against 7.1/10 for Redis on our AI Software criteria. Its biggest advantage: higher Analytics score (9/10 vs 5/10). For 10 users, Portkey and Redis are both free; both Portkey and Redis have a free plan.
Last updated: November 2026
Portkey
7.8/10
Portkey is an AI gateway and LLMOps control plane that routes, monitors, and governs requests to 1,600+ LLMs for engineering teams and enterprises.
Redis
7.1/10
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 | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.8/10 | 7.1/10 |
| Integration | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Analytics | 9/10 | 5/10 |
| Customization | 7/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Scalability | 8/10 | 9/10 |
| Security | 8/10 | 9/10 |
| Output Quality | Not listed | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $49/mo Production | $5/mo Essentials |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Open Source | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| AI Agents | Not listed | |
| API Access | Not listed | |
| Enterprise Controls | Not listed | |
| Knowledge Base Search | Not listed | |
| Private Deployment | Not listed | |
| More features | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
Portkey vs Redis cost by team size
Portkey and Redis cost the same at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Portkey | Redis |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeOpen Source | FreeFree |
| 5 users | FreeOpen Source | FreeFree |
| 10 users | FreeOpen Source | FreeFree |
| 25 users | FreeOpen Source | FreeFree |
| 50 users | FreeOpen Source | 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 Portkey and Redis suit
| Audience | Portkey | Redis |
|---|---|---|
| Developers | 9/10Setup takes a few lines of code with OpenAI-compatible SDKs, and there is a free tier and an open-source gateway. | 9/10Redis is developer infrastructure with client libraries like RedisVL and integrations with LangChain and LlamaIndex. |
| Enterprise | 8/10The Enterprise plan adds SSO, RBAC, VPC deployment, and HIPAA/SOC 2 support, and the product is now part of Palo Alto Networks' Prisma AIRS. | 8/10Pro adds active-active multi-region deployment, on-prem software and broad compliance certifications. |
| SaaS Companies | 8/10Built for teams running production GenAI features across multiple LLM providers. | 8/10Its sub-millisecond caching and vector search suit production SaaS AI features. |
| Startups | 7/10A free tier and a $49 Production plan keep the entry cost low. | 7/10The free 30 MB tier and Essentials from about $5 a month make it cheap to start. |
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Portkey
- Higher Analytics score (9/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 6/10)
Why choose Redis
- Higher Customization score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Higher Scalability score (9/10 vs 8/10)
Pros & Cons
Portkey
Pros
- Unified API covering more than 1,600 models, with automatic fallbacks, retries, and load balancing.
- Detailed logs and traces show the latency, cost, and retry path of each request.
- An open-source core and a free tier let developers try it before paying.
- Enterprise governance features include budgets, rate limits, RBAC, SSO, and audit logs, with VPC deployment available.
Cons
- Since the 2026 acquisition, paid plans route through Palo Alto Networks' Prisma AIRS, which brings uncertainty about future pricing and roadmap.
- You pay for the gateway on top of LLM provider costs, and provider billing stays separate.
- Below Enterprise, support is community-only, and the free plan keeps logs for just 3 days.
- It may be more platform than needed for small prototypes that want only a simple proxy.
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
Portkey scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 7.8/10 against 7.1/10 for Redis. The largest gap is in Analytics: 9/10 for Portkey and 5/10 for Redis.
Both are free for 10 users.
Yes, both Portkey and Redis have a free plan.
