Why I stopped using Redis for rate limiting

📰 Dev.to · Subhodip Mishra

Learn why Redis may not be the best choice for rate limiting and how to alternative solutions can reduce latency, with a focus on Node.js and web development.

intermediate Published 17 Jun 2026
Action Steps
  1. Identify the latency issues with using Redis for rate limiting in your Node.js application
  2. Explore alternative rate limiting solutions that don't rely on Redis, such as in-memory stores or specialized rate limiting libraries
  3. Implement a new rate limiting solution and measure its performance impact on your application
  4. Optimize the new solution as needed to ensure it meets your application's requirements
  5. Monitor and analyze the performance of your application to ensure the new rate limiting solution is effective
Who Needs to Know This

Developers and engineers working on high-traffic web applications, particularly those using Node.js, can benefit from understanding the limitations of using Redis for rate limiting and exploring alternative solutions to improve performance.

Key Insight

💡 Using Redis for rate limiting can add significant latency to your application, but alternative solutions can help reduce this latency and improve overall performance

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Ditch Redis for rate limiting? Learn why it may be slowing down your Node.js app and how to find a faster alternative #Nodejs #RateLimiting #Performance

Key Takeaways

Learn why Redis may not be the best choice for rate limiting and how to alternative solutions can reduce latency, with a focus on Node.js and web development.

Full Article

Title: Why I stopped using Redis for rate limiting

URL Source: https://dev.to/subhodip_mishra_985fe87a7/1042-pmclaude-responded-titletitlewhy-i-stopped-using-redis-for-rate-limiting-34e0

Published Time: 2026-06-17T17:16:24Z

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Posted on Jun 17

# Why I stopped using Redis for rate limiting

[#node](https://dev.to/t/node)[#rust](https://dev.to/t/rust)[#python](https://dev.to/t/python)[#webdev](https://dev.to/t/webdev)

## [](https://dev.to/subhodip_mishra_985fe87a7/1042-pmclaude-responded-titletitlewhy-i-stopped-using-redis-for-rate-limiting-34e0#the-problem) The Problem

Every Node.js rate limiting solution I tried had the same issue — Redis in the hot path.

Request comes in → middleware → network call to Redis → wait → process. That's 5-20ms added to every single request. At scale, this becomes a real problem.

## [](https://dev.to/subhodip_mishra
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