Feature Comparison: Valkey & Redis vs. VMWare Tanzu Gemfire

Developers who want to maximize the speed of their enterprise-grade, distributed applications often turn to in-memory data stores or distributed caches to reduce latency and increase throughput. Two of the more prominent players in this space are Redisson PRO (with either Valkey or Redis on the backend) and VMware Tanzu Gemfire. 

Valkey and Redis are well-known for extremely fast performance, and Redisson PRO allows Java developers to build their apps around them, with key features like the distributed Reliable Cache. Meanwhile, VMware has positioned Tanzu Gemfire as an enterprise-class, high-availability data grid. Which one is right for you? This comparison covers all the critical features to help you decide.

Collections

One of the advantages of Redisson PRO with Valkey or Redis for Java developers is familiarity. Redisson PRO provides a comprehensive suite of distributed Java objects that mirror the standard Java Collection Framework. Therefore, developers can work with distributed data using the same intuitive APIs they are already familiar with. In comparison, Tanzu Gemfire only offers a Map object:

Queues

Distributed queues and messaging patterns are the fundamental building blocks upon which developers build modern, service-oriented applications. Redisson PRO leverages the Pub/Sub and List capabilities of Valke and Redis for a powerful set of distributed queue and messaging objects. This includes Reliable Queue, which guarantees message delivery even in the face of client or server failures. Tanzu Gemfire offers no equivalent features.

Objects

Redisson PRO provides an array of distributed objects and specialized data types to help make complex distributed programming patterns accessible through simple Java interfaces. Tanzu Gemfire mainly focuses on managing serialized Java objects. While it supports storing various object types and has eventing capabilities, it can’t match the breadth of purpose-built objects that Redisson PRO offers.

Counters

In distributed applications, atomically managing numerical values is a common task. Java developers regularly generate unique identifiers, track events, or maintain shared counters across multiple instances. Redisson PRO features a number of specialized counters that simplify these programming tasks. With Tanzu Gemfire, developers must implement the logic for atomic operations themselves, which can be complex, and they still might not achieve the same level of optimization provided by Redisson PRO.

Locks and Synchronizers

Redisson PRO builds on the strong consistency guarantees provided by Valkey/Redis to deliver a suite of distributed lock and synchronizer objects. These implementations operate across your distributed clusters to ensure reliable coordination between nodes. Tanzu Gemfire provides transaction support, which can handle some concurrency matters. However, implementing functionality similar to Redisson PRO would require developers to write custom coordination logic on top of Gemfire’s transaction or event frameworks.

Advanced Cache Support

Both Redisson PRO with Valkey/Redis and Tanzu Gemfire provide a range of advanced caching features designed to improve performance and simplify data synchronization. However, only Redisson PRO implements the JCache API with near cache functionality. This means developers can leverage the standard JCache API while benefiting from the performance boost of the near (local) cache.

Cache API implementations

Redisson PRO can natively integrate with many popular Java frameworks. Tanzu Gemfire offers no such integrations except Spring Cache:

API architecture

Java applications built with microservices and cloud-native architectures rely on non-blocking I/O and asynchronous programming models. Therefore, the architecture of the client API used to interact with a distributed data store like Valkey/Redis or Tanzu Gemfire is an important consideration. Redisson PRO supports multiple leading asynchronous API interfaces, including Reactive Streams and the widely used RxJava3 library.

These non-blocking APIs support distributed applications that can handle concurrent operations with high throughput. On the other hand, Tanzu Gemfire does not offer equivalent first-class asynchronous, reactive stream, or RxJava3-based API interfaces.

Distributed services

Redisson PRO leverages Valkey/Redis not only as a data store but also as a platform for deploying and coordinating distributed services. This includes ExecutorService, a distributed implementation of java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService for asynchronous execution on any node within a cluster. The MapReduce service is ideal for processing large data sets in parallel.

There's also the SchedulerService, which provides a distributed scheduler for executing tasks at specified times or defined intervals across a cluster. Redisson PRO's RemoteService is a simple yet powerful mechanism for distributed remote procedure calls (RPCs). Meanwhile, the LiveObjectService allows developers to map data entries in Valkey/Redis directly to "live" Java objects. Tanzu Gemfire can store and manage distributed data but offers nothing equivalent to Redisson PRO's distributed services.

Session Management

Redisson PRO implements web session management for many popular Java frameworks. Tanzu Gemfire offers no such integrations except Spring Session:

Security

Both Redisson PRO and Tanzu Gemfire support standard security mechanisms:

Data Serialization

A common trait amongst all high-performance distributed systems is data serialization. This involves converting complex application objects into a byte stream for storage and transmission across the network, and then deserializing them back into objects. 

The choice of serialization mechanism directly impacts application performance, network bandwidth, and more. Redisson PRO utilizes the binary data capabilities of Valkey/Redis to offer an array of serialization options and codecs. Tanzu Gemfire has its own serialization mechanism, but doesn’t natively integrate with many of the industry-leading options supported by Redisson PRO.

Stability and ease of use

Redisson PRO is compatible with several fully managed Valkey/Redis services offered by major cloud providers. These include AWS ElastiCache, Azure Cache for Redis, and Google Cloud Memorystore, among others. VMware provides Gemfire within its own Tanzu ecosystem, but deploying on public clouds like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud requires setup work by dedicated sysadmins. However, both Redisson PRO and Tanzu Gemfire can effortlessly manage large in-memory data sets.

Redisson PRO With Valkey/Redis: The Comprehensive Solution

For developers who require high-performance distributed caching and enterprise-grade data management, Redisson PRO (backed by Valkey/Redis) and VMware Tanzu Gemfire can both provide a speed boost. 

But as this feature comparison shows, Redisson PRO offers a broader and more deeply integrated set of distributed objects and caching features specifically tailored for Java developers. From its comprehensive suite of distributed collections to its specialized atomic objects, Redisson PRO is clearly the comprehensive solution.