Upstash

Name: Upstash
Brand: Qstash
Price: 10 USD

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Serverless data for developers

Serverless Data & Databases API Tools Cloud & Infrastructure

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Tracked since2025

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The Bottom Line

Entry price

Free plan available, paid tiers above

Biggest pro

True pay-per-request pricing eliminates costs during idle periods

Biggest con

Per-request costs can exceed fixed-price alternatives at sustained high throughput

TL;DR - Upstash

Serverless Redis, Vector DB, message queues, and search, all accessible via HTTP/REST with per-request pricing
Designed for edge and serverless workloads on Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, and Fastly with global replication
Free tier includes 500K Redis commands/month, 1K QStash messages/day, and 10K vector documents

Pricing: Free plan available

Best for: Growing teams

What is Upstash?

Editorial review

Upstash is a serverless data platform that provides Redis, Vector, QStash (messaging/queues), and full-text Search as fully managed, pay-per-request cloud services. All products expose HTTP/REST APIs, making them accessible from edge functions, serverless runtimes, and traditional servers without persistent connections. Upstash replicates data across 8+ global regions for low-latency reads and guarantees 99.99% uptime on Redis. The per-request pricing model means there are no idle costs, you pay only for the commands, messages, or queries you actually execute. Upstash is widely adopted alongside Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, and Fastly for session storage, rate limiting, caching, feature flags, and AI vector search.

Available on: Web

LCLouis CorneloupUpdated May 26, 2026 · how we evaluateSourceupstash.com ↗

Pros & Cons

Pros

True pay-per-request pricing eliminates costs during idle periods
HTTP-based APIs work from any edge function or serverless environment
Global replication delivers sub-millisecond latency worldwide
Generous free tier with 500K Redis commands and 1K QStash messages per day
Unified platform covers caching, queues, vector search, and full-text search
No infrastructure management, fully managed with automatic scaling

Cons

Per-request costs can exceed fixed-price alternatives at sustained high throughput
Redis feature set is not 100% compatible with open-source Redis modules
Free tier limited to a single database and 256 MB storage
QStash max HTTP response duration capped at 15 minutes on the free plan
No self-hosted or on-premise deployment option available

Key Features

Serverless Redis with global replication across 8+ regionsQStash message queue with scheduling, retries, and dead-letter queuesVector database for AI embeddings with REST API accessFull-text search engine with indexing and querying via HTTPHTTP/REST APIs for all products, no persistent connections requiredPer-request pricing with no idle costs or capacity planningSOC-2 compliance, encryption at rest, and RBAC on Pro plansNative SDKs for JavaScript, Python, Go, and edge runtimesPrometheus and Datadog monitoring integrationsEnterprise options with HIPAA compliance and dedicated resources

Pricing Plans

Pricing checked Aug 31, 2026

Free

256 MB Redis storage
500K commands/month
1 database
1K QStash messages/day
10K vector documents
10 GB bandwidth

Pay as You Go (Redis)

Free

$0.2 per 100K Redis commands
Up to 100 GB storage
100 databases
Unlimited bandwidth
1M vector documents

Fixed (Redis)

$10

Starting at 250 MB, scales to 500 GB
+$5 per additional read region
50 GB bandwidth included
100 databases
Tiers: $10 (250MB) to custom (500GB)

Pay as You Go (QStash)

Free

$1 per 100K messages
Unlimited messages/day
10 MB max message size
1,000 schedules
Retries are free

Enterprise

null

100K+ commands/second
Unlimited bandwidth and databases
Dedicated resources
HIPAA compliance
Professional support

Calculate your cost View full pricing

Is Upstash worth the price?

85/100

Upstash offers a very generous free tier, making it highly accessible for developers.

The Pay as You Go options for Redis and QStash are fair, with Redis at $0.2 per 100K commands and QStash at $1 per 100K messages, allowing for cost-effective scaling. The Fixed Redis tier starting at $10/month for 250MB is competitive for predictable workloads, especially for those needing dedicated resources.

This pricing model is best for developers and small to medium-sized businesses seeking flexible, serverless data solutions.

Hidden Costs & Gotchas

Additional read regions cost +$5/month each

Redis storage beyond 100GB on Pay as You Go

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Still deciding?

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Upstash FAQ

How does Upstash support global application deployments?

Upstash replicates data across more than 8 global regions, which helps ensure low-latency reads for users worldwide. This global distribution is key for applications requiring fast data access from various geographical locations.

What kind of user benefits most from Upstash's architecture?

Developers building applications with edge functions, serverless runtimes, or traditional servers can benefit from Upstash's HTTP/REST APIs. Its pay-per-request model is particularly advantageous for workloads with unpredictable traffic patterns, such as session storage or rate limiting.

How is Upstash priced?

Upstash operates on a pay-per-request pricing model, meaning users only pay for the commands, messages, or queries they execute, eliminating idle costs. It also includes a generous free tier that covers a significant amount of daily usage for Redis commands and QStash messages.

Can Upstash be used for caching in serverless environments?

Yes, Upstash is frequently adopted for caching, especially in conjunction with platforms like Vercel and Cloudflare Workers. Its HTTP-based Redis service is well-suited for serverless functions that require quick data retrieval without persistent connections.

What are the trade-offs of Upstash's pay-per-request model?

While the pay-per-request model eliminates idle costs, it can potentially lead to higher expenses compared to fixed-price alternatives if an application experiences sustained high throughput. Additionally, the Redis feature set is not fully compatible with all open-source Redis modules.

How does Upstash compare to a service like Redis for data storage?

Upstash provides Redis as a fully managed, pay-per-request cloud service, unlike a self-managed Redis instance. It offers HTTP/REST APIs for easy integration with serverless and edge environments, and includes global data replication for low-latency access, which standard Redis deployments require manual configuration to achieve.

Source: upstash.com

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