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Alex Spinov
Alex Spinov

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Dragonfly Has a Free API — Heres How to Replace Redis With 25x More Throughput

#redis #database #opensource #tutorial

Dragonfly is a Redis-compatible in-memory datastore that's 25x faster than Redis on multi-core machines. Drop-in replacement — same commands, same clients, way more speed.

Why Dragonfly?

  • 25x faster: Multi-threaded architecture vs Redis single-thread
  • Redis-compatible: Use existing Redis clients and commands
  • Memory-efficient: Up to 40% less memory than Redis
  • Snapshotting: Non-blocking snapshots
  • Single binary: No cluster needed for high throughput
  • Free: Open source, Apache 2.0

Docker Setup 

docker run -p 6379:6379 docker.dragonflydb.io/dragonflydb/dragonfly
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That's it. Your existing Redis clients connect without changes.

Use With Existing Redis Client 

import { createClient } from 'redis';

const client = createClient({ url: 'redis://localhost:6379' });
await client.connect();

// Same Redis commands — works identically
await client.set('user:1', JSON.stringify({ name: 'Alice', role: 'admin' }));
const user = JSON.parse(await client.get('user:1'));
await client.hSet('session:abc', { userId: '1', loginAt: Date.now().toString() });
await client.expire('session:abc', 3600);
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Python (same redis-py library) 

import redis

r = redis.Redis(host='localhost', port=6379)
r.set('counter', 0)
r.incr('counter')
print(r.get('counter'))  # b'1'

# Sorted sets
r.zadd('leaderboard', {'alice': 100, 'bob': 85, 'charlie': 92})
top3 = r.zrevrange('leaderboard', 0, 2, withscores=True)
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BullMQ with Dragonfly 

import { Queue, Worker } from 'bullmq';

// Just point BullMQ to Dragonfly — no code changes
const queue = new Queue('jobs', {
  connection: { host: 'localhost', port: 6379 },
});

const worker = new Worker('jobs', async (job) => {
  console.log('Processing:', job.data);
}, { connection: { host: 'localhost', port: 6379 } });
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Pub/Sub 

// Subscriber
const sub = client.duplicate();
await sub.connect();
await sub.subscribe('notifications', (message) => {
  console.log('Received:', message);
});

// Publisher
await client.publish('notifications', 'New order #123');
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JSON Support 

# Store JSON natively
redis-cli JSON.SET user:1 $ '{"name":"Alice","scores":[95,87,92]}'
redis-cli JSON.GET user:1 $.scores
redis-cli JSON.NUMINCRBY user:1 $.scores[0] 5
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Benchmark Comparison

Operation Redis Dragonfly
SET (ops/sec) 120K 3.8M
GET (ops/sec) 130K 4.1M
Pipeline SET 800K 12M
Memory per key 92 bytes 56 bytes

Real-World Use Case

A gaming company ran 3 Redis instances for session management (600K concurrent users). They replaced all 3 with 1 Dragonfly instance — same latency, 3x less memory, and saved $1,200/mo in cloud costs.

Need to automate data collection? Check out my Apify actors for ready-made scrapers, or email spinov001@gmail.com for custom solutions.

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