I know this is old, but it still comes up when you search for the comparison. We were using Mongo, have moved almost entirely to Dynamo, which is our first choice now. Not because it has more features, it doesn't. Mongo has a better query language, you can index within a structure, there's lots of little things. The superiority of Dynamo is in what the OP stated in his comment: it's easy. You don't have to take care of any servers. When you start to set up a Mongo sharded solution, it gets complicated. You can go to one of the hosting companies, but that's not cheap either. With Dynamo, if you need more throughput, you just click a button. You can write scripts to scale automatically. When it's time to upgrade Dynamo, it's done for you. That is all a lot of precious stress and time not spent. If you don't have dedicated ops people, Dynamo is excellent.

So we are now going on Dynamo by default. Mongo maybe, if the data structure is complicated enough to warrant it, but then we'd probably go back to a SQL database. Dynamo is obtuse, you really need to think about how you're going to build it, and likely you'll use Redis in Elasticcache to make it work for complex stuff. But it sure is nice to not have to take care of it. You code. That's it.

Answer from CargoMeister on Stack Overflow
🌐
Medium
medium.com › @Tom1212121 › navigating-the-nosql-labyrinth-dynamodb-cassandra-mongodb-and-redis-abe19b73c95e
Navigating the No-SQL Labyrinth: DynamoDB, Cassandra, MongoDB and Redis | by Tomer Ben David | Medium
March 13, 2024 - However, its scalability can be a concern for extremely high-volume applications. Think of MongoDB as the data shapeshifter — adaptable and versatile, but potentially limited in raw performance for massive datasets. ... Finally, Redis stole the show when it came to in-memory caching.
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Altoros
altoros.com › home › couchbase capella vs. mongodb atlas vs. amazon dynamodb vs. redis enterprise cloud
Couchbase Capella vs. MongoDB Atlas vs. Amazon DynamoDB vs. Redis Enterprise Cloud | Altoros
June 21, 2023 - MongoDB Atlas achieved 58,290 ops/sec with a 8.13 ms latency, DynamoDB reached 109,350 ops/sec with a 5.1 ms latency, and Redis Enterprise Cloud was close to DynamoDB with 98,700 ops/sec and a 4.15 ms latency.
Discussions

amazon web services - DynamoDB vs MongoDB NoSQL - Stack Overflow
DynamoDB should be used where speed ... DynamoDB lacks. for example, you can have a replica set of MongoDB in such a way that one of the replica holds data instance of 8(or whatever) hours old. Really useful, if you messed up something big time in your DB and want to get the data as it is before. That's my opinion though. ... And a combination of Redis and ... More on stackoverflow.com
🌐 stackoverflow.com
redis vs memchache vs elasticache vs dynamodb
DynamoDB = a database. This is a general purpose tool for storing data to retrieve later. It is an AWS managed service which means Amazon will handle the actual infrastructure the database runs on for you. It has some limited querying capability. redis = an in memory data-store. Similar to a database but the data is less permanent. Most people use it as a cache because it provides fast lookup times. Redis is an open source product so you can run it yourself or let a cloud provider run it for you. It has the least querying capability. memcached = similar to redis. Older technology. elasticache = an AWS managed cache service. Basically Amazon will create a redis or memcached instance for you. You don’t need to worry about the infrastructure the cache runs on. elasticsearch = search software. Technically this is an open source tool but Amazon has a managed version with the same name. You use elasticsearch if you want an extreme amount of querying capability. It is also the slowest. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/aws
26
34
January 11, 2022
Should I use dynamoDB or Redis Elasticache for user sessions?
Redis is lower latency and doesn’t have a pay-per-request price scheme like dynamo does. Your use case may rule either of these points out, but those are the first two things I’d tell someone on my team if they asked the question. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/aws
7
4
February 5, 2023
Cost Metrics For Cache Store - DynamoDB vs ElastiCache/Redis
If you have any serious volume of requests, Redis is always cheaper. DynamoDB + DAX is a similar option in terms of pricing. So unless your volume of requests is so small that DynamoDB is cheaper than the smallest Elasticache cluster, I'd go with Redis. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/aws
6
13
April 29, 2023
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Slashdot
slashdot.org › software › nosql database › amazon dynamodb vs. mongodb vs. redis
Compare Amazon DynamoDB vs. MongoDB vs. Redis in 2026
DynamoDB is well-equipped to handle high-traffic, large-scale events seamlessly, making it an ideal choice for modern applications. MongoDB is a versatile, document-oriented, distributed database designed specifically for contemporary application developers and the cloud landscape.
Top answer
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181

I know this is old, but it still comes up when you search for the comparison. We were using Mongo, have moved almost entirely to Dynamo, which is our first choice now. Not because it has more features, it doesn't. Mongo has a better query language, you can index within a structure, there's lots of little things. The superiority of Dynamo is in what the OP stated in his comment: it's easy. You don't have to take care of any servers. When you start to set up a Mongo sharded solution, it gets complicated. You can go to one of the hosting companies, but that's not cheap either. With Dynamo, if you need more throughput, you just click a button. You can write scripts to scale automatically. When it's time to upgrade Dynamo, it's done for you. That is all a lot of precious stress and time not spent. If you don't have dedicated ops people, Dynamo is excellent.

So we are now going on Dynamo by default. Mongo maybe, if the data structure is complicated enough to warrant it, but then we'd probably go back to a SQL database. Dynamo is obtuse, you really need to think about how you're going to build it, and likely you'll use Redis in Elasticcache to make it work for complex stuff. But it sure is nice to not have to take care of it. You code. That's it.

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With 500k documents, there is no reason to scale whatsoever. A typical laptop with an SSD and 8GB of ram can easily do 10s of millions of records, so if you are trying to pick because of scaling your choice doesn't really matter. I would suggest you pick what you like the most, and perhaps where you can find the most online support with.

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Devathon
devathon.com › home › nosql databases: mongodb vs cassandra vs redis vs memcached vs dynamodb
NoSQL: MongoDB vs Cassandra vs Redis vs Memcached vs DynamoDB
February 8, 2021 - MongoDB offers very good performance if you need very high read concurrency. DynamoDB can be a good choice for performance if you don’t mind a licensed NoSQL DBMS exclusively on the AWS cloud. If you need to handle huge keys and objects, then Redis performs well.
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Medium
medium.com › @qingedaig › nosql-choices-b5dbc5d94a5f
NoSQL choices: Cassandra, MongoDB, DynamoDB, Redis, et | by Alice Dai | Medium
August 23, 2025 - Redis (fast, in-memory) for real-time counters. Cassandra/DynamoDB (persistent) for backup/audit or when Redis cache misses occur.
Find elsewhere
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Upstash
upstash.com › home › blog › serverless battleground - dynamodb vs firestore vs mongodb vs cassandra vs redis vs faunadb
Serverless Battleground - DynamoDB vs Firestore vs MongoDB vs Cassandra vs Redis vs FaunaDB | Upstash Blog
August 25, 2021 - We built a sample application which compares the performance of leading serverless databases using a common web use case and serverless functions. The databases are DynamoDB, MongoDB (Atlas), Firestore, Cassandra (Datastax Astra), FaunaDB and Redis (Upstash)
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Sprinkle Data
sprinkledata.ai › blogs › mongodb-vs-dynamodb-11-major-differences
MongoDB vs. DynamoDB: A Comprehensive Comparative Analysis
October 2, 2023 - A8: Yes, data migration is possible between MongoDB and DynamoDB. However, it may require careful planning and consideration of data mapping, schema changes, and compatibility between the two databases. A9: Yes, there are several alternatives to consider. Some popular NoSQL databases include Cassandra, Couchbase, Redis...
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Educative
educative.io › blog › mongo-db-vs-dynamo-db-nosql-databases
MongoDB vs DynamoDB: Which NoSQL database is right for you?
DynamoDB offers simplicity and efficiency, ideal for straightforward applications. MongoDB stands out for complex data structures, advanced queries, and robust indexing capabilities. Choose based on your project’s specific needs. ... MongoDB: The Complete GuideBuilding Practical Applications ...
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SourceForge
sourceforge.net › software › compare › Amazon-DynamoDB-vs-MongoDB-vs-Redis-vs-ScyllaDB
Amazon DynamoDB vs. MongoDB vs. Redis vs. ScyllaDB Comparison
Compare Amazon DynamoDB vs. MongoDB vs. Redis vs. ScyllaDB using this comparison chart. Compare price, features, and reviews of the software side-by-side to make the best choice for your business.
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MongoDB
mongodb.com › resources › compare › mongodb-dynamodb
Comparing DynamoDB And MongoDB | MongoDB
December 2, 2025 - Compare DynamoDB vs MongoDB on querying, indexing, data consistency, and more. Learn how key features align with your application’s scalability and performance needs.
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Severalnines
severalnines.com › home › posts pages › redis vs dynamodb (a comparison)
Redis vs DynamoDB (a comparison) | Severalnines
June 7, 2022 - DynamoDB intensifies its strength with Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) which works just like Redis, but with an in-memory cache for DynamoDB. Primarily, DynamoDB can be comparable with MongoDB which both are sufficiently performant for persistent NoSQL database storage.
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IONOS
ionos.com › digital guide › server › know-how › mongodb vs. redis
Which database is best? MongoDB vs. Redis - IONOS
July 16, 2024 - MongoDB has es­tab­lished itself in primarily for content man­age­ment, for e-commerce solutions and ap­pli­ca­tions that should remain freely con­fig­urable and require constant, real-time analysis. In com­par­i­son, Redis relies pre­dom­i­nant­ly on the speed factor.
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ScyllaDB
scylladb.com › learn › dynamodb › introduction-to-dynamodb › comparison
DynamoDB Comparison | ScyllaDB
January 21, 2025 - It is meant to serve as an alternative to and compete with MongoDB. Redis (Remote Dictionary Server) is an open-source, fast, NoSQL database and among the leading alternatives to DynamoDB.
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Bejamas
bejamas.com › compare › dynamodb-vs-mongodb-atlas-vs-upstash-redis
DynamoDB vs MongoDB Atlas vs Upstash Redis
December 20, 2024 - Compare DynamoDB vs MongoDB Atlas vs Upstash Redis and choose the best tool for your project.
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DynamoDB
dynobase.dev › dynamodb-vs-redis
DynamoDB vs Redis - The Ultimate Comparison
May 17, 2022 - Redis can handle millions of requests per second and has a sub-millisecond response time. In addition, the performance is optimized with request scheduling and high-performance pipeline execution to provide maximum performance over all the data types and models. DynamoDB replicates every piece of data over three availability zones in an AWS region to ensure the data is highly available and durable.
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Puter
developer.puter.com › blog › dynamodb-alternatives
Top 5 DynamoDB Alternatives (2026)
April 15, 2026 - If you know your access patterns and want hands-off scaling on AWS, DynamoDB is the more reliable choice. If you need query flexibility, MongoDB is in a completely different league.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/aws › redis vs memchache vs elasticache vs dynamodb
r/aws on Reddit: redis vs memchache vs elasticache vs dynamodb
January 11, 2022 -

Can someone ELI5 the differences? Very confused particularly with whata redis / memcached / elasticache are, and how they fit in :\

Why does aws have hundreds of servics all thata do very similar stuff

Top answer
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DynamoDB = a database. This is a general purpose tool for storing data to retrieve later. It is an AWS managed service which means Amazon will handle the actual infrastructure the database runs on for you. It has some limited querying capability. redis = an in memory data-store. Similar to a database but the data is less permanent. Most people use it as a cache because it provides fast lookup times. Redis is an open source product so you can run it yourself or let a cloud provider run it for you. It has the least querying capability. memcached = similar to redis. Older technology. elasticache = an AWS managed cache service. Basically Amazon will create a redis or memcached instance for you. You don’t need to worry about the infrastructure the cache runs on. elasticsearch = search software. Technically this is an open source tool but Amazon has a managed version with the same name. You use elasticsearch if you want an extreme amount of querying capability. It is also the slowest.
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Why does aws have hundreds of servics all thata do very similar stuff AWS has very few "similar" services. Some, like "MySQL RDS vs PostgreSQL RDS vs Oracle RDS vs MSSQL RDS" seem similar technically, but they actually reflect fragmentation in the market. (Companies would rarely use multiple of these unless they recently acquired other companies who had different philosophies on which was 'best'.) Others, like "Aurora vs Athena vs Dynamo", represent different cost/efficiency trade-offs among "ways to store data". No one way will ever dominate, because customers have different needs. In fact, many customers will use these different solutions for different use cases. (i.e. Athens for infrequently queried data, Dynamo for very specific use cases that fit Dynamo, etc.) Very confused particularly with whata redis / memcached / elasticache are, and how they fit in :\ Redis and Memcache are very similar key-value stores, often used as caches, usually storing everything in RAM. You put in a key (usually a short string like an ID) and get back a value (usually a whole object in JSON or something.) It doesn't do anything else (can't search for values, can't index on multiple things, etc.) In addition, Redis is also a full "Data Structures Server" that can store many interesting data structures. ("keep high score list", "queue", etc.) Elasticache is just the name of AWS's managed Redis service (that has an Memcached protocol adapter). You forgot to ask about "Amazon MemoryDB for Redis". But don't bother, it's not recommended. As to "how they fit in": If you are confused, you shouldn't use them. In fact, you should never start with a caching layer -- it complicates your application and you probably don't need it. Build you app first, spend time optimizing your databases and indexes. Only if your real database is having problems scaling would you even consider adding a caching layer. Adding caching too early will just cost a lot more and slow your development (because now everyone has to make their logic work with the cache).