In-memory is not the same as a graph engine

Redis excels at keys, counters, sorted sets, and caches. JetGraph excels at typed relationships plus those time signals together.

Where Redis is the better tool

  • Session cache, rate-limit counters, leaderboards, queues, pub/sub
  • You only need INCR on a key and have no multi-entity relationships
  • You already have a mature Redis operations practice and no graph queries

Where JetGraph is the better tool

  • The feature is defined by edges (shared device, first-time merchant, neighbor fraud)
  • You need Cypher MATCH or neighbor lists, not only a string key
  • Risk propagation across a neighborhood should be an engine operation
  • You want velocity windows maintained with the graph, not a pile of Redis keys you must keep consistent yourself

You might use both

Redis for application cache and idempotency keys; JetGraph for the fraud/identity graph. JetGraph is not a Redis protocol server.