Postgres is our favorite database—it’s reliable, powerful and secure. Here are a few essential tips learned from building, and helping our customers build, apps around Postgres. These tips will help ensure you get the most out of Postgres, whether you’re running it on your own box or using the Heroku Postgres add-on.

Use a Connection Pooler

Postgres connections are not free, as each established connection has a cost. By using a connection pooler, you’ll reduce the number of connections you use and reduce your overhead.

Most Postgres client libraries include a built-in connection pooler; make sure you’re using it.

You might also consider using our pgbouncer buildpack if your application...

Redis might sound like it’s just a key/value store, but its versatility makes it a valuable Swiss Army knife for your application. Caching, queueing, geolocation, and more: Redis does it all. We’ve built (and helped our customers build) a lot of apps around Redis over the years, so we wanted to share a few tips that will ensure you get the most out of Redis, whether you’re running it on your own box or using the Heroku Redis add-on.

Use a Connection Pooler

By using a connection pooler, you'll reduce the connection overhead and therefore speed up operations while reducing the number of connections you use.

Most Redis libraries will provide you with a specific connection pooler...