Node.js Caching Strategies in Production: In-Memory, Redis, and CDN

Node.js Caching Strategies in Production: In-Memory, Redis, and CDN Uncached Node.js applications leave serious performance and cost on the table. A database query that takes 40ms, called 500 times per second, costs your server 20 CPU-seconds every second. Cache that query for 60 seconds and you're making one database call every minute instead of 30,000. This is the practical guide to caching in production Node.js — the patterns that actually work, the footguns to avoid, and the tools that earn their place in a production stack. The Caching Stack Before choosing a caching layer, understand your access patterns: Layer Latency Scope TTL Style Best For In-process LRU < 1ms Single process Count + time Hot lookup tables, parsed configs In-process TTL < 1ms Single process Time-based API responses, computed results Redis 0.5–2ms All processes Flexible Shared state, session data, rate limits CDN 1–50ms Global Cache-Control Static assets, public API responses Most production apps need all three