diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index c40eeeac7..edbf61f79 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -2947,3 +2947,5 @@
 * profile: drop gravatar support
 * login: suppress notification of impersonated users
 * mongodb: reduce verbosity of logs
+* redis: disable by default when optional
+
diff --git a/src/apps.js b/src/apps.js
index 6793cca7e..8d6708b81 100644
--- a/src/apps.js
+++ b/src/apps.js
@@ -875,13 +875,15 @@ async function add(id, appStoreId, manifest, subdomain, domain, portBindings, da
         enableMailbox = data.enableMailbox || false,
         upstreamUri = data.upstreamUri || '',
         enableTurn = 'enableTurn' in data ? data.enableTurn : true,
-        enableRedis = 'enableRedis' in data ? data.enableRedis : true,
         icon = data.icon || null,
         notes = data.notes || null,
         crontab = data.crontab || null,
         enableBackup = 'enableBackup' in data ? data.enableBackup : true,
         enableAutomaticUpdate = 'enableAutomaticUpdate' in data ? data.enableAutomaticUpdate : true;
 
+    // when redis is optional, do not enable it by default. it's mostly used for caching in those setups
+    const enableRedis = 'enableRedis' in data ? data.enableRedis : !manifest.addons?.redis?.optional;
+
     await checkForPortBindingConflict(portBindings, { appId: null });
 
     const queries = [];
@@ -1356,13 +1358,15 @@ async function install(data, auditSource) {
         overwriteDns = 'overwriteDns' in data ? data.overwriteDns : false,
         skipDnsSetup = 'skipDnsSetup' in data ? data.skipDnsSetup : false,
         enableTurn = 'enableTurn' in data ? data.enableTurn : true,
-        enableRedis = 'enableRedis' in data ? data.enableRedis : true,
         appStoreId = data.appStoreId,
         upstreamUri = data.upstreamUri || '',
         manifest = data.manifest,
         notes = data.notes || null,
         crontab = data.crontab || null;
 
+    // when redis is optional, do not enable it by default. it's mostly used for caching in those setups
+    const enableRedis = 'enableRedis' in data ? data.enableRedis : !manifest.addons?.redis?.optional;
+
     let error = manifestFormat.parse(manifest);
     if (error) throw new BoxError(BoxError.BAD_FIELD, `Manifest error: ${error.message}`);
 
diff --git a/src/routes/apps.js b/src/routes/apps.js
index 95608a6a2..ebaa9f8da 100644
--- a/src/routes/apps.js
+++ b/src/routes/apps.js
@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@ async function install(req, res, next) {
     if ('enableMailbox' in data && typeof data.enableMailbox !== 'boolean') return next(new HttpError(400, 'enableMailbox must be boolean'));
 
     if ('enableTurn' in data && typeof data.enableTurn !== 'boolean') return next(new HttpError(400, 'enableTurn must be boolean'));
+    if ('enableRedis' in data && typeof data.enableRedis !== 'boolean') return next(new HttpError(400, 'enableRedis must be boolean'));
 
     if ('cpuQuota' in data && data.cpuQuota !== 'number') return next(new HttpError(400, 'cpuQuota is not a number'));
     if ('operators' in req.body && typeof req.body.operators !== 'object') return next(new HttpError(400, 'operators must be an object'));