diff --git a/src/defrag.c b/src/defrag.c
index ff63cf8fd..af403398a 100644
--- a/src/defrag.c
+++ b/src/defrag.c
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
 #include "server.h"
 #include "cluster.h"
 #include <time.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_DEFRAG
diff --git a/src/memtest.c b/src/memtest.c
index 1ca4b82cf..ee1ba92f1 100644
--- a/src/memtest.c
+++ b/src/memtest.c
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <limits.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <termios.h>
@@ -39,6 +38,7 @@
 #include <stropts.h>
 #endif
 #include "config.h"
+#include "redisassert.h"
 
 #if (ULONG_MAX == 4294967295UL)
 #define MEMTEST_32BIT
diff --git a/src/monotonic.c b/src/monotonic.c
index 1d71962f3..6da03677b 100644
--- a/src/monotonic.c
+++ b/src/monotonic.c
@@ -3,10 +3,7 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <time.h>
-
-#undef NDEBUG
-#include <assert.h>
-
+#include "redisassert.h"
 
 /* The function pointer for clock retrieval.  */
 monotime (*getMonotonicUs)(void) = NULL;
diff --git a/src/rax.c b/src/rax.c
index 287f9855d..304b26fe8 100644
--- a/src/rax.c
+++ b/src/rax.c
@@ -32,11 +32,11 @@
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <math.h>
 #include "rax.h"
+#include "redisassert.h"
 
 #ifndef RAX_MALLOC_INCLUDE
 #define RAX_MALLOC_INCLUDE "rax_malloc.h"
diff --git a/src/sds.c b/src/sds.c
index e383e3caa..f5383f90e 100644
--- a/src/sds.c
+++ b/src/sds.c
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <limits.h>
+#include "redisassert.h"
 #include "sds.h"
 #include "sdsalloc.h"
 #include "util.h"
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index ae9004a8c..b164b8cbb 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@
 #include <signal.h>
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 #include <errno.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <arpa/inet.h>
diff --git a/src/server.h b/src/server.h
index ac324eb6c..27803573a 100644
--- a/src/server.h
+++ b/src/server.h
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 #include "atomicvar.h"
 #include "commands.h"
 
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
@@ -669,8 +668,8 @@ typedef enum {
 #define run_with_period(_ms_) if (((_ms_) <= 1000/server.hz) || !(server.cronloops%((_ms_)/(1000/server.hz))))
 
 /* We can print the stacktrace, so our assert is defined this way: */
-#define serverAssertWithInfo(_c,_o,_e) ((_e)?(void)0 : (_serverAssertWithInfo(_c,_o,#_e,__FILE__,__LINE__),redis_unreachable()))
-#define serverAssert(_e) ((_e)?(void)0 : (_serverAssert(#_e,__FILE__,__LINE__),redis_unreachable()))
+#define serverAssertWithInfo(_c,_o,_e) (likely(_e)?(void)0 : (_serverAssertWithInfo(_c,_o,#_e,__FILE__,__LINE__),redis_unreachable()))
+#define serverAssert(_e) (likely(_e)?(void)0 : (_serverAssert(#_e,__FILE__,__LINE__),redis_unreachable()))
 #define serverPanic(...) _serverPanic(__FILE__,__LINE__,__VA_ARGS__),redis_unreachable()
 
 /* latency histogram per command init settings */
diff --git a/src/siphash.c b/src/siphash.c
index 2713d89ee..a62d5c061 100644
--- a/src/siphash.c
+++ b/src/siphash.c
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
       the function in the new form (returning an uint64_t) using just the
       relevant test vector.
  */
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
diff --git a/src/zmalloc.c b/src/zmalloc.c
index 3241a70fb..343d730a2 100644
--- a/src/zmalloc.c
+++ b/src/zmalloc.c
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 
 #ifdef __linux__
 #include <sys/mman.h>