Welcome to the world of key-value databases, where speed is king and drama is... well, unexpectedly common. Redis, an old-school, single-threaded key-value store, has long been the go-to for developers needing quick data access. But after the recent drama (and lets be real, we developers love fancy new tools), you might be looking for some alternatives! Here are 4 + 1 that you might want to check out :)
KeyDB
KeyDB is an open-source, multi-threaded fork of Redis, designed to be fully compatible with Redis APIs. Launched in 2019, it's written in C++ (people still use C++?) and aims to improve performance on multi-core systems. KeyDB offers both self-hosted and cloud-hosted options, gaining popularity among developers seeking Redis-like functionality with better scalability.
Valkey
Valkey is a recent open-source fork of Redis version 7.2.4, released in late 2024. It's compatible with Redis protocols and offers better I/O multithreading and experimental RDMA support. Valkey is still relatively new and untested compared to Redis, but it's gaining attention for its potential performance improvements in specialized environments. Also being Redis without actually being Redis is also a bonus :)
Memory
OKAY OKAY put your pitchforks away, I know memory is not a key-value database! BUT as always I want to make the point that sometimes a simple in-memory hashmap is really all you need. If you have a basic setup (monolith, single writer, reader) and don't need persistance, why overcomplicate your infra? Well, let's continue with actual key-value stores :D
Dragonfly
Dragonfly is a free, open-source alternative to Redis, designed to take full advantage of modern cloud hardware. Launched recently, it claims to offer significantly higher throughput and lower snapshotting latency compared to Redis. Dragonfly is gaining traction for its potential cost savings and improved performance, particularly for large-scale applications.
Memcached
Memcached is one of the oldest and most well-established Redis alternatives, having been around since 2003 (it can already drink in the US and have a drivers license). It's an open-source, high-performance, distributed memory caching system written in C. Memcached is widely used and supported, focusing primarily on simple key-value caching without the additional features of Redis. If you want something battle-tested, look no further!
Conclusion
So, whether you're sticking with Redis, exploring its new offspring, or going back to the tried-and-true Memcached, remember: it doesnt really matter anyway. Pick whatever you like :D
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Cheers,
Jonas
Top comments (4)
I would like to add Garnet is an interesting project by Microsoft that serves as a Redis alternative with a focus on in-memory data storage and processing.
microsoft.github.io/garnet/
Interesting! Havent heard of them before
Nice list, you should also checkout DiceDB
Nice! Didnt know about them