# DragonflyDB vs Memcached

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** DragonflyDB

| Attribute | DragonflyDB | Memcached |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 56.7 (67% (medium)) | 39.7 (36% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 0 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 0 | 347 |
| adoption.github_stars | 31,781 | 14,294 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"An in-memory data store delivering significantly higher throughput and memory efficiency than Redis through multi-threaded architecture, enabling cost-effective scaling with fewer infrastructure resources. It is indexed under Key-Value Stores.","source":"https://www.dragonflydb.io/guides/redis-on-azure-service-options-pricing-pros-and-cons","question":"What is DragonflyDB?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"DragonflyDB offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $8 per GB per month. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.dragonflydb.io","question":"Is DragonflyDB free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"DragonflyDB supports the web, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.dragonflydb.io/guides/redis-on-azure-service-options-pricing-pros-and-cons","question":"What platforms does DragonflyDB support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. DragonflyDB can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.dragonflydb.io/guides/redis-on-azure-service-options-pricing-pros-and-cons","question":"Can DragonflyDB be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 6 integrations for DragonflyDB, including GCP Marketplace, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Feast, Airbyte and PostgreSQL. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.dragonflydb.io/guides/redis-on-azure-service-options-pricing-pros-and-cons","question":"What does DragonflyDB integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and GDPR for DragonflyDB. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as DragonflyDB not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://trust.dragonflydb.io","question":"What security certifications does DragonflyDB have?","confidence":0.7}]` | `[{"answer":"A free, in-memory key-value cache designed to reduce database load and improve application performance by storing temporary copies of frequently accessed data from databases, APIs, or rendered pages. It distributes cache across multiple servers in a cluster, with each piece of data stored in a single consistent location for reliable retrieval. It is indexed under Key-Value Stores.","source":"https://memcached.org","question":"What is Memcached?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Memcached is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://memcached.org","question":"Is Memcached free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Memcached supports macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://memcached.org","question":"What platforms does Memcached support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Memcached can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://memcached.org","question":"Can Memcached be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Memcached is published under the BSD-3-Clause licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/memcached/memcached","question":"Is Memcached open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A Redis-compatible in-memory database that uses multi-threaded processing to achieve significantly higher performance and lower operating costs compared to traditional alternatives, supporting pub/sub, streams, and advanced data structures. | Infrastructure software that enables companies to build high-performance applications by storing frequently accessed data in memory to reduce database load and latency. |
| features.capabilities | `{"clustering":"sharded","deployment":"self_hosted","consistency":"strong","persistence":"snapshot","eviction_ttl":true,"storage_tier":"in_memory","transactions":"multi_exec","licence_class":"source_available","wire_protocol":"resp","multi_threaded":true,"pubsub_streams":true,"data_structures":"rich_types","redis_api_compat":"full"}` | `{"clustering":"sharded","deployment":"self_hosted","consistency":"strong","persistence":"none","eviction_ttl":true,"storage_tier":"in_memory","transactions":"none","licence_class":"permissive","wire_protocol":"memcached","multi_threaded":true,"pubsub_streams":false,"data_structures":"kv_only","redis_api_compat":"none"}` |
| integrations.count | 5 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"GCP Marketplace"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Google Cloud Platform"},{"name":"Feast"},{"name":"Airbyte"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"AWS Marketplace","native":true,"direction":"inbound"},{"name":"S3","native":true,"direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Grafana","native":false,"category":"monitoring","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Prometheus","native":true,"category":"monitoring","direction":"outbound"}]` | - |
| language.primary | C++ | C |
| license.spdx | - | BSD-3-Clause |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Flex","summary":"$8/GB/month, starting at $36/month","features":["Fully-managed on AWS, GCP, or Azure","One-click provisioning","Horizontal + vertical scaling","Monitoring dashboard","Dragonfly team support"],"components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"GB","amount":8,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Fully-managed Dragonfly service for teams that prefer a simple, self-serve solution","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Business","summary":"Starting at $2,000/month","features":["Bring your own cloud","Auto-scaling","SSO & MFA","Custom SLA","Dedicated support"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":2000,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Fully-managed Dragonfly service for teams that require advanced security, compliance, and support","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Contact for pricing","features":["Run anywhere","Custom instance types","White-glove migrations and tuning","Advanced security & compliance","Enterprise SLA & premium support"],"description":"Fully-managed Dragonfly service for large organizations that require air-gapped infrastructure and white-glove support","contactSales":true}],"summary":"From $8/GB/month (Flex), $2,000+/month (Business). Free trial with $100 credits.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.dragonflydb.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-01T15:16:24.351Z","startingPrice":{"amount":8,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source and free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://memcached.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T16:43:06.339Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 21 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v2.0.2","date":"2026-10-07T21:47:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v2.0.0","date":"2026-09-16T10:29:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.40.2","date":"2026-09-03T08:58:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.40.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.40.1","date":"2026-08-06T06:54:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.40.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.40.0","date":"2026-08-04T04:46:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.40.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.39.0","date":"2026-06-09T10:38:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.38.1","date":"2026-04-28T08:01:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.38.0","date":"2026-04-14T07:04:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.37.2","date":"2026-03-26T07:49:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.37.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.37.0","date":"2026-02-23T10:50:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.37.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.36.0","date":"2026-01-07T11:23:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.36.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.35.1","date":"2025-11-25T16:20:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.35.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.34.2","date":"2025-10-14T16:04:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.34.1","date":"2025-09-18T19:50:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.34.0","date":"2025-09-17T23:33:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.34.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.33.1","date":"2025-08-21T10:21:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.33.0","date":"2025-08-19T07:10:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.33.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.32.0","date":"2025-08-04T03:27:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.32.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.31.2","date":"2025-07-16T06:16:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.31.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly/releases/tag/v1.31.1","date":"2025-07-14T12:57:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.31.1"}]` | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 5.3 | 4.5 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=helm&package_name=softonic%2Fdragonfly&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=homebrew&package_name=memcached&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Key-Value Stores)

| Capability | DragonflyDB | Memcached |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Storage tier | In-memory | In-memory |
| Persistence | Snapshot (RDB) | None (pure cache) |
| Data structures | Rich types | KV-only |
| **Protocol** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | RESP (Redis) | Memcached |
| **Distribution** |  |  |
| Clustering | Sharded | Sharded |
| Consistency | Strong | Strong |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Eviction / TTL policies | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-threaded | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pub/Sub / streams | ✓ | ✗ |
| Transactions / atomic ops | MULTI-EXEC | None |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | Source-available | Permissive OSS |
| **Compatibility** |  |  |
| Redis API compatibility | Full | None |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:03:44.893Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*