# Hazelcast vs Memcached

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Hazelcast

| Attribute | Hazelcast | Memcached |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 60.7 (56% (medium)) | 39.7 (36% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 80 | 0 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 10,433 | 347 |
| adoption.github_stars | 6,620 | 14,294 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 3,112 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Hazelcast is a distributed data platform that provides real-time processing and continuous intelligence capabilities. It supports clustering and integrates with various frameworks and clients. It is indexed under Key-Value Stores.","source":"https://hazelcast.com","question":"What is Hazelcast?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Hazelcast supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://hazelcast.com","question":"What platforms does Hazelcast support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Hazelcast can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://hazelcast.com","question":"Can Hazelcast be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for Hazelcast. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Hazelcast not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://hazelcast.com/blog/health-information-privacy/","question":"What security certifications does Hazelcast have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. Hazelcast is published under the Apache-2.0 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://www.npmjs.com/package/hazelcast-client","question":"Is Hazelcast open source?","confidence":0.85}]` | `[{"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,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A distributed, in-memory computing platform that combines caching, stream processing, and data integration to enable real-time applications with low-latency data access and instant decision-making. | 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":"replicated","deployment":"self_hosted","autoscaling":true,"consistency":"strong","open_source":true,"persistence":"durable","eviction_ttl":true,"storage_tier":"in_memory","latency_class":"sub-second","pricing_model":"open-source-self-host","streaming_sql":true,"wire_protocol":"custom","pubsub_streams":true,"data_structures":"kv_only","deployment_model":"self-hosted","delivery_guarantee":"exactly-once","stateful_processing":true}` | `{"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 | 6 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Spring Integration"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"Kafka","native":true},{"name":"Hadoop","native":true},{"name":"S3","native":true},{"name":"RDBMS","native":true},{"name":"JMS","native":true},{"name":"Oracle Database","native":true,"category":"database","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Microsoft SQL Server","native":true,"category":"database","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"JDBC","native":true,"category":"database","direction":"bidirectional"}]` | - |
| language.primary | Java | C |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"quote","sourceUrl":"https://hazelcast.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T21:11:26.502Z"}` | `{"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 |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | unknown | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 15 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.7.0","date":"2026-05-13T10:46:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.6.0","date":"2025-10-15T14:47:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.5.0","date":"2024-07-26T17:03:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.8","date":"2024-07-17T14:13:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.4.0","date":"2024-04-15T17:55:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.7","date":"2024-04-03T10:23:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.2.5","date":"2024-02-26T14:47:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.2.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.6","date":"2023-11-09T14:00:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.5","date":"2023-10-24T14:59:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.2","date":"2023-08-21T15:41:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.0.5","date":"2023-06-28T13:47:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.1.7","date":"2023-06-19T14:02:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.2.4","date":"2023-06-13T12:40:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.1","date":"2023-06-09T09:24:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v4.2.8","date":"2023-05-29T09:56:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.0","date":"2023-05-19T06:32:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.1.6","date":"2023-05-10T10:55:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.0-BETA-2","date":"2023-04-12T10:58:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.0-BETA-2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.2.3","date":"2023-03-23T13:28:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/hazelcast/hazelcast/releases/tag/v5.3.0-BETA-1","date":"2023-03-17T06:49:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.0-BETA-1"}]` | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 4.2 | 4.5 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":10,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=com.hazelcast%3Ahazelcast&per_page=100","last_12m":2,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` | `{"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 | Hazelcast | Memcached |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Storage tier | In-memory | In-memory |
| Persistence | Fully durable | None (pure cache) |
| Data structures | KV-only | KV-only |
| **Protocol** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | Custom | Memcached |
| **Distribution** |  |  |
| Clustering | Replicated | Sharded |
| Consistency | Strong | Strong |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Eviction / TTL policies | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-threaded | - | ✓ |
| Pub/Sub / streams | ✓ | ✗ |
| Transactions / atomic ops | - | None |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | - | Permissive OSS |
| **Compatibility** |  |  |
| Redis API compatibility | - | None |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:03:36.766Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*
