Comparison

Memcached vs RocksDB

On the evidence we track, RocksDB leads this comparison with a composite score of 61/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
Memcached54
RocksDB61
Score
Vioscale score
Memcached54 / 100low · 37%
RocksDB61 / 100low · 48%
Pricing
Free tier
Memcached
RocksDB
Model
Memcachedcommercial
Price level
Memcachedfree
RocksDBfree
Transparent
Memcached
RocksDB
Reliability
Status page
Memcached
RocksDB
Adoption
Dependent repos
Memcached0
RocksDB2,684
Github stars
Memcached14,259
RocksDB32,011
Package downloads weekly
Memcached
RocksDB1,832
Activity
Commits last 30d
Memcached47
RocksDB72
Release
Cadence days
Memcached
RocksDB21
History
Memcached
RocksDB20 items
License
Spdx
MemcachedBSD-3-Clause
RocksDBGPL-2.0
Language
Primary
MemcachedC
RocksDBC++

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for key-value stores. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Storage
Storage tier
MemcachedIn-memory
RocksDBPersistent
Persistence
MemcachedNone (pure cache)
RocksDBAppend-only log
Data structures
MemcachedKV-only
RocksDBKV-only
Protocol
Wire protocol
MemcachedMemcached
RocksDB-
Distribution
Clustering
MemcachedSharded
RocksDBSingle-node
Consistency
MemcachedStrong
RocksDBStrong
Ops
Eviction / TTL policies
Memcached
RocksDB-
Multi-threaded
Memcached
RocksDB
Pub/Sub / streams
Memcached
RocksDB-
Transactions / atomic ops
MemcachedNone
RocksDB-
Deployment
Deployment
MemcachedSelf-hosted
RocksDBEmbedded
Licensing
Licence class
MemcachedPermissive OSS
RocksDBCopyleft
Compatibility
Redis API compatibility
MemcachedNone
RocksDB-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Memcached

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.

Independently observed

RocksDB

Leader

An embeddable C++ database library optimized for high-performance storage and retrieval on flash drives and RAM, supporting workloads from application caching to multi-terabyte data storage with configurable write and read performance tradeoffs.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Memcached

Open sourceFree tier

Open source and free

as of verify ↗

RocksDB

Leader
Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
macOS
Memcached
RocksDB
Linux
Memcached
RocksDB
CLI
Memcached
RocksDB
Deployment
Self-hosted
Memcached
RocksDB

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.