# Amazon ElastiCache vs Memcached

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Amazon ElastiCache

| Attribute | Amazon ElastiCache | Memcached |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 63.1 (61% (medium)) | 54.2 (37% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 47 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 14,259 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An AWS-hosted caching platform that provides ultra-low latency access to frequently used data with support for Valkey, Memcached, and Redis-compatible APIs. It automatically manages infrastructure, scales elastically to handle billions of requests per second, and eliminates downtime during maintenance. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"clustering":"replicated","deployment":"managed","consistency":"eventual","persistence":"snapshot","eviction_ttl":true,"storage_tier":"in_memory","licence_class":"source_available","wire_protocol":"resp","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"}` |
| language.primary | - | C |
| license.spdx | - | BSD-3-Clause |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Serverless","summary":"From $6/month for Valkey; pay for data stored and compute used","features":["Zero infrastructure management","Zero downtime maintenance","Automatic scaling","Multiple service tiers (Standard, Flex, Priority, Reserved)"],"description":"Pay-for-use model with automatic scaling","contactSales":false}],"summary":"From $6/month (Valkey). Usage-based pricing; free tier available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/pricing/?nc2=h_pr_br","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T21:36:45.380Z","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 | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 4.5 |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=helm&package_name=cloudpirates-memcached%2Fmemcached&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Key-Value Stores)

| Capability | Amazon ElastiCache | 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 | Replicated | Sharded |
| Consistency | Eventual | Strong |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Eviction / TTL policies | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-threaded | - | ✓ |
| Pub/Sub / streams | ✓ | ✗ |
| Transactions / atomic ops | - | None |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Managed | Self-hosted |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | Source-available | Permissive OSS |
| **Compatibility** |  |  |
| Redis API compatibility | Full | None |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:04:48.461Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*