# etcd vs Memcached

**Leader by Vioscale score:** etcd

| Attribute | etcd | Memcached |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 63.7 (44% (low)) | 54.2 (37% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 96 | 47 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 39,452 | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | 52,178 | 14,259 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | etcd is a strongly consistent, distributed key-value store that provides a reliable way to store data that needs to be accessed by a distributed system or cluster of machines. It gracefully handles leader elections during network partitions and can tolerate machine failure. | 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":"consensus","deployment":"self_hosted","consistency":"strong","persistence":"append_log","eviction_ttl":true,"storage_tier":"persistent","licence_class":"permissive","wire_protocol":"grpc","pubsub_streams":true,"data_structures":"rich_types","redis_api_compat":"none"}` | `{"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 | 80 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Vitess"},{"name":"fleet"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"Puppet"},{"name":"confd"},{"name":"AWS ECS"},{"name":"SkyDNS"},{"name":"discodns"},{"name":"Hiera"},{"name":"Chef"},{"name":"BOSH"},{"name":"etcdctl"},{"name":"etcd-backup"},{"name":"etcd-dump"},{"name":"etcd-fs"},{"name":"etcd-browser"},{"name":"etcd-console"},{"name":"etcd-viewer"},{"name":"etcdtool"},{"name":"etcd-rest"},{"name":"etcdsh"},{"name":"etcdloadtest"},{"name":"etcd-workbench"},{"name":"Apache Celix"},{"name":"ZeroMQ"},{"name":"CoreOS"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"GPG"}]` | - |
| language.primary | Go | C |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://etcd.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T16:38:34.813Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source and free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://memcached.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T16:43:06.339Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | no | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.7.1","date":"2026-07-23T19:37:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.6.14","date":"2026-07-23T19:29:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.5.33","date":"2026-07-23T19:12:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.5.33"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.7.0","date":"2026-07-08T18:26:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.6.13","date":"2026-07-01T20:43:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.5.32","date":"2026-07-01T20:32:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.5.32"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.7.0-rc.0","date":"2026-06-01T21:27:32Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.7.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.6.12","date":"2026-06-01T20:59:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.5.31","date":"2026-06-01T20:46:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.5.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.4.45","date":"2026-06-01T20:35:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.4.45"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.7.0-beta.0","date":"2026-05-19T20:02:08Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.7.0-beta.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.6.11","date":"2026-05-01T18:55:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.5.30","date":"2026-05-01T18:46:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.5.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.4.44","date":"2026-05-01T18:38:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.4.44"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.6.10","date":"2026-04-01T18:34:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.5.29","date":"2026-04-01T18:29:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.5.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.4.43","date":"2026-04-01T18:23:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.4.43"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.6.9","date":"2026-03-20T18:08:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.5.28","date":"2026-03-20T17:41:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.5.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/releases/tag/v3.4.42","date":"2026-03-20T17:04:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.4.42"}]` | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 6.7 | 4.5 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":8,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=go.etcd.io%2Fetcd&per_page=100","last_12m":3,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` | `{"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 | etcd | Memcached |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Storage tier | Persistent | In-memory |
| Persistence | Append-only log | None (pure cache) |
| Data structures | Rich types | KV-only |
| **Protocol** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | gRPC | Memcached |
| **Distribution** |  |  |
| Clustering | Consensus (Raft) | 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 | Permissive OSS |
| **Compatibility** |  |  |
| Redis API compatibility | None | None |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:19:44.189Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*