# Memcached vs Valkey

| Attribute | Memcached | Valkey |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 54.2 (37% (low)) | 56.2 (43% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 47 | 91 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 0 | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | 14,259 | 26,989 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | A Linux Foundation-backed open-source database server for storing and managing key-value data. Supports multiple data types and deployment modes ranging from single-node setups to distributed clusters, serving caching, message queue, and primary database use cases. |
| features.capabilities | `{"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"}` | `{"clustering":"sharded","deployment":"self_hosted","persistence":"snapshot","eviction_ttl":true,"storage_tier":"persistent","licence_class":"permissive","multi_threaded":true,"pubsub_streams":true,"data_structures":"rich_types","redis_api_compat":"full"}` |
| integrations.count | - | 1 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Harbor"}]` |
| language.primary | C | C |
| license.spdx | BSD-3-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source and free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://memcached.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T16:43:06.339Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://valkey.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T21:34:40.624Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.1.1","date":"2026-07-21T23:41:58Z","type":"stable","version":"9.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.0.5","date":"2026-07-21T23:40:40Z","type":"stable","version":"9.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/8.1.9","date":"2026-07-21T23:38:25Z","type":"stable","version":"8.1.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/8.0.10","date":"2026-07-21T23:37:16Z","type":"stable","version":"8.0.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/7.2.14","date":"2026-07-21T21:35:40Z","type":"stable","version":"7.2.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/8.1.8","date":"2026-06-02T18:12:16Z","type":"stable","version":"8.1.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.1.0","date":"2026-05-19T15:05:52Z","type":"stable","version":"9.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.0.4","date":"2026-05-06T04:00:07Z","type":"stable","version":"9.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/8.1.7","date":"2026-05-06T04:00:12Z","type":"stable","version":"8.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/8.0.9","date":"2026-05-06T16:19:13Z","type":"stable","version":"8.0.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/7.2.13","date":"2026-05-06T04:00:21Z","type":"stable","version":"7.2.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/8.0.8","date":"2026-05-06T04:00:15Z","type":"stable","version":"8.0.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.1.0-rc2","date":"2026-04-28T17:33:18Z","type":"prerelease","version":"9.1.0-rc2"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.1.0-rc1","date":"2026-03-16T23:42:03Z","type":"prerelease","version":"9.1.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.0.3","date":"2026-02-24T04:06:53Z","type":"stable","version":"9.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/8.1.6","date":"2026-02-24T04:00:30Z","type":"stable","version":"8.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/8.0.7","date":"2026-02-24T03:54:23Z","type":"stable","version":"8.0.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/7.2.12","date":"2026-02-24T02:03:12Z","type":"stable","version":"7.2.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.0.2","date":"2026-02-03T12:53:37Z","type":"stable","version":"9.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey/releases/tag/9.0.1","date":"2025-12-09T18:13:25Z","type":"stable","version":"9.0.1"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 4.5 | 6.2 |
| 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}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fvalkey-io%2Fvalkey&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Key-Value Stores)

| Capability | Memcached | Valkey |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Storage tier | In-memory | Persistent |
| Persistence | None (pure cache) | Snapshot (RDB) |
| Data structures | KV-only | Rich types |
| **Protocol** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | Memcached | - |
| **Distribution** |  |  |
| Clustering | Sharded | Sharded |
| Consistency | 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 | Full |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T14:39:40.859Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*