Memcached

Free & open source, high-performance, distributed memory object caching system

Also known as
memcached

What is Memcached?

An in-memory key-value store for caching small chunks of arbitrary data from database calls, API calls, or page rendering, designed to speed up dynamic web applications by alleviating database load.

Independently observed

Memcached pricing

We don't have Memcached's full plan breakdown yet (its pricing page resisted automated reading). Here's what we could confirm. Always check live pricing for exact numbers.

Pricing as of verify at live pricing ↗Independently observed
Open sourceFree tier

Free & open source

What Memcached does

The capabilities that matter for key-value stores, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.

Storage
Storage tier
In-memory
Persistence
None (pure cache)
Data structures
KV-only
Protocol
Wire protocol
Memcached
Distribution
Clustering
Sharded
Consistency
-
Ops
Eviction / TTL policies
-
Multi-threaded
-
Pub/Sub / streams
-
Transactions / atomic ops
-
Deployment
Deployment
Self-hosted
Licensing
Licence class
Source-available
Compatibility
Redis API compatibility
None
Independently observed

Platform & deployment

Independently observed
Deployment
  • Self-hosted

Memcached alternatives

Other key-value stores we track, ranked by the same independent score.

Independent · unbought · dated

The Vioscale score: one lens on the evidence

Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for Memcached, not the verdict.

Balanced composite 69 / 100
low · 11%
Signal contributions to the composite score
SignalScoreWeightContributionEvidence
Github Activity5320.001058.6
Pricing Transparency808.00640.0
Price Level1006.00600.0
Github Stars787.00548.5
Reliability010.000.0-
Capabilities017.000.0-
Integrations08.000.0-
Release Cadence012.000.0-
Security Posture018.000.0-
Package Downloads06.000.0-
Stackoverflow Activity020.000.0-

Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.

All data & sourcesshow ↓

Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.

Activity

AttributeValueEvidence
Commits last 30d47mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 65%

Adoption

AttributeValueEvidence
Github stars14,242highsource · 2026-08-01 · 90%

Features

AttributeValueEvidence
Capabilities{"clustering":"sharded","deployment":"self_hosted","persistence":"none","storage_tier":"in_memory","licence_class":"source_available","wire_protocol":"memcached","data_structures":"kv_only","redis_api_compat":"none"}mediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60%

Language

AttributeValueEvidence
PrimaryChighsource · 2026-08-01 · 90%

License

AttributeValueEvidence
SpdxBSD-3-Clausehighsource · 2026-08-01 · 95%

Pricing

AttributeValueEvidence
Price levelfreemediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60%
TransparentYesmediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60%
Free tierYesmediumsource · 2026-08-01 · 60%
Modelcommerciallowsource · 2026-08-01 · 40%