{"data":[{"slug":"redis","name":"Redis","tagline":"The in-memory data store everyone uses","category":"databases","url":"https://redis.io","github":"https://github.com/redis/redis","pricing":"open-source","hook":"Redis is the cache, queue, and session store you already need.","whatsGood":"Blazing fast for what it does. Data structures beyond simple key-value unlock powerful patterns. Pub/sub enables real-time features. The ecosystem is massive—every language has a client.","theCatch":"License: not MIT. Since Redis 8 the server is tri-licensed RSALv2 / SSPLv1 / AGPLv3 at your choice — AGPLv3 is the only OSI option and carries network copyleft; 7.4–7.x was RSALv2/SSPLv1 only. If you need BSD-3 Redis-protocol, look at Valkey. Memory-bound storage is expensive at scale. Persistence options have tradeoffs. Clustering adds complexity.","verdict":"The default choice for caching and session storage.","addedAt":"2026-08-19","featured":false,"domain":"Databases","subSpecialty":"Data","subcategory":"Key-Value & Cache","tags":["self-host","source-available","workflows","active"],"capabilities":[],"surfaces":["Self-host"],"ecosystem":["Multi-platform"],"licenseModel":"RSALv2/SSPLv1/AGPLv3","githubStars":77001,"starsPerWeek":84,"access":"free","archived":false,"repo":{"createdAt":"2009-03-21","pushedAt":"2026-10-19","license":"NOASSERTION","archived":false,"checkedAt":"2026-10-19"},"links":{"self":"/api/gems/redis","html":"/gems/redis","markdown":"/gems/redis.md"}},{"slug":"valkey","name":"Valkey","tagline":"BSD-3-Clause forever-OSS Redis-protocol KV after the license fork","category":"databases","url":"https://valkey.io","github":"https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey","pricing":"open-source","hook":"Valkey is the Redis-protocol store you pick when forever-OSS is the requirement, not a speed claim.","whatsGood":"BSD-3-Clause. Linux Foundation project after the Redis license change. Drop-in Redis protocol clients and data structures. Self-host is the free path.","theCatch":"Forever-OSS Redis-protocol fork lane, not Redis but faster. Valkey is the license/governance fork, not a performance twin. Don’t assume a managed free tier.","verdict":"BSD-3 forever-OSS Redis protocol. Fork lane, not a speed upgrade.","addedAt":"2026-09-04","featured":false,"domain":"Databases","subSpecialty":"Cache","subcategory":"Key-Value & Cache","tags":["self-host","permissive","active"],"capabilities":["redis-protocol","kv","self-host"],"surfaces":["Self-host"],"ecosystem":["Multi-platform"],"licenseModel":"BSD-3-Clause","githubStars":27459,"starsPerWeek":204,"access":"free","archived":false,"repo":{"createdAt":"2024-03-22","pushedAt":"2026-10-19","license":"BSD-3-Clause","archived":false,"checkedAt":"2026-10-19"},"links":{"self":"/api/gems/valkey","html":"/gems/valkey","markdown":"/gems/valkey.md"}},{"slug":"etcd","name":"etcd","tagline":"Apache-2.0 Raft key-value store underneath Kubernetes","category":"databases","url":"https://etcd.io","github":"https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd","pricing":"open-source","hook":"etcd is a distributed key-value store for the small pieces of data a distributed system cannot afford to lose or disagree about — configuration, service discovery, locks and leader election — and it is the datastore every Kubernetes cluster keeps its state in.","whatsGood":"Apache-2.0 (etcd-io/etcd), a graduated CNCF project, release v3.7.2, in development since 2013. It uses Raft to keep a replicated log consistent across nodes, exposes a gRPC API with watches, leases and transactions, and ships automatic TLS with optional client certificates. etcdctl is the command-line client, and the raft library is usable on its own in Go. ★~52.4k.","theCatch":"It is built for small, strongly consistent data, not as a message queue, cache or bulk store: values and total database size are meant to stay small, and every write goes through consensus. Production means running a cluster of three or five nodes on fast disks and handling backups, compaction and defragmentation yourself. For an app database, use Postgres; reach for etcd when you need coordination.","verdict":"The proven store for cluster coordination and config — keep it small and run it as a proper cluster.","addedAt":"2026-10-18","featured":false,"domain":"Databases","subSpecialty":"Key-Value","subcategory":"Key-Value & Cache","tags":["self-host","permissive","kubernetes","active"],"capabilities":["raft","consensus","kubernetes"],"surfaces":["Self-host"],"ecosystem":["Go"],"licenseModel":"Apache-2.0","githubStars":52398,"starsPerWeek":76,"access":"free","archived":false,"repo":{"createdAt":"2013-07-06","pushedAt":"2026-10-18","license":"Apache-2.0","archived":false,"checkedAt":"2026-10-19"},"links":{"self":"/api/gems/etcd","html":"/gems/etcd","markdown":"/gems/etcd.md"}},{"slug":"garnet","name":"Garnet","tagline":"MIT Redis-protocol cache-store from Microsoft Research","category":"databases","url":"https://microsoft.github.io/garnet","github":"https://github.com/microsoft/garnet","pricing":"open-source","hook":"Garnet is a remote cache-store from Microsoft Research that speaks the Redis RESP protocol, so unmodified Redis clients in most languages can talk to it, with a .NET server built for high throughput and low tail latency.","whatsGood":"MIT (microsoft/garnet), release v2.2.3 (2026-10-16), runs on Linux and Windows. It covers strings, key expiry, HyperLogLog, bitmaps, sorted sets, lists, hashes and geo, plus Lua scripts, RESP transactions, server-side stored procedures and custom commands in C#. Its Tsavorite storage layer supports tiered storage (memory, SSD, cloud), checkpointing and recovery, and cluster mode adds sharding, replication and key migration. Vector sets backed by DiskANN are in preview. ★~12.1k.","theCatch":"RESP compatibility is not full Redis: check your exact commands and modules against Garnet's API docs before swapping it in. Custom extensions are written in C#/.NET, so this fits best in a .NET team. The headline latency numbers come from the project's own benchmarks on Azure VMs. The managed Azure Cosmos DB Garnet Cache is a separate paid service; the OSS server is free.","verdict":"A serious MIT alternative to Redis when throughput per box matters — test your command set first.","addedAt":"2026-10-18","featured":false,"domain":"Databases","subSpecialty":"Data","subcategory":"Key-Value & Cache","tags":["self-host","permissive","active"],"capabilities":[],"surfaces":["Self-host"],"ecosystem":["Multi-platform"],"licenseModel":"OSS/MIT","githubStars":12054,"starsPerWeek":73,"access":"free","archived":false,"repo":{"createdAt":"2023-08-21","pushedAt":"2026-10-19","license":"MIT","archived":false,"checkedAt":"2026-10-19"},"links":{"self":"/api/gems/garnet","html":"/gems/garnet","markdown":"/gems/garnet.md"}},{"slug":"upstash","name":"Upstash","tagline":"Serverless Redis and Kafka","category":"databases","url":"https://upstash.com","github":null,"pricing":"freemium","hook":"Upstash is Redis that scales to zero and bills per request.","whatsGood":"HTTP-based access works from serverless functions without connection management. Pay-per-request pricing makes small projects cheap. Global replication reduces latency. QStash adds serverless-friendly job queues.","theCatch":"HTTP adds latency compared to native Redis protocol. High-throughput workloads get expensive. Some Redis features are not available.","verdict":"Redis that fits the serverless model perfectly.","addedAt":"2026-08-19","featured":false,"domain":"Databases","subSpecialty":"Data","subcategory":"Key-Value & Cache","tags":["free-tier"],"capabilities":[],"surfaces":["Hosted"],"ecosystem":["Multi-platform"],"licenseModel":"Freemium","githubStars":null,"starsPerWeek":null,"access":"free-tier","archived":false,"repo":null,"links":{"self":"/api/gems/upstash","html":"/gems/upstash","markdown":"/gems/upstash.md"}}],"meta":{"total":5,"count":5,"offset":0,"limit":null,"sort":"curated","sorts":["curated","catalog","new","stars","trending","name"],"filters":{"subcategory":"key-value-and-cache"},"next":null,"categories":["agents","nextjs","python","shopify","databases","devops","design","observability","rust","payments","comms","notifications","libraries"],"tags":["mcp","cli","tui","api","sdk","desktop-app","web-ui","editor-plugin","self-host","local-first","free-tier","paid-only","paid-led","permissive","copyleft","source-available","license-unclear","coding-agents","local-llm","rag","memory","evals","browser-automation","scraping","sandbox","skills","voice","security","auth","payments","realtime","postgres","vector","kubernetes","containers","observability","testing","workflows","graphics-3d","git","active","stale","archived","young-repo","fast-stars"]}}