Valkey vs Redis: Where the Fork and Redis 8.0 Diverge

Redis's license changed twice in fourteen months, and the answer to "is Redis open source" depends on the version.

Redis Ltd. announced the first change on 20 March 2024; its own licensing page notes that SSPLv1 is not an open source license. Valkey followed on 28 March 2024, continuing from Redis 7.2.4 under BSD. On 1 May 2025 Redis Ltd. added AGPLv3 starting with Redis 8 and folded the former Redis Stack modules into the core server under the same three licenses.

For teams running Redis internally as a cache or data store, none of the three licenses changes day-to-day use. They matter if you modify the server and offer it over a network, which AGPLv3's network clause covers, or sell Redis as a service. Ask legal once. Support dates by version are in Redis end of life.

Valkey. Valkey 8.0, generally available on 16 September 2024, reworked I/O threading so the main thread and I/O threads run concurrently. In the project's own test (8 I/O threads, 512-byte values, SET commands on an AWS c7g.16xlarge), throughput rose from 360K to 1.19M requests per second against Valkey 7.2 and average latency fell from 1.792 ms to 0.542 ms. Valkey 9.0 (21 October 2025) added atomic slot migration, hash field expiration and numbered databases in cluster mode. Valkey 9.1 (19 May 2026) cut per-key memory overhead by up to 44% for strings. Most of Valkey's performance work has gone into threading and memory efficiency.

Redis. Redis 8 brought eight data structures into the core server: vector set (beta), JSON, time series, and five probabilistic types (Bloom filter, cuckoo filter, count-min sketch, top-k and t-digest), alongside the Redis Query Engine. Redis Ltd. reports over 30 performance improvements, with up to 87% faster commands, up to 2x more operations per second and up to 18% faster replication.

Each figure is a vendor benchmark, not a head-to-head test, so measure with your own workload. The feature gap is easier to judge: if you use Redis Query Engine indexes, vector sets or Redis 8's JSON commands, check the Valkey module equivalents command by command.

AWS launched Amazon ElastiCache for Valkey (AWS ElastiCache) on 8 October 2024, priced 33% lower for Serverless and 20% lower for node-based clusters than its other engines, and Amazon MemoryDB for Valkey the same day at 30% below MemoryDB for Redis OSS. ElastiCache supports Valkey and Redis OSS side by side, and AWS says an existing Redis OSS cache can be upgraded to Valkey in a few clicks with zero downtime. Google Cloud runs Memorystore for Valkey, which made Valkey 9.1 generally available on 24 September 2026. Microsoft went the other way: Azure Managed Redis runs Redis Enterprise software, and Azure Cache for Redis is being retired.

On Valkey compatibility, the project's documentation states that it is compatible with Redis OSS 7.2 and all earlier open-source versions, so moving from any of those is effectively an upgrade. The details that matter in production:

• Protocol and clients. Valkey speaks RESP2 and RESP3, and existing Redis client libraries connect without code changes.
• Data files. Redis OSS 2.x to 7.2.x RDB and AOF files load into Valkey. Files written by Redis Community Edition 7.4 or later do not.
• Version checks. INFO reports redis_version:7.2.4 for backward compatibility; read valkey_version to confirm you are running Valkey.
• Lua and modules. Scripts using the redis namespace keep working, and modules written against the RedisModule_ API load in Valkey.
• Cut-over. A Valkey node can replicate from a Redis 7.2 primary with REPLICAOF, allowing a failover-style switch.

Whether to migrate at all, and what goes wrong when teams do, is covered in should I migrate from Redis to Valkey.

1. Are you on Redis 7.2 or earlier? Both Valkey and Redis 8 are straightforward upgrades; the choice is about license and feature set.
2. Do you depend on Redis Stack modules or need vector search in the core server? Redis 8 builds in what used to be separate Redis Stack modules. On Valkey, test the Valkey Bundle modules first.
3. Are you on Redis 7.4 or later? Your data files will not load into Valkey, so a move means replicating or exporting keys.
4. Is the cache managed on AWS or Google Cloud? Both offer Valkey engines, and on AWS they are priced below the alternatives.
5. Does legal review rule out AGPL or source-available terms? Valkey's BSD license is the simplest answer.

Redis 6.2 reaches end of life on 1 April 2027 and Redis 7.0 is already out of support. OSSeva, AceMQ's extended support platform, backports CVE fixes to Redis 6.2.x, 7.0.x and 7.2.x and to Valkey 7.2.x and Valkey 8.x, delivered as signed packages and images. Those Redis versions stay BSD licensed, so a patched build sidesteps the license question while the upgrade is planned. AceMQ's Redis support and Valkey support cover both under one contract.