Amazon ElastiCache
activeby Amazon Web Services · since 2011 · also known as ElastiCache, ElastiCache Serverless
AWS's managed Valkey, Redis OSS and Memcached service, provisioned or serverless.
Overview
ElastiCache is AWS's managed in-memory caching service, running Valkey, Redis OSS (up to 7.1) or Memcached on node-based clusters or as ElastiCache Serverless, which scales capacity automatically and bills per ECPU and GB-hour. Since 2024 AWS leads with Valkey and prices it below Redis OSS; Valkey 9.1 arrived in June 2026, and recent Valkey versions add full-text and vector search through valkey-search. Global Datastore provides cross-region read replicas with promotion for DR. It is the default cache for workloads already on AWS; for durable primary storage AWS points you at MemoryDB instead.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Fully managed patching, failover and backups inside your VPC
- +Serverless option removes capacity planning for spiky traffic
- +Valkey engine is cheaper than Redis OSS on the same nodes
- +IAM authentication, encryption at rest and in transit
- +Global Datastore for cross-region DR
Trade-offs
- −AWS-only and VPC-bound; awkward from outside AWS
- −Some admin commands are disabled or renamed
- −Serverless ECPU pricing can surprise at high request rates
- −Durability is still async-replication based (use MemoryDB for durability)
Great for
- +Database query caching for RDS and DynamoDB
- +Session storage for web apps on AWS
- +Leaderboards and real-time counters
- +Semantic caching for generative AI apps
Think twice for
- −Multi-cloud or on-prem deployments
- −Primary durable data storage
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 14 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Large · ≤ 1 PB
- Horizontal scaling
- Native
- Multi-region
- Read replicas
- Transactions
- Limited ACID
- Consistency
- Eventual
- Schema
- Schemaless
- Architecture
- In memory, Primary replica, Distributed, Serverless
- Query languages
- Redis commands (RESP), Memcached protocol, Lua
Cluster mode up to 500 shards; Global Datastore replicates to up to two secondary regions for reads and DR.
Deployment
available on · AWS
Ecosystem
Alternatives to Amazon ElastiCache
A durable, Valkey/Redis-compatible in-memory database on AWS backed by a multi-AZ transaction log.
amazon-elasticache vs amazon-memorydb →The Linux Foundation's BSD-licensed fork of Redis, now the default engine on AWS and Google Cloud.
amazon-elasticache vs valkey →The in-memory data structure server that became the default cache, now with search, JSON and vectors built in.
amazon-elasticache vs redis →Serverless, per-request-priced Redis with an HTTP API built for edge and serverless functions.
amazon-elasticache vs upstash →Google Cloud's managed in-memory family: Valkey, Redis, Redis Cluster and Memcached.
amazon-elasticache vs google-memorystore →Microsoft's managed Redis built on Redis Enterprise, replacing the retiring Azure Cache for Redis.
amazon-elasticache vs azure-cache-for-redis →Amazon ElastiCache FAQ
What is Amazon ElastiCache?
Amazon ElastiCache is a key-value database by Amazon Web Services, first released in 2011. ElastiCache is AWS's managed in-memory caching service, running Valkey, Redis OSS (up to 7.1) or Memcached on node-based clusters or as ElastiCache Serverless, which scales capacity automatically and bills per ECPU and GB-hour. Since 2024 AWS leads with Valkey and prices it below Redis OSS; Valkey 9.1 arrived in June 2026, and recent Valkey versions add full-text and vector search through valkey-search. Global Datastore provides cross-region read replicas with promotion for DR. It is the default cache for workloads already on AWS; for durable primary storage AWS points you at MemoryDB instead.
Is Amazon ElastiCache open source?
No. Amazon ElastiCache is proprietary, closed-source software. License: AWS service terms.
Does Amazon ElastiCache support ACID transactions?
Partly. Amazon ElastiCache offers limited ACID guarantees (for example, single-record or single-partition transactions), with eventual consistency.
Does Amazon ElastiCache scale horizontally?
Amazon ElastiCache scales horizontally out of the box, with built-in sharding or partitioning. It is comfortable at large scale (≤ 1 PB). It supports cross-region read replicas.
How can I run Amazon ElastiCache?
You can use the vendor's managed cloud and run it serverless. It is available on AWS.
What is Amazon ElastiCache best for?
Amazon ElastiCache is a strong fit for database query caching for RDS and DynamoDB; session storage for web apps on AWS; and leaderboards and real-time counters. Think twice for multi-cloud or on-prem deployments.
What are the best alternatives to Amazon ElastiCache?
Common alternatives to Amazon ElastiCache include Amazon MemoryDB, Valkey, Redis, Upstash and Google Cloud Memorystore. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
How popular is Amazon ElastiCache?
Amazon ElastiCache ranks #89 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (29.1/100), and #14 among key-value databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.