Tile38 vs Valkey

Tile38: In-memory geospatial database and geofencing server that speaks the Redis protocol and HTTP. Valkey: The Linux Foundation's BSD-licensed fork of Redis, now the default engine on AWS and Google Cloud.

key differences

Tile38 is primarily a spatial database; Valkey is key-value.
Horizontal scaling is manual in Tile38 and native in Valkey.
Transactions: Tile38 offers none ACID; Valkey offers limited.
Only Tile38 has json.
Only Valkey has transactions, stored procedures, role-based access, streaming ingest.

choose tile38 for

+Fleet, courier and ride-hailing vehicle tracking
+Geofence alerts for IoT devices
+Location-based notifications in mobile apps
+Real-time nearby search for moving objects

best at · Geo, Real-time analytics, IoT

choose valkey for

+Replacing Redis OSS without license concerns
+Application caching and session storage
+Rate limiting, counters and leaderboards
+Pub/sub fan-out and Streams-based queues

best at · Cache, Sessions, Queue

Tile38In-memory geospatial database and geofencing server that speaks the Redis protocol and HTTP.

ValkeyThe Linux Foundation's BSD-licensed fork of Redis, now the default engine on AWS and Google Cloud.

overview

Primary model

Spatial

Key-Value

Also supports

Key-Value

–

Type

Database engine

Status

Active

Developer

Josh Baker (tidwall)

Valkey project (Linux Foundation)

First release

2016

2024

Latest version

1.38.0 (Jun 9, 2026)

9.1.3 (Oct 26, 2026)

License

Open source (permissive)MIT License

Open source (permissive)BSD 3-Clause

Free tier

✓

popularity

WhichDB Score

10.0

58.0

Rank

#305

#16

GitHub stars

9.8K

27.5K

Stack Overflow questions

–

scale & guarantees

Comfortable data size

Medium (≤ 10 TB)

Horizontal scaling

Manual

Native

Multi-region

None

Read replicas

ACID

None

Limited

Consistency

Eventual

Schema

Schemaless

Architecture

In memory, Primary replica, Client server

In memory, Single node, Primary replica, Distributed, Client server

deployment

Self-hosted

✓

Vendor-managed cloud

—

Serverless

—

Embedded

—

Edge

—

Clouds

–

AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Aiven, DigitalOcean, Akamai

capabilities

Transactions

—

✓

Joins

—

Secondary indexes

—

Full-text search

—

Vector search

—

Geospatial

✓

JSON

✓

—

Change data capture

—

Triggers

—

Stored procedures

—

✓

Materialized views

—

TTL / expiry

✓

Pub/Sub

✓

Columnar storage

—

In-memory

✓

Durable persistence

✓

Compression

—

Encryption at rest

—

Role-based access

—

✓

Time travel

—

Branching

—

Online schema changes

—

Streaming ingest

—

✓

Offline sync

—

Runs in WebAssembly

—

interfaces

Query languages

Tile38 commands

Redis commands (RESP), Lua

Client languages

–

Python, Java, JavaScript, Go, C#, Rust, Ruby, PHP

Best for

Geo, Real-time analytics, IoT, Pub/Sub

Cache, Sessions, Queue, Pub/Sub

Add more to this comparison Not sure either fits? Try smart match

Tile38 vs Valkey: FAQ

What is the difference between Tile38 and Valkey?

Tile38: In-memory geospatial database and geofencing server that speaks the Redis protocol and HTTP. Valkey: The Linux Foundation's BSD-licensed fork of Redis, now the default engine on AWS and Google Cloud. Tile38 is primarily a spatial database; Valkey is key-value. Horizontal scaling is manual in Tile38 and native in Valkey. Transactions: Tile38 offers none ACID; Valkey offers limited.

When should I choose Tile38 over Valkey?

Choose Tile38 for fleet, courier and ride-hailing vehicle tracking; geofence alerts for IoT devices; and location-based notifications in mobile apps. Choose Valkey for replacing Redis OSS without license concerns; application caching and session storage; and rate limiting, counters and leaderboards.

Is Tile38 or Valkey more popular?

Valkey ranks #16 on the WhichDB Score (58.0/100) and Tile38 ranks #305 (10.0/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Tile38 and Valkey open source?

Yes. Tile38 is open source. License: MIT License. Yes. Valkey is open source. License: BSD 3-Clause.