Speedb
discontinuedby Speedb (Redis) · since 2022
RocksDB-compatible storage engine fork; open-source development stopped after Redis bought it in 2024.
discontinued. Acquired by Redis in March 2024; the open-source repo has been inactive since June 2024 (last release 2.8.0, Jan 2024). Move to upstream RocksDB.
Overview
Speedb was an Israeli startup's drop-in replacement for RocksDB that rewrote parts of the engine (a new memtable, a sorted hash index, smarter flow control and write delays) to cut write stalls and improve performance on large datasets. It was open-sourced in 2022 under Apache-2.0 and became the storage engine behind Redis Enterprise's auto-tiering. Redis acquired Speedb in March 2024; the public repository has had no commits since June 2024 and the project website no longer responds. Existing users should plan to move back to upstream RocksDB.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +API- and file-compatible with RocksDB for drop-in testing
- +Reduced write stalls via improved flow control
- +Sorted hash memtable improved write-heavy performance
Trade-offs
- −No maintenance or security fixes since mid-2024
- −Falls further behind upstream RocksDB with each release
- −Vendor website and community channels are gone
Great for
- +Existing deployments pending migration to RocksDB
- +Benchmarking write-stall behaviour against upstream RocksDB
Think twice for
- −Any new project
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 4 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Medium · ≤ 10 TB
- Horizontal scaling
- None
- Multi-region
- No
- Transactions
- Full ACID
- Consistency
- Strong
- Schema
- Schemaless
- Architecture
- Embedded
- Query languages
- C++ API
Deployment
Ecosystem
Alternatives to Speedb
Meta's embeddable LSM-tree key-value engine, the storage layer under dozens of databases.
speedb vs rocksdb →Cockroach Labs' Go LSM engine, inspired by RocksDB and tuned for CockroachDB.
speedb vs pebble →Young C storage-engine library: transactional LSM with MVCC, column families and TTL.
speedb vs tidesdb →Log-structured, embeddable key-value engine in pure Rust with keyspaces and transactions.
speedb vs fjall →MongoDB's default storage engine: MVCC B-tree with compression and snapshot isolation.
speedb vs wiredtiger →Pure-Go LSM key-value store that separates keys from values to cut write amplification.
speedb vs badger →Speedb FAQ
What is Speedb?
Speedb is a key-value database by Speedb (Redis), first released in 2022. Speedb was an Israeli startup's drop-in replacement for RocksDB that rewrote parts of the engine (a new memtable, a sorted hash index, smarter flow control and write delays) to cut write stalls and improve performance on large datasets. It was open-sourced in 2022 under Apache-2.0 and became the storage engine behind Redis Enterprise's auto-tiering. Redis acquired Speedb in March 2024; the public repository has had no commits since June 2024 and the project website no longer responds. Existing users should plan to move back to upstream RocksDB.
Is Speedb open source?
Yes. Speedb is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.
Does Speedb support ACID transactions?
Yes. Speedb supports full ACID transactions, with strong consistency.
Does Speedb scale horizontally?
Speedb does not scale horizontally; it runs on a single node, so you scale it up rather than out. It is comfortable at medium scale (≤ 10 TB).
How can I run Speedb?
You can self-host it and embed it in your application.
What is Speedb best for?
Speedb is a strong fit for existing deployments pending migration to RocksDB and benchmarking write-stall behaviour against upstream RocksDB. Think twice for any new project.
What are the best alternatives to Speedb?
Common alternatives to Speedb include RocksDB, Pebble, TidesDB, Fjall and WiredTiger. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
Is Speedb still maintained?
Speedb is discontinued. Acquired by Redis in March 2024; the open-source repo has been inactive since June 2024 (last release 2.8.0, Jan 2024). Move to upstream RocksDB.
How popular is Speedb?
Speedb ranks #484 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (2.3/100), and #77 among key-value databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.