The best in-memory data stores, according to hackers
6 in-memory data stores were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 2 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The two most recommended in-memory data stores with the badge. Each figure is 2 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Lower costs, especially on AWS
Open-source Redis fork recommended for lower AWS costs, speed, Redis compatibility and open governance under a permissive license.
Simple and works out of the box
Simple, fast, mature in-memory cache that people trust to do one job well. Caveat: slab configuration and memory use can cause operational trouble.
All 6 in-memory data stores, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Redis | 174 | 102 | 63% | 12 | 10 yrs7 owners | — |
| 2 | Valkey | 31 | 5 | 86% | 10 | — | Approved |
| 3 | Memcached | 27 | 10 | 73% | 6 | — | Approved |
| 4 | Lux Redis-compatible server | 8 | 7 | 53% | 2 | — | — |
| 5 | KiviDB | 7 | 2 | 78% | 1 | — | — |
| 6 | DragonflyDB | 5 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same in-memory data store in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to in-memory data stores that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
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