Valkey: The Open Source Answer to Redis's License Change

Redis carved out a significant niche, becoming a go-to solution for caching, message brokering, and even as a primary database for many applications. However, in March 2024, Redis Ltd., the company behind Redis, announced a significant shift: future versions of Redis would move away from the permissive 3-Clause BSD license to more restrictive source-available licenses (RSALv2 and SSPLv1).This decision sent ripples through the open-source community and the tech industry. Many users and contributors, particularly large cloud providers who had built services around Redis, expressed concerns about the implications of these licenses on their ability to use, modify, and distribute the software freely. The move was seen by many as a departure from the open-source ethos that had fueled Redis's widespread adoption.

• Official Website: https://valkey.io/
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/valkey-io/valkey

Redis

The Birth of Valkey: A Community Fork Under the Linux Foundation

In response to these concerns, a coalition of former Redis contributors, major cloud providers (including AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle), and other tech companies decided to take action. They initiated a fork of the Redis 7.2.4 codebase – the last version under the BSD license – to ensure its continued availability as a truly open-source project.This fork was named Valkey, and crucially, it was placed under the governance of the Linux Foundation. This move provided a neutral, vendor-independent home for the project, guaranteeing that Valkey would remain community-driven and perpetually licensed under the permissive 3-Clause BSD license. The name "Valkey" itself evokes strength and security ("Val-" from Valkyrie) combined with its core function ("-key").

What Valkey Offers: Continuity and Openness

At its core, Valkey is the Redis that users knew and trusted, built upon the stable 7.2.4 release. It offers the same robust performance and feature set:

• High Performance: Optimized for speed, making it ideal for caching and real-time workloads.
• Versatile Data Structures: Supports a rich collection of data types beyond simple key-value pairs, including strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets, bitmaps, HyperLogLogs, geospatial indexes, and streams.
• Operational Flexibility: Can run as a standalone server for simpler use cases or in a distributed cluster configuration for scalability and high availability, complete with replication.
• Extensibility: Features built-in Lua scripting for custom logic and a module API to add new commands, data types, and functionalities.
• Persistence Options: Offers various ways to persist data to disk for durability.

The key differentiator isn't in the initial technical features, but in the licensing and governance. Valkey guarantees that the code remains open source, allowing anyone to use, study, modify, and distribute it freely, fostering collaboration and innovation without the restrictions imposed by source-available licenses.

Valkey in the Cloud: Seamless Integration

Given that major cloud providers were instrumental in its creation, Valkey is designed for seamless integration into cloud environments. Organizations can:

1. Self-Host: Deploy Valkey instances on virtual machines or container orchestration platforms (like Kubernetes) within their chosen cloud provider, maintaining full control. Official Docker images are readily available.
2. Managed Services (Expected): While perhaps not available immediately at launch across all providers, the strong backing from AWS, Google Cloud, Oracle, and others suggests that managed Valkey services, similar to existing managed Redis offerings, are likely to emerge. This would simplify deployment, scaling, and management for cloud users.
3. Compatibility: Valkey maintains wire protocol compatibility with Redis 7.2.4. Existing applications using Redis clients targeting this version or earlier should generally work with Valkey with minimal or no changes. The installation process even includes options to create symlinks (redis-cli -> valkey-cli, redis-server -> valkey-server) to ease the transition.

Valkey

The Future is Open

Valkey represents more than just a code fork; it's a commitment to open-source principles. With governance under the Linux Foundation, a strong base of initial contributors, and backing from key industry players, Valkey is positioned for continued development and community growth. Users concerned about Redis's licensing changes now have a viable, stable, and truly open-source alternative that builds on years of development and community effort.Whether you are migrating an existing Redis deployment or starting a new project needing a high-performance key-value store, Valkey offers a compelling combination of proven technology and guaranteed openness.To learn more and get involved: