Valkey
Linux Foundation fork of Redis 7.2 that keeps the BSD licence and the Redis protocol, with independent development since 2024.
What it is
A fork of Redis 7.2, created in March 2024 after Redis Ltd. moved away from the BSD licence. It is hosted by the Linux Foundation, remains BSD-3-Clause, and is backed by several major cloud providers and contributors.
Architecture
Identical in origin to Redis: in-memory storage, single-threaded command execution, the same data structures, the same RESP protocol, the same persistence mechanisms. Development since the fork has focused on performance work including multi-threaded I/O paths, while preserving compatibility.
Because the architecture is shared, the entire Redis and Valkey documentation section applies to both.
Best use cases
The same as Redis — caching, rate limiting, sessions, queues via Streams, leaderboards — with two additional considerations:
- Licensing. BSD-3-Clause matters for vendors redistributing the software and for organisations with policies against source-available licences.
- Governance. Foundation governance with multiple corporate contributors, rather than a single commercial owner.
When not to use it
The same exclusions as Redis: not a system of record, not for datasets far exceeding RAM, not for complex queries.
Additionally: if you depend on a Redis module or a Redis Ltd. commercial feature that Valkey does not provide, verify availability before committing.
Data model
Identical to Redis 7.2 and compatible with later additions where implemented. Existing clients, libraries and tooling generally work unchanged.
Consistency and transactions
Identical: MULTI/EXEC without rollback, WATCH for optimistic concurrency, atomic Lua scripts
and Functions.
Scaling model
Identical: vertical scaling, read replicas, and clustering with 16384 hash slots.
Replication
Asynchronous, with the same failover characteristics and the same Sentinel and Cluster mechanisms. The data loss window on failover is the same and must be planned for identically.
Backup and recovery
RDB and AOF, as in Redis. The same rule applies: copy the snapshot off the host, because a replica replicates deletions.
Monitoring
INFO, slow log and LATENCY commands as in Redis. Existing Redis exporters generally work;
verify the specific collectors against your Valkey version.
Common mistakes
The Redis mistakes apply unchanged — missing maxmemory, blocking O(N) commands, unbounded
collections, over-trusting locks.
Production checklist
The Redis production checklist applies to Valkey without change.