🐤 Birth of ValKey
ValKey is an open source, drop-in replacement for Redis. It is a Redis fork created after Redis Inc removed the open source license, in March 2024. See the original Redis post here. ValKey is a Linux Foundation project with BSD 3-clause license allowing cloud providers to offer it as managed service.
📣 The AWS Announcement
In Oct, 2024, AWS ElastiCache announced support for Valkey with Serverless priced 33% lower and node-based priced 20% lower than other supported engines.
Due to Redis’ license issue, ElasticCache’s Redis OSS engine is locked forever at version 7.1 which was released more than an year ago (mid 2023). This has locked up all customers on older Redis versions. Support for ValKey will allow AWS’ customers to migrate and upgrade their existing Redis clusters to latest developments.
Below are the steps to migrate:
Step 1: Go to your existing ElastiCache instance and hit the “Modify” button.
Step 2: In the next screen, you’ll find a section named “Cluster Settings”. Select Valkey instead of Redis and save.
💰 Cost Impact
Let’s consider cache.m5.large node to understand the price difference between various engines (ValKey, Memcached, Redis OSS). The ValKey instance will cost you $0.048/hour. The corresponding Memcached or Redis node is 25% more expensive than this. The difference increases if you are on serverless.
🈺 Final Words
Upgrading from Redis OSS(or Memcached) to ValKey engine can be done with just a few clicks and zero downtime. You should seriously consider migrating to Valkey engine to trim those extra dollars off from your AWS bills.