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Stacks / Backend

Easy

Valkey / Garnet

A Redis-compatible cache you host. Valkey is BSD-3-Clause; Garnet is MIT — Upstash and Redis Cloud without the request meter.

The problem

Upstash meters Redis-compatible requests and storage. Redis Cloud is hosted Redis from Redis Ltd. Redis itself moved off OSI licenses (RSALv2 / SSPL) — this page does not treat Redis as the OSS path. Valkey is BSD-3-Clause (valkey-io/valkey), the Linux Foundation successor lineage. Garnet is MIT (microsoft/garnet) if you want that cache-store with Redis clients. Dragonfly is BSL 1.1 — not OSI, so it is not this path. This is not every Upstash Kafka or QStash product.

Replaces

Upstash / Redis Cloud

Replace Upstash Replace Redis Cloud See all best open-source databases

Estimated SaaS saved

$1,200

per year, small team, before lock-in

Start on Railway

PostgreSQL if this is the primary database, not a cache

Sponsor this stack Tip jar

Placeholder: Valkey (or Garnet) as a Railway service with a volume if you persist RDB/AOF. Bind the Redis port the app already uses. No one-click template in this repo yet — Start on Railway.

The stack

Cost table

You stop payingTypical / yearSelf-host instead
Upstash / Redis Cloud (small team)$1,200Valkey or Garnet

Agent setup prompt

Replace Upstash or Redis Cloud with Valkey (preferred OSI Redis-compatible server) or Garnet.

- Official Valkey image, persist if you need snapshots. Point REDIS_URL at the new host. Confirm one GET/SET from the app that used Upstash.
- Do not install Redis and call it open source. Do not install Dragonfly and call it OSI (BSL 1.1). Write AGENT_PROMPT.md.

Also as markdown: /stacks/valkey-cache.md

FAQ

Valkey or Garnet?
Valkey if you want the common Redis-compatible server. Garnet if you want the MIT Research cache-store. Pick one.
Why not Redis?
Redis community code is RSALv2/SSPL — not OSI. Valkey is the BSD-3-Clause path.
Why not Dragonfly?
Dragonfly is Business Source License 1.1. This site skips it for the OSS path.