Following the dispute over Redis’ licensing changes, Valkey has become the most popular open source alternative

Percona’s new report points out that 83% of enterprises have already adopted Valkey or are actively testing the possibility of adopting Valkey.

RALEIGH, N.C.- Percona , a global leader in enterprise-class open source database software and services, today released a new research report, “ Key-Value Data Storage: From Key Value Stores: Adoption Trends Through a Valkey Lens . Redis’s recent decision to remove its popular key-value data storage software from open source status has forced its broad customer base to hastily adjust business operations without advance planning. This report provides several industry-leading views on the rebound in customer sentiment caused by this matter. The report also measures how this decision affects customer awareness, interest and adoption of alternatives to Redis, most notably the open source project “Valkey” launched by the Linux Foundation.

Among key-value data stores, Redis occupies a dominant position, with 67% of study respondents deploying Redis. Earlier this year, Redis officially announced its intention to abandon its open source three-clause Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license in favor of a more restrictive “source available” license. Ending the provision of unrestricted, free access to Redis software will impose a heavy financial burden on organizations with large Redis data footprints. This new study from Percona examines how companies of all sizes are responding to this change.

Redis’ changes to its licensing system put executives between a rock and a hard place: They either had to start paying licensing fees to use software that had long been guaranteed to be free and unrestricted, or they had to abandon the industry-standard key-value store and switch to alternatives for operating data. library. The blow comes amid an ongoing push to explore the role of open source software in the high-stakes realm of traditional and generative artificial intelligence model development.

Main findings and highlights

More than 70% of respondents who have deployed Redis said the change in Redis licensing policy forced them to take action and look for alternatives. Moreover, although there are several alternatives on the market, including DragonflyDB, KeyDB and Skytable, the one most likely to replace Redis’ previous market dominance will be Valkey. The Valkey project announced in March 2024 is a fork of Redis, and its development goal is clearly aimed at providing Redis users with a long-term open source alternative to the popular in-memory key-value store. This study found that the vast majority of Redis users surveyed (75%) are testing, considering, or have adopted Valkey.

While the open source status of the Redis alternative is a big incentive for organizations looking to use it for free, the Valkey project’s appeal also comes from its heavyweight support community. In addition to the leading Linux Foundation, Valkey has also been recognized and endorsed by industry giants such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Oracle, Ericsson and Percona. As a result, Valkey’s popularity has grown exponentially since its launch. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they had been aware of the program since it was launched earlier this year.

When analyzing interest and adoption of Valkey by enterprise size, a clear trend emerged. While companies of all sizes have embraced or are evaluating the possibility of switching to Valkey, organizations with larger data footprints have made the shift significantly more than their smaller counterparts: 83% of large enterprises have adopted Valkey, Or are actively exploring the possibility of using Valkey. Smaller companies are also following suit, although not as much: 70% of mid-sized companies and 77% of small companies have switched to Valkey or are considering doing so.

The study also found that operational support is a key factor when deciding whether to adopt an open source resource like Valkey. More than three-quarters (76%) of organizations plan to rely on third-party enterprise support, demonstrating the importance of a strong support infrastructure for open source alternatives to succeed in production environments.

Lessons Learned and Valkey’s Prospects

The world of licensing is complex, with an almost infinite variety of open licenses, each occupying a unique place in the ongoing evolution of open source and distributed proprietary licensing models. Redis is not the first company to be criticized for engaging in “grooming” tactics (in which software vendors actively mislead or deliberately obscure the long-term goals, plans and intentions of their company and open source projects), but it is the latest Companies that withdraw their commitments to the public.

“We will not protest against any company that chooses to distribute software under a proprietary license,” said Ann Schlemmer, CEO of Percona, which defends open source. “However, the problem with Redis is not open source or proprietary, but transparency or deception. If young tech entrepreneurs learn one lesson from the story of Redis and Valkey, I hope they remember that transparency, integrity, and walking the talk are priceless in the eyes of your customers, so act with caution and make openness a virtue, whether it’s a virtue or not. Involving open source licensing.

The Linux Foundation also takes this type of emotional backlash very seriously. The foundation has made clear its intentions for the project and how it will issue licenses in perpetuity.

“To continue to improve this important technology and license it without restrictions, our community built Valkey, an open source, high-performance key-value store,” the Linux Foundation said in an official statement on the project. “Valkey supports Linux, macOS, OpenBSD, NetBSD and FreeBSD platforms… At the Linux Foundation, Valkey will follow an open governance model, retain its community-driven nature, and welcome all users and contributors. This project has been planned A technical leadership committee composed of several former Redis contributors was formed, and hundreds of community members expressed their support for Valkey.”

To read the full report, please visit Percona here .

To learn more about Valkey, visit the project on GitHub .

About Percona

Percona is the world’s premier open source database software, support and services company. The company is dedicated to helping enterprises ensure the security, compliance, performance and high availability of their databases and the applications that rely on them. Percona’s unique combination of database expertise and enterprise-grade open source software gives businesses the freedom to choose, the freedom to create, and the freedom to innovate quickly as they grow. For more information, please visit www.percona.com .

Disclaimer: The original version of this announcement is the officially authorized version. The translation is for convenience of understanding only. Please refer to the original text. The original version is the only legally binding version.