Amazon ElastiCache

Overview

Amazon ElastiCache is a managed caching service built for workloads that need fast access to data. It is compatible with Valkey, Memcached, and Redis OSS, and is designed to deliver microsecond latency. Teams can deploy it as a serverless cache or as a node-based cluster, depending on how they want to manage capacity.

ElastiCache can sit in front of Amazon RDS, Aurora, DocumentDB, or DynamoDB as a caching layer, and can improve performance with EC2 and EMR. AWS identifies application data caching, semantic caching, data stores, session stores, and leaderboards as possible uses.

For more options, browse Caching Software and In-Memory Databases.

Key features

Two deployment models

ElastiCache supports serverless caches as well as node-based clusters. Serverless monitors compute, memory, and network use, then scales vertically and horizontally as demand changes. AWS says serverless caches replicate data across multiple Availability Zones and carry a 99.99% availability SLA for each cache.

Management and monitoring

A serverless cache can be created through the AWS Management Console, AWS SDK, or AWS CLI. Amazon CloudWatch provides more than 40 operational metrics for ElastiCache resources at no additional charge.

Security and network controls

Security options include encryption in transit and at rest, IAM authentication, Valkey or Redis OSS AUTH, and role-based access control. Resources can run in Amazon VPC, while AWS PrivateLink provides private access to ElastiCache API operations. AWS lists SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO, MTCS, C5, PCI, HIPAA, and FedRAMP among the compliance programs covering ElastiCache.

Storage and availability considerations

ElastiCache supports persistent storage and automatic backups. One important deployment limitation is that data tiering is not available with ElastiCache Serverless.

Pricing

ElastiCache is a paid service with a listed starting price of $6/mo. The AWS Free Tier plan is listed as free. New AWS Free Tier signups can choose a Free Plan with $100 in credits and may receive up to an additional $100 for activating foundational AWS services. Credits apply across participating AWS services, excluding the AWS GovCloud (US) and China (Beijing) Regions.

ElastiCache Serverless is listed at $6 a month, billed for data stored in GB-hours and requests measured in ECPUs. Valkey pricing starts at $6/month, with no minimum fee or upfront commitment. Minimum metered storage is 100 MB for Valkey and 1 GB for Memcached and Redis OSS.

On-demand nodes are billed hourly from launch until termination, and each partial node-hour is billed as a full hour. There is no long-term commitment, but the price depends on node type and node count. Database Savings Plans require a commitment to a specified usage amount measured in $/hour over a 1-year term; eligible usage details are provided on AWS's Database Savings Plans pricing page.

For provisioned Redis OSS instances, Extended Support adds an 80% premium in Years 1 and 2 and a 160% premium in Year 3. The price depends on Region and calendar date.

Platforms

ElastiCache is listed for API, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows. It also integrates with the AWS Management Console, SDK, and CLI for creating serverless caches.

Who it's for

ElastiCache is suited to teams building or operating applications on AWS that need a managed cache alongside databases or compute services such as RDS, Aurora, DocumentDB, DynamoDB, EC2, or EMR. Its supported use cases also make it relevant for session storage, leaderboards, semantic caching, and other data-store workloads. The choice between serverless and node-based deployment gives teams two different ways to provision the cache.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Supports Valkey, Memcached, and Redis OSS; offers serverless and node-based deployment; serverless scaling responds to compute, memory, and network demand.
• Pros: Serverless caches replicate across multiple Availability Zones and have a 99.99% availability SLA; CloudWatch includes more than 40 operational metrics at no additional charge.
• Pros: Offers encryption, authentication and access-control options, private networking, persistent storage, and automatic backups.
• Cons: Serverless data tiering is unavailable.
• Cons: Node pricing varies by node type and count, and provisioned Redis OSS Extended Support adds substantial percentage premiums in later support years.

Alternatives

For other caching and data-platform options, consider KeyDB, Redis Insight, VoltDB, Aerospike Database, VMware Workstation Pro, Apache Geode, SingleStore Helios, and RonDB.

Verdict

Amazon ElastiCache combines support for three cache engines with serverless and node-based deployment, AWS database integrations, monitoring, and security controls. The listed serverless starting price is $6/month for Valkey, while node and savings-plan costs depend on usage or commitment. Its broad deployment and integration choices suit AWS-centered applications, but teams considering serverless should account for the lack of data tiering, and provisioned Redis OSS users should factor Extended Support premiums into longer-term costs.