Platform · 2009–now · Cloud Scale
Redis
Fast structures in memory. The protocol stuck; in 2024 the BSD project forked as Valkey after the license change.
How Redis mutated
Redis stuck because microseconds matter and most apps have hot keys worth isolating. Misused as primary storage it hurts; used as a specialized layer it prints money. In March 2024 Redis Inc. left the BSD license. On 28 March the Linux Foundation announced Valkey, a BSD continuation from Redis 7.2.4, with AWS, Google Cloud, and Oracle among the backers. In May 2025 Redis added AGPLv3 as a license option, starting with Redis 8. That option did not unfork Valkey. The brand split. The cache did not. A vendor survey of "adopted or exploring" is not a migration rate, and Redis is not dead.
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MongoDB
Document DB that became a punchline, then a grown-up product. Survived by getting serious about transactions and ops.