Amazon ElastiCache vs MemCachier
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Amazon ElastiCache and MemCachier built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Amazon ElastiCache if…
Teams already on AWS that want engine choice (Valkey, Memcached or Redis OSS) under one billing model, or that specifically need Valkey's newer durable-persistence option.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose MemCachier if…
Teams that specifically want Memcached's simpler protocol rather than Redis's data structures, and prefer a flat monthly price over metered billing.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Amazon ElastiCache: AWS isn't the target cloud, or the free-tier eligibility window matters — it's restricted to accounts that signed up for AWS Free Tier before July 15, 2025.
- MemCachier: Durability matters — Memcached is inherently in-memory-only by design, unlike some Redis-compatible competitors in this category that offer disk persistence.
Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Amazon ElastiCache alternatives · MemCachier alternatives
18 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Amazon ElastiCache 0
MemCachier 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Amazon ElastiCache | MemCachier |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Introductory free tier | Always free |
| What the free plan includes | Accounts created after 15 July 2025 get AWS Free Tier credits rather than an ElastiCache allowance, and must upgrade once they are spent. Accounts created before that date kept 750 hours of a cache.t3.micro node for 12 months. | 25 MB of cache on one proxy with 10 connections and basic analytics, described as totally free forever. |
| When the free offer ends | 6 months after the account is opened, or when the credits run out — whichever comes first. | Never — the Developer cache is free forever. |
| Entry paid plan | On-demand example: cache.r7g.large at $0.1752/hour. Actual entry price depends on node size and engine chosen. | Basic tier: starting around $14/month, with 100MB, 250MB or 500MB storage options. |
| Pricing model | Three models: on-demand (hourly per node), serverless (billed on GB-hours of data storage plus ECPUs consumed), or Database Savings Plans for committed use. | Fixed monthly subscription tiers by cache size, not metered per-operation or per-GB usage. |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Regions | 34 commercial AWS Regions plus 2 AWS GovCloud (US) Regions listed in the ElastiCache service endpoints table. Count of distinct regions in the endpoints table; China regions are not listed there. | Status page lists live clusters in 6 AWS regions (ap-northeast-1, ap-southeast-1, eu-central-1, eu-west-1, us-east-1, us-west-2) and 9 DigitalOcean regions (AMS3, BLR1, FRA1, LON1, NYC1, NYC3, SFO2, SGP1, TOR1). Live cluster list, not a published catalogue of orderable regions. |
| Caching | ||
| Max dataset size, entry plan | Up to 310 TiB of data in a single ElastiCache for Valkey cluster, or 982 TiB with data tiering. Cluster maximum for the service, not an entry-plan allowance; ElastiCache is sold per node or per usage. | 100GB is the largest cache size listed, at the top of the Business plan. Enterprise adds larger cache sizes without naming one. |
| Data persistence | Durable on Valkey 9.0+: data is stored persistently. Synchronous writes cost an 18% premium; asynchronous writes carry no additional cost. Redis OSS and Memcached engines are not documented as persistent here. | None: cached data is kept in memory at all times, never written to disk, and MemCachier performs no backup of customer caches |
| Vector | ||
| Max vector dimensions | Up to 32768 dimensions per vector for ElastiCache for Valkey search, on both Valkey 9.0+ and 8.2. Valkey search (FT.*) parametric limit; the two table columns are 9.0+ and 8.2. | Not offered |
| Compliance | ||
| SOC 2 | Listed as SOC-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page. | SOC 2 applies at the data-center level: MemCachier utilizes SOC 2 certified data centers managed by Amazon and DigitalOcean. Scope is the hosting providers' data centers, per the Physical Security section. |
| ISO 27001 | Covered under AWS's account-wide ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification — not scoped per-service the way SOC, HIPAA and PCI DSS are on AWS's own site. | ISO 27001 applies at the data-center level: MemCachier utilizes ISO 27001 certified data centers managed by Amazon and DigitalOcean. Scope is the hosting providers' data centers, per the Physical Security section. |
| GDPR / data residency | AWS customers can process personal data on all AWS services in compliance with GDPR, and choose the storage type and geographic region for their data. | Enters a data protection addendum incorporating standard contractual clauses for personal information of European Union residents, on request. |
| PCI DSS | Listed as PCI DSS-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page. | Card payments run through PCI compliant processor Stripe; MemCachier's infrastructure providers are PCI Level 1 compliant. |
| Encryption at rest | Always enabled on serverless caches and on clusters with durability enabled; on other node-based clusters it can be enabled only at creation time. | Cache data is kept in memory and never written to disk; stored data can be encrypted by customer applications if required. |
| Customer-managed keys | Supports symmetric customer managed AWS KMS keys for encryption at rest, alongside default service-managed encryption. | Key management is a customer application responsibility; customers encrypt stored data in their own application to meet data security requirements. |
| Role-based access control | RBAC user groups with per-user passwords and ACL access strings on Valkey 7.2+ and Redis OSS 6.0-7.2; the only way to control access to serverless caches. | Per-credential capabilities: a cache can hold multiple credential sets, each restrictable to read-only access or barred from flushing the cache. |
| Private networking / VPC | All current-generation nodes launch only inside an Amazon VPC; cluster access is controlled with Amazon VPC security groups. | Dedicated cluster in a separate VPC and Multi-AZ setups are listed only under the Enterprise plan (contact sales). |
| Dedicated infrastructure | ElastiCache clusters can be deployed on AWS Outposts, AWS-managed infrastructure on customer premises; only single-Outpost mode is supported. | Enterprise plan lists a dedicated cluster in a separate VPC, Multi-AZ setups and larger cache sizes; priced via Contact Sales. |
Where they differ.
Free tier
- Amazon ElastiCache
- No
- MemCachier
- Yes
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon ElastiCache Pricing ↗
“If you signed up for AWS Free Tier prior to July 15, 2025, you have 750 hours of ElastiCache cache.t3.micro node usage free for up to 12 months.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“Sign up for a free cache Developer Totally free forever.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Kind of free offer
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Introductory free tier
- MemCachier
- Always free
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- AWS Free Tier ↗
“The account closes on its own 6 months after you open it or when your credits run out, whichever comes first. You won't be charged unless you convert to a Paid plan.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“Developer Totally free forever.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
What the free plan includes
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Accounts created after 15 July 2025 get AWS Free Tier credits rather than an ElastiCache allowance, and must upgrade once they are spent. Accounts created before that date kept 750 hours of a cache.t3.micro node for 12 months.
- MemCachier
- 25 MB of cache on one proxy with 10 connections and basic analytics, described as totally free forever.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon ElastiCache pricing ↗
“If you signed up for AWS Free Tier prior to July 15, 2025, you have 750 hours of ElastiCache cache.t3.micro node usage free for up to 12 months. [...] Once you deplete your Free Tier credits, you need to upgrade to a paid plan to continue use of the service.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“Developer Totally free forever. [...] 25mb 1 proxy basic analytics”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
When the free offer ends
- Amazon ElastiCache
- 6 months after the account is opened, or when the credits run out — whichever comes first.
- MemCachier
- Never — the Developer cache is free forever.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- AWS Free Tier ↗
“The account closes on its own 6 months after you open it or when your credits run out, whichever comes first.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“Sign up for a free cache Developer Totally free forever.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Entry paid plan
- Amazon ElastiCache
- On-demand example: cache.r7g.large at $0.1752/hour. Actual entry price depends on node size and engine chosen.
- MemCachier
- Basic tier: starting around $14/month, with 100MB, 250MB or 500MB storage options.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon ElastiCache Pricing ↗
“cache.r7g.large at $0.1752/hour on-demand.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“~$14/month. 100MB, 250MB, or 500MB.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing · Report a correction
Pricing model
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Three models: on-demand (hourly per node), serverless (billed on GB-hours of data storage plus ECPUs consumed), or Database Savings Plans for committed use.
- MemCachier
- Fixed monthly subscription tiers by cache size, not metered per-operation or per-GB usage.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon ElastiCache Pricing ↗
“on-demand, serverless, and Database Savings Plans.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“Developer Totally free forever. Try it out. See what it can do. Always $0 25MB 1 proxy basic analytics [...] Starting at ~$14 /month 100MB 250MB 500MB 1 proxy historical analytics [...] Starting at ~$58 /month 1GB 2.5GB 5GB 7.5GB 2 proxies”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
Regions
- Amazon ElastiCache
- 34 commercial AWS Regions plus 2 AWS GovCloud (US) Regions listed in the ElastiCache service endpoints table. Count of distinct regions in the endpoints table; China regions are not listed there.
- MemCachier
- Status page lists live clusters in 6 AWS regions (ap-northeast-1, ap-southeast-1, eu-central-1, eu-west-1, us-east-1, us-west-2) and 9 DigitalOcean regions (AMS3, BLR1, FRA1, LON1, NYC1, NYC3, SFO2, SGP1, TOR1). Live cluster list, not a published catalogue of orderable regions.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon ElastiCache endpoints and quotas - AWS General Reference ↗
“Region Name Region Endpoint Protocol US East (Ohio) us-east-2 elasticache.us-east-2.amazonaws.com [...] AWS GovCloud (US-West) us-gov-west-1 elasticache.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- MemCachier - Status ↗
“Amazon AP-Northeast-1 Cluster 1 UP Amazon AP-Southeast-1 Cluster 1 UP Amazon EU-Central-1 Cluster 1 UP Amazon EU-West-1 Cluster 11 [...] Amazon US-East-1 Cluster 11 UP Amazon US-East-1 Cluster 21 UP Amazon US-East-1 Cluster 31 UP Amazon US-East-1 Cluster 53 UP Amazon US-West-2 Cluster 1 [...] DigitalOcean AMS3 Cluster 1 UP DigitalOcean BLR1 Cluster 1 UP DigitalOcean FRA1 Cluster 1 UP DigitalOcean LON1 Cluster 1 UP DigitalOcean NYC1 Cluster 1 UP DigitalOcean NYC3 Cluster 1 UP DigitalOcean SFO2 Cluster 1 UP DigitalOcean SGP1 Cluster 1 UP DigitalOcean TOR1 Cluster 1”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Max dataset size, entry plan
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Up to 310 TiB of data in a single ElastiCache for Valkey cluster, or 982 TiB with data tiering. Cluster maximum for the service, not an entry-plan allowance; ElastiCache is sold per node or per usage.
- MemCachier
- 100GB is the largest cache size listed, at the top of the Business plan. Enterprise adds larger cache sizes without naming one.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Valkey-, Memcached-, and Redis OSS-Compatible Cache - Amazon ElastiCache FAQs - AWS ↗
“as traffic fluctuates, ElastiCache scales to hundreds of terabytes of data and billions operations per second; with ElastiCache for Valkey you can reach up to 310 TiB of data in a single cluster, or 982 TiB with data tiering.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“Business You mean business. Serious business. Starting at ~$440 /month 10GB 25GB 50GB 75GB 100GB [...] Everything in Business, plus: Larger cache sizes”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Data persistence
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Durable on Valkey 9.0+: data is stored persistently. Synchronous writes cost an 18% premium; asynchronous writes carry no additional cost. Redis OSS and Memcached engines are not documented as persistent here.
- MemCachier
- None: cached data is kept in memory at all times, never written to disk, and MemCachier performs no backup of customer caches
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon ElastiCache Pricing ↗
“Durability is a feature available with Valkey 9.0, allowing you to use ElastiCache as a persistent data store with microsecond read latency. [...] ElastiCache offers two durability options: synchronous writes designed for zero data loss, and asynchronous writes for microsecond write latency. Pricing Beyond the standard node-hour pricing, there is no additional cost for asynchronous writes. Synchronous writes are priced at 18% on top of the standard node-hour price for node-based ElastiCache clusters.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- MemCachier Security ↗
“We do not perform any backup of customer caches. All data stored by a customer in a cache is strictly kept in the cache and in-memory at all times. Our data model is one of a cache and a cache only, do not store data that cannot be lost with MemCachier.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
SOC 2
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Listed as SOC-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page.
- MemCachier
- SOC 2 applies at the data-center level: MemCachier utilizes SOC 2 certified data centers managed by Amazon and DigitalOcean. Scope is the hosting providers' data centers, per the Physical Security section.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- AWS Services in Scope — SOC ↗
“This webpage provides a list of AWS Services in Scope of AWS assurance programs. [...] Amazon ElastiCache ✓ Amazon EventBridge ✓ Amazon FinSpace ✓ Amazon Forecast ✓ Amazon Fraud”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- MemCachier Security ↗
“MemCachier utilizes ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified data centers managed by Amazon and DigitalOcean.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
ISO 27001
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Covered under AWS's account-wide ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification — not scoped per-service the way SOC, HIPAA and PCI DSS are on AWS's own site.
- MemCachier
- ISO 27001 applies at the data-center level: MemCachier utilizes ISO 27001 certified data centers managed by Amazon and DigitalOcean. Scope is the hosting providers' data centers, per the Physical Security section.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Compliance — AWS ↗
“AWS has certification for compliance with ISO/IEC 27001:2022, 27017:2015, and 27018:2019. These certifications are performed by independent third-party auditors.”
Read 2026-09-12 · official site · Report a correction
- MemCachier Security ↗
“MemCachier utilizes ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified data centers managed by Amazon and DigitalOcean.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
GDPR / data residency
- Amazon ElastiCache
- AWS customers can process personal data on all AWS services in compliance with GDPR, and choose the storage type and geographic region for their data.
- MemCachier
- Enters a data protection addendum incorporating standard contractual clauses for personal information of European Union residents, on request.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- GDPR — Amazon Web Services ↗
“AWS customers can use all AWS services to process personal data [...] in compliance with the GDPR. [...] Customers have control of their customer data. With AWS, customers can: Determine where their customer data will be stored, including the type of storage and geographic region of that storage.”
Read 2026-09-12 · official site · Report a correction
- MemCachier Privacy Policy ↗
“To the extent that you provide us with the personal information of residents of the European Union that is subject to European data protection laws, we agree to comply with the requirements of such laws. As required, MemCachier will enter into a data protection addendum incorporating standard contractual clauses”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
PCI DSS
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Listed as PCI DSS-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page.
- MemCachier
- Card payments run through PCI compliant processor Stripe; MemCachier's infrastructure providers are PCI Level 1 compliant.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- AWS Services in Scope — PCI DSS ↗
“This webpage provides a list of AWS Services in Scope of AWS assurance programs. [...] Amazon ElastiCache ✓ ✓ Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) ✓ ✓ Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- MemCachier Security ↗
“We use PCI compliant payment processor Stripe for encrypting and processing credit card payments. MemCachier's infrastructure providers are PCI Level 1 compliant.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Encryption at rest
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Always enabled on serverless caches and on clusters with durability enabled; on other node-based clusters it can be enabled only at creation time.
- MemCachier
- Cache data is kept in memory and never written to disk; stored data can be encrypted by customer applications if required.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- At-Rest Encryption in ElastiCache - Amazon ElastiCache ↗
“ElastiCache at-rest encryption is a feature to increase data security by encrypting on-disk data. It is always enabled on a serverless cache and on clusters with durability enabled. [...] You can enable at-rest encryption on a replication group only when creating the replication group.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- MemCachier Security ↗
“A MemCachier cache is hosted on a shared, multi-tenant database that keeps all data in memory, never writing it to disk or elsewhere. [...] Stored data can be encrypted by customer applications in order to meet data security requirements.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Customer-managed keys
- Amazon ElastiCache
- Supports symmetric customer managed AWS KMS keys for encryption at rest, alongside default service-managed encryption.
- MemCachier
- Key management is a customer application responsibility; customers encrypt stored data in their own application to meet data security requirements.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- At-Rest Encryption in ElastiCache - Amazon ElastiCache ↗
“ElastiCache supports symmetric customer managed AWS KMS keys (KMS key) for encryption at rest. Customer-managed KMS keys are encryption keys that you create, own and manage in your AWS account.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- MemCachier Security ↗
“Stored data can be encrypted by customer applications in order to meet data security requirements. Customers can implement data storage, key management, and data retention requirements when developing their application.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Role-based access control
- Amazon ElastiCache
- RBAC user groups with per-user passwords and ACL access strings on Valkey 7.2+ and Redis OSS 6.0-7.2; the only way to control access to serverless caches.
- MemCachier
- Per-credential capabilities: a cache can hold multiple credential sets, each restrictable to read-only access or barred from flushing the cache.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) - Amazon ElastiCache ↗
“RBAC is also the only way to control access to serverless caches. This is available for Valkey 7.2 and onward, and Redis OSS 6.0 to 7.2.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- MemCachier Documentation: Credentials ↗
“Each cache can have multiple sets of credentials. [...] sets of credentials can be restricted to read-only access to the cache, or prevented from flushing the cache via the memcache API.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Private networking / VPC
- Amazon ElastiCache
- All current-generation nodes launch only inside an Amazon VPC; cluster access is controlled with Amazon VPC security groups.
- MemCachier
- Dedicated cluster in a separate VPC and Multi-AZ setups are listed only under the Enterprise plan (contact sales).
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Amazon VPCs and ElastiCache security - Amazon ElastiCache ↗
“We have deprecated the use of Amazon EC2-Classic for launching ElastiCache clusters. All current generation nodes are launched in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud only. [...] You can also add a cluster to the virtual network, and control access to the cluster by using Amazon VPC security groups.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“Enterprise For organizations that need additional control and support. [...] Everything in Business, plus: Larger cache sizes SAML Sign-on Dedicated cluster in separate VPC Multi-AZ setups Dedicated account manager”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Dedicated infrastructure
- Amazon ElastiCache
- ElastiCache clusters can be deployed on AWS Outposts, AWS-managed infrastructure on customer premises; only single-Outpost mode is supported.
- MemCachier
- Enterprise plan lists a dedicated cluster in a separate VPC, Multi-AZ setups and larger cache sizes; priced via Contact Sales.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Using Outposts with ElastiCache - Amazon ElastiCache ↗
“You can use AWS Outposts with ElastiCache. Outposts is a fully managed service that extends AWS infrastructure, services, APIs, and tools to customer premises. [...] At this time, only single-outpost mode is supported.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- MemCachier Pricing ↗
“Enterprise For organizations that need additional control and support. [...] Everything in Business, plus: Larger cache sizes SAML Sign-on Dedicated cluster in separate VPC Multi-AZ setups Dedicated account manager”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Amazon ElastiCache or MemCachier?
Amazon ElastiCache: On-demand example: cache.r7g.large at $0.1752/hour. Actual entry price depends on node size and engine chosen.
MemCachier: Basic tier: starting around $14/month, with 100MB, 250MB or 500MB storage options.
Free tier: Amazon ElastiCache or MemCachier?
Amazon ElastiCache: No
MemCachier: Yes
Should I choose Amazon ElastiCache or MemCachier?
Pick Amazon ElastiCache if Teams already on AWS that want engine choice (Valkey, Memcached or Redis OSS) under one billing model, or that specifically need Valkey's newer durable-persistence option.
Pick MemCachier if Teams that specifically want Memcached's simpler protocol rather than Redis's data structures, and prefer a flat monthly price over metered billing.
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