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MemCachier vs Upstash Redis

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of MemCachier and Upstash Redis built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 24 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

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

Choose Upstash Redis if…

Serverless and edge apps with spiky or low-baseline traffic — per-command billing means an idle app costs close to nothing, and the free tier covers real prototyping.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Consider something else if…

  • MemCachier: Durability matters — Memcached is inherently in-memory-only by design, unlike some Redis-compatible competitors in this category that offer disk persistence.
  • Upstash Redis: Traffic is large and steady rather than spiky — a flat-rate Redis plan is usually cheaper than metered commands once volume is predictable.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: MemCachier alternatives · Upstash Redis alternatives

17 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionMemCachierUpstash Redis
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerAlways freeFree tier
What the free plan includes
25 MB of cache on one proxy with 10 connections and basic analytics, described as totally free forever.
256 MB of data, 500,000 commands a month and 10 GB of monthly bandwidth.
Entry paid planBasic tier: starting around $14/month, with 100MB, 250MB or 500MB storage options.$0.20 per 100,000 commands on Pay as You Go, with up to 100 GB data. Fixed monthly plans are also offered.
Pricing modelFixed monthly subscription tiers by cache size, not metered per-operation or per-GB usage.Command-based billing on Pay as You Go ($0.20 per 100K commands); Fixed plans offer flat monthly rates instead.
Infrastructure
RegionsStatus 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.18 regions for Global databases — 14 on AWS and 4 on Google Cloud — counted from the two supported-region tables in Upstash's own docs, which list them and publish no total.
Caching
Max dataset size, entry plan100GB is the largest cache size listed, at the top of the Business plan. Enterprise adds larger cache sizes without naming one.Up to 100 GB on Pay as You Go. Fixed plans range from 250 MB to 500 GB; Enterprise supports up to 10 TB.
Data persistenceNone: cached data is kept in memory at all times, never written to disk, and MemCachier performs no backup of customer cachesDurable — data stays persistent in the cloud provider's block storage for durability and high availability.
Support
Support on entry paid planBest effort support on Basic (~$14/month), the entry paid plan; 24/7 support from Business; a dedicated account manager on Enterprise.Enterprise lists professional support with an SLA. The pricing page names no support level for the free, pay-as-you-go or fixed plans.
Compliance
SOC 2
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.
SOC-2 Type 2 controls apply at the platform level; the Prod Pack add-on adds customer-facing compliance support including SOC-2 report access.
ISO 27001ISO 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.Not certified — Upstash says it is in the process of getting this certification and gives no date publicly.
GDPR / data residency
Enters a data protection addendum incorporating standard contractual clauses for personal information of European Union residents, on request.
Upstash states it is GDPR compliant and acquires DPAs from each subcontractor that it works with.
PCI DSSCard payments run through PCI compliant processor Stripe; MemCachier's infrastructure providers are PCI Level 1 compliant.No PCI certification claimed for Upstash itself; it says it does not store credit card information and uses Stripe, a PCI Service Provider Level 1.
Encryption at rest
Cache data is kept in memory and never written to disk; stored data can be encrypted by customer applications if required.
Encrypts the block storage where data is persisted; available with the Prod Pack add-on.
Customer-managed keysKey management is a customer application responsibility; customers encrypt stored data in their own application to meet data security requirements.Key management is listed as an Upstash responsibility for Redis; the Customer and Shared columns of the Data Encryption row are both marked ❌. Read from the Redis shared responsibility matrix, whose columns are Upstash | Customer | Shared.
Role-based access control
Per-credential capabilities: a cache can hold multiple credential sets, each restrictable to read-only access or barred from flushing the cache.
Team members are assigned a role: Admin (full access), Dev (databases only), Finance (payment methods only), plus the team Owner.
Private networking / VPC
Dedicated cluster in a separate VPC and Multi-AZ setups are listed only under the Enterprise plan (contact sales).
VPC Peering and Private Links connect databases to your VPCs and other private networks; available upon request for Enterprise customers.
Dedicated infrastructureEnterprise plan lists a dedicated cluster in a separate VPC, Multi-AZ setups and larger cache sizes; priced via Contact Sales.Enterprise customers receive dedicated resources for isolation and consistent performance; an Enterprise addition beyond the Prod Pack features.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Kind of free offer

MemCachier
Always free
Upstash Redis
Free tier
Sources (2) →

What the free plan includes

MemCachier

25 MB of cache on one proxy with 10 connections and basic analytics, described as totally free forever.

Upstash Redis

256 MB of data, 500,000 commands a month and 10 GB of monthly bandwidth.

Sources (2) →

Entry paid plan

MemCachier
Basic tier: starting around $14/month, with 100MB, 250MB or 500MB storage options.
Upstash Redis
$0.20 per 100,000 commands on Pay as You Go, with up to 100 GB data. Fixed monthly plans are also offered.
Sources (2) →

Pricing model

MemCachier
Fixed monthly subscription tiers by cache size, not metered per-operation or per-GB usage.
Upstash Redis
Command-based billing on Pay as You Go ($0.20 per 100K commands); Fixed plans offer flat monthly rates instead.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Upstash Pricing ↗

    “Flexible pricing for variable traffic.”

    Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing · Report a correction

Regions

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.
Upstash Redis
18 regions for Global databases — 14 on AWS and 4 on Google Cloud — counted from the two supported-region tables in Upstash's own docs, which list them and publish no total.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Global Database - Upstash Documentation ↗

    “Here the list of regions currently supported: [...] N. Virginia, USA us-east-1 [...] Cape Town, South Africa af-south-1”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Max dataset size, entry plan

MemCachier
100GB is the largest cache size listed, at the top of the Business plan. Enterprise adds larger cache sizes without naming one.
Upstash Redis
Up to 100 GB on Pay as You Go. Fixed plans range from 250 MB to 500 GB; Enterprise supports up to 10 TB.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Upstash Pricing ↗

    “100 GB maximum data capacity. Fixed plans range 250 MB to 500 GB, Enterprise supports 10 TB.”

    Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing · Report a correction

Data persistence

MemCachier
None: cached data is kept in memory at all times, never written to disk, and MemCachier performs no backup of customer caches
Upstash Redis
Durable — data stays persistent in the cloud provider's block storage for durability and high availability.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Upstash Pricing ↗

    “even if you do not access your data, it still needs to stay persistent in the cloud provider's block storage for durability and high availability”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

Support on entry paid plan

MemCachier
Best effort support on Basic (~$14/month), the entry paid plan; 24/7 support from Business; a dedicated account manager on Enterprise.
Upstash Redis
Enterprise lists professional support with an SLA. The pricing page names no support level for the free, pay-as-you-go or fixed plans.
Sources (2) →
  • MemCachier Pricing ↗

    “high availability cluster best effort support credential management alerting [...] 4-6 proxy servers 24/7 support [...] dedicated account manager”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Upstash Pricing ↗

    “Enterprise for businesses with advanced needs. learn more everything in Prod Pack 100k+ commands per second unlimited bandwidth and database count professional support with SLA”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction

SOC 2

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.
Upstash Redis
SOC-2 Type 2 controls apply at the platform level; the Prod Pack add-on adds customer-facing compliance support including SOC-2 report access.
Sources (2) →

ISO 27001

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.
Upstash Redis
Not certified — Upstash says it is in the process of getting this certification and gives no date publicly.
Sources (2) →

GDPR / data residency

MemCachier
Enters a data protection addendum incorporating standard contractual clauses for personal information of European Union residents, on request.
Upstash Redis
Upstash states it is GDPR compliant and acquires DPAs from each subcontractor that it works with.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Compliance - Upstash Documentation ↗

    “Is Upstash GDPR Compliant? [...] Yes. For more information, see our Privacy Policy [...] We acquire DPAs from each subcontractor that we work with.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

PCI DSS

MemCachier
Card payments run through PCI compliant processor Stripe; MemCachier's infrastructure providers are PCI Level 1 compliant.
Upstash Redis
No PCI certification claimed for Upstash itself; it says it does not store credit card information and uses Stripe, a PCI Service Provider Level 1.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Compliance - Upstash Documentation ↗

    “Upstash does not store personal credit card information. We use Stripe for payment processing. Stripe is a certified PCI Service Provider Level 1, which is the highest level of certification in the payments industry.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Encryption at rest

MemCachier
Cache data is kept in memory and never written to disk; stored data can be encrypted by customer applications if required.
Upstash Redis
Encrypts the block storage where data is persisted; available with the Prod Pack add-on.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Security - Upstash Documentation ↗

    “Encryption at Rest encrypts the block storage where your data is persisted and stored. It is available with Prod Pack add-on.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Customer-managed keys

MemCachier
Key management is a customer application responsibility; customers encrypt stored data in their own application to meet data security requirements.
Upstash Redis
Key management is listed as an Upstash responsibility for Redis; the Customer and Shared columns of the Data Encryption row are both marked ❌. Read from the Redis shared responsibility matrix, whose columns are Upstash | Customer | Shared.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Upstash Redis — Shared Responsibility Model ↗

    “| Category | Upstash | Customer | Shared | [...] | **Data Encryption** | ✅ TLS in transit, encryption at rest (Prod Pack), key management | ❌ | ❌ | [...] - TLS encryption, encryption at rest (Prod Pack), key management”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Role-based access control

MemCachier
Per-credential capabilities: a cache can hold multiple credential sets, each restrictable to read-only access or barred from flushing the cache.
Upstash Redis
Team members are assigned a role: Admin (full access), Dev (databases only), Finance (payment methods only), plus the team Owner.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Teams and Users - Upstash Documentation ↗

    “Admin: This role has full access, including the ability to add and remove members, manage databases, and payment methods. [...] Dev: This role can create, manage, and delete databases but cannot manage users or payment methods. [...] Finance: This role is limited to managing payment methods and cannot manage databases or users.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Private networking / VPC

MemCachier
Dedicated cluster in a separate VPC and Multi-AZ setups are listed only under the Enterprise plan (contact sales).
Upstash Redis
VPC Peering and Private Links connect databases to your VPCs and other private networks; available upon request for Enterprise customers.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Prod Pack & Enterprise - Upstash Documentation ↗

    “VPC Peering and Private Links enable you to connect your databases to your VPCs and other private networks, enhancing isolation and security while reducing data transfer costs. This feature is available upon request for Enterprise customers.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Dedicated infrastructure

MemCachier
Enterprise plan lists a dedicated cluster in a separate VPC, Multi-AZ setups and larger cache sizes; priced via Contact Sales.
Upstash Redis
Enterprise customers receive dedicated resources for isolation and consistent performance; an Enterprise addition beyond the Prod Pack features.
Sources (2) →
  • 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

  • Prod Pack & Enterprise - Upstash Documentation ↗

    “All Prod Pack features are included in the Enterprise plan. Additionally, Enterprise plans include: [...] Enterprise customers receive dedicated resources to ensure isolation and consistent performance for their database workloads.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

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.

Credit card to startUpstash Redis: No
When the free offer endsMemCachier: Never — the Developer cache is free forever.
Uptime SLAUpstash Redis: Sold as an add-on rather than a plan tier: the Prod Pack, at +$200/month per database, includes an uptime SLA. No percentage is published on the pricing page.
Operations included per monthUpstash Redis: 500K commands per month included on the Free plan; Fixed plans have no command-count billing.
Multi-region replicationUpstash Redis: Supported on Fixed and Enterprise tiers. Each additional read region adds $5 to the Fixed 250MB tier's monthly cost, scaling upward with plan size.
HIPAAUpstash Redis: Upstash Redis can store and process PHI; the Business Associate Agreement is provided as part of the Enterprise offering. Same page also requires Prod Pack, MFA, credential protection, IP allowlist and daily backups.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: MemCachier or Upstash Redis?

MemCachier: Basic tier: starting around $14/month, with 100MB, 250MB or 500MB storage options.

Upstash Redis: $0.20 per 100,000 commands on Pay as You Go, with up to 100 GB data. Fixed monthly plans are also offered.

Should I choose MemCachier or Upstash Redis?

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.

Pick Upstash Redis if Serverless and edge apps with spiky or low-baseline traffic — per-command billing means an idle app costs close to nothing, and the free tier covers real prototyping.

Provider pages

Related comparisons

Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.