Redis goes open source again with the launch of Redis 8 under the AGPLv3 license

Redis is now fully open source again, shifting to the AGPLv3 license and ending its previous dual-license (RSALv2 and SSPLv1) model. This pivotal move aims to welcome broader community contributions and adoption, offering organizations a more permissive alternative previously unavailable under SSPL. The licensing changes not only mark a reconnection with the open source community but also address concerns that had fueled the rise of the Valkey fork, which is now backed by the Linux Foundation and major cloud providers like AWS, Google, Oracle, and Ericsson.

The release of Redis 8 also consolidates the Community Edition and Stack into one cohesive package, now labeled Redis Open Source, simplifying installation and feature discovery. The release introduces native support for JSON, time series data, probabilistic data structures, and advanced query functions. A major technical advancement in this version comes in the form of a new data type, vector sets—designed by Redis creator Salvatore Sanfilippo—to enable high-dimensional vector search, meeting the demands of AI and semantic search workloads.

Performance improvements include up to 87% lower latency, double the throughput, and a 16× increase in query processing power over previous versions. General availability is immediate, with installation options through Docker Hub, Snap, Homebrew, and popular Linux package managers.