Redis was created by Salvatore Sanfilippo (also known as antirez) and first released in 2009. It gained rapid adoption as a high-performance in-memory store for caching and fast state access in web systems.
- 2009: First public release of Redis
- 2010: Redis 2.0 introduced Lists and Sets data types
- 2011: Redis 2.2 added Sorted Sets and Pub/Sub capabilities
- 2012: Redis 2.4 brought Virtual Memory deprecation and improved replication
- 2013: Redis 2.6 introduced Lua scripting support
- 2014: Redis 2.8 added cluster support (beta) and improved replication
- 2015: Redis 3.0 introduced Redis Cluster (stable)
- 2016: Redis 3.2 added GEO commands and improved Lua support
- 2018: Redis 4.0 introduced Modules system and PSYNC2
- 2019: Redis 5.0 added Streams data type and Redis Cluster Proxy
- 2020: Redis 6.0 introduced client-side caching and ACLs
- 2021: Redis 6.2 added Functions (server-side JavaScript) and improved client-side caching
- 2022: Redis 7.0 unified configuration between disk and cluster modes
- 2023: Redis 7.2 introduced dynamic resize for hash tables and sorted sets
- March 2024: License change from BSD to dual RSALv2/SSPLv1 for Redis 7.4+
- April 2024: Valkey fork created by AWS and community from Redis 7.2.4
- February 2025: Redis 8.6 released with substantial performance improvements and new eviction policies
- Originally released under BSD 3-clause license (through version 7.2)
- March 20, 2024: Changed to dual source-available license (RSALv2 + SSPLv1) for version 7.4+
- This change moved Redis away from OSI open source definition
- Led to creation of Valkey as a community-driven open-source alternative
Over time, Redis expanded into richer data structures, streams, and clustered deployment patterns for broader platform use. Modern operations focus on:
- Memory policy and eviction strategies
- Persistence mode selection (RDB vs AOF vs hybrid)
- Failover strategy and high availability
- Safe network exposure and security hardening
- Performance monitoring and hot keys detection
- TLS encryption for cross-network communication
Production operations now focus on memory policy, persistence mode selection, failover strategy, safe network exposure, and compliance with the new licensing model. Many organizations are evaluating Valkey as an alternative due to the license change.