What is DiceDB used for?

DiceDB is a key-value store forked from Valkey that stays compatible with Redis tooling and adds a spill module for persisting evicted keys to disk. It is a good fit for caching larger working sets than memory allows, replacing Redis while keeping existing clients and experimenting with reactive key-value features.

Is DiceDB open source?

Yes. DiceDB is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at dicedb/dicedb and is written mainly in C.

Yes. DiceDB is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host DiceDB?

Yes. DiceDB can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is DiceDB an alternative to?

DiceDB is an open-source alternative to Upstash, Amazon ElastiCache, Amazon MemoryDB and Google Memorystore. Other open-source alternatives to Upstash include Redis, Valkey and Dragonfly.

Is DiceDB actively maintained?

The most recent commit to DiceDB was on 23 April 2026, and the latest release is 1.0.0, published on 11 February 2026. The project has 11k stars on GitHub.

DiceDB: open-source alternative to Upstash

About DiceDB

DiceDB is an open-source, low-latency key-value engine built as a fork of Valkey, which is itself a fork of Redis. It aims to stay fully compatible with Valkey and Redis tooling and client libraries, so existing applications and SDKs can talk to it, while extending the base server with extra capabilities.

The main addition described in the README is dicedb-spill, a module that transparently writes evicted keys to disk and restores them on cache misses. This lets a working set exceed the memory budget, and by default the module uses RocksDB with a configurable memory limit. The project notes that features from its earlier Go-based engine, which focused on reactivity and throughput, will gradually be ported over.

DiceDB is written in C and supports Linux, macOS and several BSD systems on 32-bit and 64-bit hardware. The quickest way to try it is the official Docker image, which comes preconfigured with the spill module enabled, and it can also be built from source. Because it is software you run yourself, it suits developers who want a Redis-compatible cache or store with disk-backed overflow.

Key features

Fork of Valkey with Redis compatibility
Spill module persisting evicted keys to disk
RocksDB-backed overflow storage
Configurable memory and spill limits
Official Docker image for quick start
Builds on Linux, macOS, and BSD systems

Good fit for

→Caching larger working sets than memory allows
→Replacing Redis while keeping existing clients
→Experimenting with reactive key-value features

Built with: C; Redis
Tags: key-value; cache; redis; valkey; database; nosql; rocksdb; storage-engine; docker

DiceDB: questions and answers

What is DiceDB used for?: DiceDB is a key-value store forked from Valkey that stays compatible with Redis tooling and adds a spill module for persisting evicted keys to disk. It is a good fit for caching larger working sets than memory allows, replacing Redis while keeping existing clients and experimenting with reactive key-value features.
Is DiceDB open source?: Yes. DiceDB is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at dicedb/dicedb and is written mainly in C.
Is DiceDB free?: Yes. DiceDB is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host DiceDB?: Yes. DiceDB can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is DiceDB an alternative to?: DiceDB is an open-source alternative to Upstash, Amazon ElastiCache, Amazon MemoryDB and Google Memorystore. Other open-source alternatives to Upstash include Redis, Valkey and Dragonfly.
Is DiceDB actively maintained?: The most recent commit to DiceDB was on 23 April 2026, and the latest release is 1.0.0, published on 11 February 2026. The project has 11k stars on GitHub.