HotKV vs Valkey

A Valkey alternative built for many cores

Name: HotKV
Author: HotKV Ltd

A Valkey™ alternative has to keep the protocol. HotKV keeps RESP2 and RESP3, and replaces the single-threaded command loop with an engine where every core executes commands on one shared store. Measured against Valkey 9.1.2 on the same machine, with the method and raw data published.

Get early access See the measurements

Memory while a snapshot runs

Valkey, fork() HotKV, background thread

An illustration, not a measurement. Valkey and Redis fork a child process for an RDB snapshot, so pages written during the snapshot are copied. HotKV writes the snapshot from a background thread. Valkey's 9.2 release candidate adds an opt-in fork-less snapshot.

This Valkey alternative, run as a single instance on one 160-vCPU machine, led 12 of 12 commands against Valkey 9.1.2, at 8.6x to 56.6x the throughput. HotKV was built from source for that CPU. Valkey 9.1.2 ran as its stock build. The gap is smaller on small machines.

Drop-in

What stays the same with this Valkey alternative

HotKV implements the Redis wire protocol. Moving from Valkey is usually a change of host and credentials. Check the command reference for anything outside the core set.

Same protocol

Redis-compatible. RESP2 and RESP3 with HELLO negotiation, and HotKV reports Redis version 8.4.0 to clients, so libraries pick their features by it. Connection strings, pipelines, pub/sub and transactions work as they do today.

Same clients and tools

Redis and Valkey client libraries, redis-cli, redis-cli --cluster and GUI tools connect to HotKV without code changes for the core commands.

Same core commands

300 core commands, Lua scripting and function libraries, plus HotKV's own command families when you want them.

the client you already use

$ redis-cli -h <your-hotkv-host> -p 6379 --tls --user app --askpass
> HELLO 3
1# "server" => "hotkv"
2# "version" => "8.4.0"
3# "proto" => (integer) 3
   ... (four more fields)
> SET session:4821 "same protocol, every core"
OK
> GET session:4821
"same protocol, every core"
> TAG.SET session:4821 tenant:acme   # a HotKV command, when you want it
(integer) 1

The case for a Valkey alternative

Why teams look for a Valkey alternative

Documented properties of Valkey that send teams looking for a Valkey alternative, checked on October 21, 2026.

Commands run on one thread

Valkey executes commands on a single main thread. Its I/O threads read, parse, poll and write on the sockets. Command execution stays on the main thread, so scaling beyond it means more instances or a cluster. That is where a Valkey alternative earns its place.

AI workloads need extra pieces

Vector search in Valkey comes from the valkey-search module. A prompt cache, semantic cache, agent memory and LLM cost tracking are not part of the server. They have to be built or bought separately. A Valkey alternative with them built in saves that work.

Snapshots fork the process

An RDB snapshot forks a child process, so memory rises while a snapshot runs under write load. The Valkey 9.2 release candidate adds an opt-in fork-less snapshot.

Operations tooling is outside the server

Prometheus metrics need an exporter. In Valkey 9.1, hot key detection is a client-side option of valkey-cli. The 9.2 release candidate adds server-side HOTKEYS commands.

Measured, not claimed

This Valkey alternative, measured. HotKV vs Valkey 9.1.2 on one machine

HotKV Ltd ran HotKV and Valkey 9.1.2 one at a time, as single instances, on the same 160-vCPU machine. Each got the same load and every core. HotKV Ltd published every number with the method and raw data.

12 of 12
commands where HotKV measured the highest throughput against Valkey: 8.6x to 56.6x
HotKV's throughput as a multiple of Valkey's, across the 12 commands it led (MGET to SADD): None
commands where Valkey measured higher

HotKV Ltd built HotKV from source for this CPU. Valkey ran as its stock release build. Both ran as single instances. Thread counts followed each product's documented all-core setting and were not tuned per product. The gap is smaller on machines with few cores.

SET17.5x

HotKV

50.5M^*

Valkey

2.9M

17.5x

GET22.5x

HotKV

36.6M^*

Valkey

1.6M

22.5x

MGET8.6x

HotKV

4.6M^*

Valkey

537K

8.6x

SETNX29.7x

HotKV

55.3M^*

Valkey

1.9M

29.7x

APPEND19.4x

HotKV

25.1M

Valkey

1.3M

19.4x

INCR47.3x

HotKV

90.8M

Valkey

1.9M

47.3x

LPUSH37.5x

HotKV

31.6M

Valkey

842K

37.5x

RPUSH49.8x

HotKV

43.8M

Valkey

878K

49.8x

SADD56.6x

HotKV

50.6M^*

Valkey

894K

56.6x

HSET37.1x

HotKV

29.0M^*

Valkey

782K

37.1x

MSET24.3x

HotKV

11.3M

Valkey

465K

24.3x

PING36.0x

HotKV

125.2M^†

Valkey

3.5M

36.0x

Operations per second, median of 3 runs of 10 seconds. Each pair of bars scales to the faster server on that command.

^* Network-limited: the instance's network set this result, so the server's own limit is higher.

^† Load-generator-limited: the load-generator machines ran above 85% CPU, so this is their ceiling, not the server's.

Azure D160alds_v7 (AMD EPYC 9V45 (Turin), 160 vCPUs), measured October 9, 2026. 256-byte values, pipeline depth 30, 5,000,000 prefilled keys read uniformly at random. Three dedicated load-generator machines. Every server ran alone as a single instance with persistence off. Each got all cores (Redis 128 I/O threads, its maximum). HotKV Ltd built HotKV from source for this CPU and ran Valkey as its stock release build. Full method and results · Harness and raw data

Side by side

This Valkey alternative and Valkey, feature by feature

FeatureHotKVValkey

Command executionMulti-threaded. Every core reads, parses and executes commands on one shared storeSingle main thread. I/O threads read, parse, poll and write on the sockets

ProtocolRedis-compatible: RESP2 and RESP3 with HELLO negotiation. Reports Redis version 8.4.0 to clientsRESP2 and RESP3

LanguageC++20, built from scratchC

LicenceCommercial (HotKV Cloud, or an on-premise licence)BSD-3-Clause

PersistenceSnapshots and AOFRDB and AOF

Fork-less snapshotsYes. A background thread writes the snapshot, no forked child processOpt-in in the 9.2 release candidate

Vector similarity searchBuilt in (HNSW, VSIM.*), every planModule (valkey-search)

LLM prompt and semantic cacheBuilt in (PCACHE.*, SCACHE.*), Performance plan and above on HotKV CloudNo

AI agent memoryBuilt in (AMEM.*), Performance plan and above on HotKV CloudNo

LLM token and cost trackingBuilt in (LLMBUDGET.*, LLMSTATS.*), Performance plan and above on HotKV CloudNo

Prometheus endpointBuilt in. The server serves /metrics itself once metrics-port is set (on-premise)Separate exporter

Hot key detectionServer side (HOTKEYS), opt-inClient side in 9.1 (valkey-cli --hotkeys). Server-side HOTKEYS in the 9.2 release candidate

Key taggingYes (TAG.*)No

Nanosecond TTLYes (NEXPIRE, NTTL)No. Millisecond TTLs

Server platformsLinux (x86_64 and ARM64)Linux, macOS, BSD

DeploymentHotKV Cloud (Google Cloud, 42 regions) or on-premise under a licenceSelf-managed or managed by cloud providers

In fairness

Where Valkey is ahead of this Valkey alternative, or simply different

This Valkey alternative page is only useful when it says this part too.

Valkey is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence, free to use, and governed by the Linux Foundation. HotKV is a commercial Valkey alternative.
Valkey is offered as a managed engine by several cloud providers, including Amazon ElastiCache and Google Cloud Memorystore. HotKV Cloud runs on Google Cloud and is in early access.
Valkey runs on Linux, macOS and BSD. HotKV server builds are Linux only (x86_64 and ARM64).
On PING, HotKV's figure was set by the load generators, which ran at 86% CPU, so it is a lower bound. HotKV's GET used 100% of the outbound network cap and is a lower bound too. Valkey reached neither limit on any command.

Moving over

From Valkey to this Valkey alternative in four steps

What switching to a Valkey alternative involves in practice.

Create an instance

Pick a region and a plan in the HotKV Cloud console. The instance is a machine of its own, provisioned, patched and monitored for you.

Point your clients at it

Keep the client library you already use. Change the host, port and credentials from Valkey to the HotKV instance. TLS and password authentication are on from the start, with ACL users available. A Valkey alternative that speaks the same protocol needs no client changes for the core commands.

Move the data

Use the tools you already know. DUMP and RESTORE, MIGRATE, or a replay of your writes all work, because HotKV implements these commands.

Turn on what was missing

Vector search and key tagging are core commands on every plan. Prompt and semantic caches, agent memory and LLM cost tracking are commands of the same server on the Performance plan and above. No module, sidecar or second service. That is what a Valkey alternative should add.

Questions

Questions about this Valkey alternative

Do Valkey clients work with this Valkey alternative?

Yes. Valkey clients speak RESP2 and RESP3, which is what HotKV implements. valkey-cli, cluster-aware clients and GUI tools connect without code changes for the core commands.

How did HotKV compare with Valkey in the benchmark?

On an Azure D160alds_v7 with 160 vCPUs, run as single instances, HotKV recorded the highest median throughput on all 12 commands against Valkey 9.1.2. The multiple ran from at least 9 times on MGET to at least 57 times on SADD. Both were given all cores; Valkey's were I/O threads, since it executes commands on one thread.

Valkey is free. Why pay for a Valkey alternative?

You pay for the engine and the features that come with it. Multi-threaded execution, vector search, key tagging and nanosecond TTLs on every plan. The AI caches and agent memory from the Performance plan up. On HotKV Cloud, a dedicated machine per instance. If a single-threaded free server meets your load, Valkey is a good choice.

Can I run HotKV in my own cloud account?

Yes. HotKV On-Premise runs this Valkey alternative on your own servers or in your own cloud account under a licence, including air-gapped networks.

Put this Valkey alternative to the test with the clients you already have

HotKV Cloud is opening in waves. Every instance of this Valkey alternative is a dedicated machine with the multi-threaded engine. The AI command families come with the Performance and Scale plans.

Get early access Pricing