Redis, the popular in-memory data store, is making a bold move by changing its open-source three-clause BSD license. Instead of its usual license, Redis will now be dual-licensed under the Redis Source Available License (RSALv2) and Server Side Public License (SSPLv1). This change is a clear attempt to prevent major cloud providers from offering free alternatives to Redis’ own hosted services. The first company to execute this new license is Microsoft.
In addition to this change, Redis is also expanding its capabilities by acquiring storage engine Speedb, pronounced ‘speedy-bee’. This move will take Redis beyond its current focus on in-memory storage.
Changes to Redis License
While the switch in licensing may come as a surprise to some, it is not uncommon in the open source community. Companies like MongoDB, Elastic, and Confluent have all made similar moves. Even Redis Labs, before it was renamed Redis, went through a series of changes in 2018 and 2019 regarding how it licensed its Redis Modules. This was when the company first introduced the Redis Source Available License.
“We switched for the same reasons that other companies have switched – to protect our investment in open source,” explains Redis CEO Rowan Trollope, who joined the company just over a year ago. “Especially with Speedb, this is a significant investment for us as a startup. If we put that in there and the major cloud service providers can simply take it and offer it to their customers without any payment, that would be problematic for us.”
The company is aware of how this change may be perceived by the open source community. However, Trollope reassures that after briefing many customers about the change, there was no controversy. He acknowledges that with the new license, Redis will not be considered pure open source according to the Open Source Institute. However, he emphasizes that Redis will continue to operate transparently and allow any company to utilize the open source version of Redis.
“In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon sponsors a fork,” Trollope adds. “Microsoft has already licensed Redis. We are open for business for both Google and Amazon to license the software. It’s not that they cannot continue to use Redis, they just need to enter a commercial agreement with us.”
With this license change, Redis is also combining Redis Stack and Redis Community Edition into one distribution. Redis Stack, introduced in 2022, is an advanced distribution that combines popular modules, a visualization tool, and a client SDK. Due to the BSD license, Redis was unable to incorporate its latest innovations into Redis Core. This resulted in missing features like search and query. The move to consolidate these distributions will simplify the process for users who previously had to download multiple pieces to get the most out of Redis.
Acquisition of Speedb
Aside from the licensing change, Redis also announced its acquisition of Speedb. At its core, Speedb is a RocksDB-compatible key-value storage engine, which may seem like an odd addition for an in-memory data store like Redis.
Trollope acknowledges the initial confusion but explains the reasoning behind the acquisition. “For the longest time, Redis was solely focused on in-memory storage. At the time, using RAM was the only way to achieve the level of performance we desired. However, with the advent of speedy NVMe drives with high transfer rates, we saw an opportunity to combine fast drives with in-memory storage, creating a large cache in between.”
With the increasing amount of data and the high cost of RAM, Trollope explains that this new option will open up new use cases, including AI, that were previously unattainable for many companies.
In addition to the acquisition, Redis has quietly acquired many language-specific open source client libraries over the past year. Trollope clarifies that these libraries will remain open source. He also mentions that this move will eliminate confusion for developers and allow Redis to take a more active role in guiding the development of these tools.
Trollope reveals that we may see more acquisitions from Redis in the future. “There are many data companies that have not reached escape velocity yet. Redis and Databricks are the two larger companies on the pre-IPO track. However, there are many smaller companies out there. I believe there will be significant consolidation within the industry. I cannot comment on our specific plans, but there are many opportunities for acquisitions.”
Despite the recent economic downturn, Redis was on its way to an IPO. Trollope reassures that the company is still prepared to go public once the IPO window opens again (potentially with Databricks leading the way).
Regarding the future of Speedb, Trollope shares that Redis will not be selling the storage engine for long. However, for the time being, the company will continue to support Speedb’s customers.
