The New Source-Available License Enables Redis to Sustainably Offer Source Code Access and Lead Redis into the Next Stage as a Real-Time Data Platform

Redis source code will continue to be available for free to developers, customers, and partners through the Redis Community Edition. Future Redis source-available releases will unify core Redis and Redis Stack—including features like search, JSON, vector, probabilistic, and time series data models—into a single, downloadable, and easy-to-use package.

This will make it easy for anyone to use Redis in various environments, including as a high-performance key/value and document store, a powerful query engine, and a low-latency vector database that supports generative AI applications.

Under the new license, cloud service providers hosting Redis products will no longer be permitted to use Redis source code for free. For example, cloud providers will only be able to offer Redis 7.4 after agreeing to license terms with Redis (the maintainers of the code). These agreements will ensure continued support for existing integrated solutions and provide comprehensive access to upcoming Redis innovations.

“Our collaboration will continue to support integrated solutions like Azure Cache for Redis and provide Microsoft customers exclusive access to advanced Redis features.”
— Julia Liuson, President, Developer Division, Microsoft

In practice, nothing changes for the Redis developer community. Users can continue to enjoy the permissive licensing under dual licenses. At the same time, all Redis client libraries maintained by Redis will remain open source. Redis will continue to support its vast partner ecosystem—including managed service providers and systems integrators—and offer exclusive access to all future versions, updates, and features developed through its partner program. There are no changes for existing Redis Enterprise customers.

The new licensing approach aims to strike the best balance between widely providing Redis source code, supporting the developer community with minimal restrictions, and preserving Redis’s ability to continue investing in feature-rich free software and enterprise products. As always, the Redis team, community, customers, and partners will continue leading the development and deployment of Redis as a leading real-time data platform.

Q&A on the Redis Licensing Change

1. What change did Redis make?

Starting with Redis v7.4, Redis is transitioning from the BSD 3-Clause License to a dual license model for its core software using either the Redis Source Available License version 2 (RSALv2) or the Server Side Public License version 1 (SSPLv1). This dual licensing will apply to all future versions of Redis.

RSALv2 is a permissive, non-copyleft license that grants rights to “use, copy, distribute, provide, and prepare derivative works of the software” with only two main restrictions. Under RSALv2, users may not:

Commercialize the software or offer it as a hosted service to others;

Remove or obscure any license, copyright, or other notices.

To be clear, RSALv2 and SSPL are not OSI-approved licenses and come with their own limitations. In short, RSALv2 imposes certain restrictions on the commercialization of the software, while SSPLv1 requires anyone offering the product as a service to publicly release any modifications and management code under SSPL.

Other Redis-related components (such as language-specific client libraries, Terraform and Pulumi providers, etc.) are not affected by this change.

Additionally, starting with Redis 8, new data types and processing engines that were previously licensed under RSALv2 or SSPLv1 as part of Redis Stack will be included in the core product and will no longer be distributed separately.

2. Why make this change?

Redis wants all developers to have access to its best technologies. By adopting this license, Redis can better manage the commercial use of its source code while continuing to invest in a thriving practitioner community—some of whom are also contributors—without limiting their ability to work.

3. What is the impact on end users of the Redis open source product?

For end users using Redis open source versions for internal or personal use, or using new versions under the dual license, there is no change.

4. What is the impact on third-party libraries using Redis?

There is no change for integration partners building client libraries or other integrations on top of Redis.

5. What is the impact on Redis commercial customers?

There is no change for Redis commercial customers. These customers receive Redis technology under separately negotiated license terms.

6. Who is affected by the change?

Organizations offering competitive products based on Redis will no longer be permitted to use new Redis source code versions for free under either of the dual licenses. Commercial licensing terms are available to enable use cases beyond the RSALv2 or SSPLv1 license limitations.

7. What does Redis define as a “competitive product” under RSALv2 or SSPLv1?

A “competitive product” refers to a product sold to third parties—such as through paid support agreements—that is derived from Redis’s codebase and significantly overlaps with Redis’s commercial products. This includes hosting or embedding Redis as part of a solution that competes with Redis Enterprise Software or Redis Cloud. Custom license terms are available to provide additional clarity and support use cases that exceed the RSALv2 or SSPLv1 restrictions.