Redis license change triggers Valkey

The license change was a pricing power move, not a product move. Redis had already proven that hyperscalers could turn a permissive codebase into a managed service business, so shifting new releases to RSALv2 and SSPLv1 was a way to force cloud vendors to either sign commercial terms, stay on older BSD code, or maintain their own fork. Valkey is the clearest result of that tradeoff.1 2 3

• The March 20, 2024 change applied starting with Redis 7.4 and all future releases. RSALv2 blocks commercializing Redis as a managed service, while SSPLv1 allows service use only if the provider opens the surrounding service management stack under SSPL terms.2
• Valkey launched eight days later, on March 28, 2024, under Linux Foundation governance, continuing from Redis 7.2.4 under BSD 3 Clause. That gave AWS, Google, Oracle, Ericsson, and others a neutral codebase they could ship without negotiating new license economics with Redis.1 3
• This split sharpened Redis's model. Commercial customers buying Redis Software, Redis Cloud, or BYOC are paying for newer features, support, and managed operations, while the open ecosystem now has a separate community path. Other database companies like ClickHouse and CockroachDB compete more on architecture and service, not on forks triggered by a core license break.4 5 6

Going forward, Redis is turning the codebase into a tighter commercial funnel, while Valkey becomes the pressure valve for users and cloud vendors that want a fully open governance model. That means product velocity and enterprise packaging matter even more for Redis, because licensing alone only works if the newer branch keeps pulling customers forward.2 3 4