memcached - a distributed memory object caching system

What is Memcached?

Free & open source, high-performance, distributed memory object caching system, generic in nature, but intended for use in speeding up dynamic web applications by alleviating database load.

Memcached is an in-memory key-value store for small chunks of arbitrary data (strings, objects) from results of database calls, API calls, or page rendering.

Memcached is simple yet powerful. Its simple design promotes quick deployment, ease of development, and solves many problems facing large data caches. Its API is available for most popular languages.

Supported by

 Netflix  Equinix Metal

Download Memcached

The latest stable memcached release is
v1.6.24
release notes (2024-2-27)

Quick Example

Cache Results

function get_foo(foo_id)
    foo = memcached_get("foo:" . foo_id)
    return foo if defined foo

    foo = fetch_foo_from_database(foo_id)
    memcached_set("foo:" . foo_id, foo)
    return foo
end

Play with telnet

$ telnet localhost 11211
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
get foo
VALUE foo 0 2
hi
END
stats
STAT pid 8861
(etc)


Got a Question?

Chat

If you are curious about something, feel free to ask on the support chats - join the Discord Chat

Wiki

Many common questions are answered at the Memcached Wiki.

Email

Please feel free to bug us on the memcached mailing list.

Interested in business support, or sponsoring memcached's development? Cache Forge