Redis is now available under the AGPLv3 open source license (Redis blog)

After a somewhat tumultuous switch to theServer Side Public License (SSPL) in March 2024, Redis has backtrackedand is now offering Redis under theAffero GPLv3 (AGPLv3) starting with Redis8, CEO Rowan Trollopeannounced. The change back to an open-source license was led by Redis creator Salvatore"antirez" Sanfillipo, who also contributed the new Vector Sets feature forthe release. He said:

I'll be honest: I truly wanted the code I wrote for the new Vector Sets data type to be released under an open source license. Writing open source software is too rooted in me: I rarely wrote anything else in my career. I'm too old to start now. This may be childish, but I wrote Vector Sets with a huge amount of enthusiasm exactly because I knew Redis (and my new work) was going to be open source again.

I understand that the core of our work is to improve Redis, to continue building a good system, useful, simple, able to change with the requirements of the software stack. Yet, returning back to an open source license is the basis for such efforts to be coherent with the Redis project, to be accepted by the user base, and to contribute to a human collective effort that is larger than any single company. So, honestly, while I can't take credit for the license switch, I hope I contributed a little bit to it, because today I'm happy. I'm happy that Redis is open source software again, under the terms of the AGPLv3 license.

Since last year's license switch, though, the Valkey project has sprung up as a fork underthe original 3-clause BSD license.