Aiven for Valkey vs Amazon ElastiCache: pricing
Managed Redis / Valkey · snapshot captured June 2026
On entry cost, Amazon ElastiCache has the lower entry cost (~$12/mo vs ~$60/mo). Aiven for Valkey uses all-inclusive monthly plans and Amazon ElastiCache uses node-hour (by ram) or serverless (per gb-hour + ecpu). Their representative entry tiers are ~$60/mo (Startup (from $60/month)) and ~$12/mo (cache.t4g.micro (0.5 GiB)). For scale, at the top tier we list, Aiven for Valkey ($70/mo) is below Amazon ElastiCache ($160/mo). Prices are a June-2026 snapshot; verify on the linked vendor pricing page before relying on them.
Data as of June 2026.
Aiven for Valkey vs Amazon ElastiCache side by side
| Factor | Aiven for Valkey | Amazon ElastiCache |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | Redis / Valkey | Redis / Valkey |
| Vendor | Aiven | Amazon Web Services |
| Pricing model | All-inclusive monthly plans | Node-hour (by RAM) or serverless (per GB-hour + ECPU) |
| Representative tier | Startup (from $60/month) | cache.t4g.micro (0.5 GiB) |
| Est. entry / month | ~$60/mo | ~$12/mo |
| Free tier? | Yes | No |
| Free tier detail | Free plan (1 GB RAM, $0/month, single-node). | No always-free node tier (historic 12-month t3/t4g.micro offer for new accounts may apply). |
| Storage / extras | Compute and memory bundled into each plan; you pick plan + cloud + region. | Serverless option bills $0.084/GB-hour stored + $0.0023 per million ECPUs (Valkey rates), 100 MB minimum. |
| Region note | Multi-cloud; Aiven moved from 'Aiven for Redis' to Valkey after the 2024 license change. | US East (N. Virginia), us-east-1, on-demand; for Valkey / Redis OSS. |
Sources: Aiven pricing · Amazon Web Services pricing.
Cheaper for small vs cheaper for scale
Small / starting out: Aiven for Valkey wins — it has a free tier. On a flat entry tier, Amazon ElastiCache has the lower entry cost (~$12/mo vs ~$60/mo).
At scale: at the top tier we list, Aiven for Valkey ($70/mo) is below Amazon ElastiCache ($160/mo). Remember that Aiven for Valkey is provisioned while Amazon ElastiCache is usage-based, which flips the answer depending on whether your traffic is steady or spiky.
Verdict
On entry cost alone, Amazon ElastiCache has the lower entry cost (~$12/mo vs ~$60/mo). But price is only part of the story: Aiven for Valkey (open-source valkey (bsd) instead of source-available redis) versus Amazon ElastiCache (tight aws/vpc integration and valkey + redis oss support). Read each full breakdown — Aiven for Valkey and Amazon ElastiCache — and model your real workload in the estimator.
Frequently asked questions
Is Aiven for Valkey or Amazon ElastiCache cheaper?
On entry cost, Amazon ElastiCache has the lower entry cost (~$12/mo vs ~$60/mo). And at the top tier we list, Aiven for Valkey ($70/mo) is below Amazon ElastiCache ($160/mo). The right answer depends on your workload size and traffic pattern — Aiven for Valkey uses all-inclusive monthly plans and Amazon ElastiCache uses node-hour (by ram) or serverless (per gb-hour + ecpu). snapshot captured June 2026.
Aiven for Valkey vs Amazon ElastiCache: which for a small project?
For a small project, lean to whichever has a usable free tier and the lower entry price. Aiven for Valkey: Free plan (1 GB RAM, $0/month, single-node). Amazon ElastiCache has no real free tier.
Aiven for Valkey vs Amazon ElastiCache: which scales better on cost?
At scale, at the top tier we list, Aiven for Valkey ($70/mo) is below Amazon ElastiCache ($160/mo). Usage-based offerings (serverless) can be cheaper for spiky or low-duty workloads but more expensive for steady high throughput; provisioned/instance pricing is the opposite. Model your real traffic before deciding.
What is the pricing model for Aiven for Valkey and Amazon ElastiCache?
Aiven for Valkey: All-inclusive monthly plans. Amazon ElastiCache: Node-hour (by RAM) or serverless (per GB-hour + ECPU). Prices are a June-2026 snapshot; verify on the linked vendor pricing page before relying on them.
More comparisons
Last updated: 2026-06-20