Garnet vs Dragonfly(2026)
Garnet is better for teams that need microsoft research backing. Dragonfly is the stronger choice if dramatically faster than redis. Garnet is open-source (from $0) and Dragonfly is open-source (from $0).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
By Bikram Nath
Affiliate disclosure: Some “Visit” links on this page are affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you sign up — at no extra cost to you. It does not affect our rankings or editorial coverage. Learn more.
Garnet
Garnet is Microsoft Research's open-source, Redis-compatible cache store built for cloud and edge workloads — with exceptional throughput, low latency, and strong consistency options.
Starting at $0
Visit GarnetDragonfly
Dragonfly is a modern in-memory data store fully compatible with Redis and Memcached APIs, but up to 25x faster and more memory-efficient thanks to its multi-threaded, shared-nothing architecture.
Starting at $0
Visit DragonflyHow Do Garnet and Dragonfly Compare on Features?
| Feature | Garnet | Dragonfly |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | open-source |
| Starting price | $0 | $0 |
| Redis API compatible | ✓ | ✓ |
| RESP3 protocol | ✓ | — |
| Cluster mode | ✓ | — |
| Strong/eventual consistency | ✓ | — |
| Pub/sub | ✓ | — |
| Scripting | ✓ | — |
| C# native | ✓ | — |
| Multi-threaded | — | ✓ |
| Up to 25x faster than Redis | — | ✓ |
| Lower memory usage | — | ✓ |
| Snapshots + replication | — | ✓ |
| Managed cloud | — | ✓ |
| Lua scripting | — | ✓ |
Garnet Pros and Cons vs Dragonfly
Garnet
Dragonfly
Should You Use Garnet or Dragonfly?
For most teams, Garnet is the better default: it offers microsoft research backing and is open-source (from $0). Choose Dragonfly instead if dramatically faster than redis matters more than very new (2024). There is no universal winner — the right pick depends on your budget, team size, and whether you value microsoft research backing or dramatically faster than redis more.
Choose Garnet if…
- •Microsoft Research backing
- •Excellent benchmark numbers
- •Redis compatible
Choose Dragonfly if…
- •Dramatically faster than Redis
- •Drop-in Redis replacement
- •Less memory usage