Pogocache, created by Tile38 author Josh Baker, has hit general availability with bold performance claims, multi-protocol support, and an AGPLv3 open source licence.
Pogocache, a new open source caching software, has reached 1.0 general availability with a focus on low latency and CPU efficiency. The project positions itself as a next-generation caching solution, claiming better throughput and lower latency than established open-source alternatives such as Redis and Memcached.
Developed by Josh Baker, the creator of the geospatial database Tile38 and the TG library, Pogocache is written in C and runs as a server-based program. It supports Memcache, Valkey/Redis, HTTP, and PostgreSQL wire protocols, enabling developers to use familiar tools like curl and psql. Protocols are automatically detected, removing the need for multiple port management.
“Pogocache is faster than Memcache, Valkey, Redis, Dragonfly, and Garnet. It has the lowest latency per request, providing the quickest response times. It’s optimized to scale from one to many cores, giving you the best single-threaded and multithreaded performance,” said Baker. Benchmarks on AWS c8g.8xlarge highlight its throughput and memory efficiency.
Design features include a sharded hashmap with up to 4096 shards, Robin Hood hashing, and automatic thread configuration at startup. Pogocache can also be embedded directly into existing software via a single self-contained C file, delivering over 100M operations per second. “Running embedded provides raw speed, with over 100M ops per second,” Baker added.
Experts have noted its multi-protocol design. Simon Willison, co-creator of Django, commented: “Performance aside, the most interesting thing about Pogocache is the server interface it provides: it emulates the APIs for Redis and Memcached, provides a simple HTTP API and lets you talk to it over the PostgreSQL wire protocol as well!”
While early community response is positive, others remain cautious. Cezar Henrique da Costa e Souza wrote: “The true test for Pogocache lies ahead. How will these benchmarks hold up under rigorous, independent scrutiny across varied production workloads?”
The roadmap includes domain-specific integrations, shared memory access, and enterprise tooling. The latest 1.1 release adds automatic sweeps of expired keys. Pogocache is licensed under AGPLv3.
