Introduction: The Redis® Problem DigitalOcean Users Didn’t Expect
For years, Redis has been a core part of DigitalOcean’s managed services lineup. Developers relied on it to handle caching, queues, and real-time workloads with the same ease they expect from DigitalOcean’s droplets and databases. That changed in 2024. Redis licensing updates forced DigitalOcean to rebrand its managed Redis offering as Managed Caching, and more importantly, to freeze it at Redis 7.2.
At first glance, this doesn’t sound catastrophic. Redis 7.2 is a modern release, and many applications run fine on it today. But under the surface lies a looming problem: Redis 7.2 will reach End of Life (EOL) in February 2026. After that point, no new patches, bug fixes, or security updates will be released.
If you’re running Redis on DigitalOcean today, you now need to decide if in the future you run on an unsupported version indefinitely or move to Redis Cloud with forced upgrade schedules that can disrupt your roadmap. Alternatively you abandon Redis entirely, but then you’re investing in rewriting parts of your application stack.
Fortunately, you don’t have to compromise. With ScaleGrid, you can continue running Redis on DigitalOcean safely, with full version flexibility and without the pressure of forced upgrades. This article explains what changed, why it matters, and how ScaleGrid provides a reliable path forward.
What Happened: Redis® Licensing Changed, and Providers Shifted
The roots of this issue go back to March 2024, when Redis Labs announced that the core Redis project would move away from the BSD 3-Clause, which is a permissive open-source license that grants broad rights to use, copy, modify, and distribute software, provided users include the original copyright notice and license text in their redistributions. Starting with Redis 7.4, Redis was released under a dual license model: RSALv2 and SSPLv1.
Both licenses impose restrictions that the BSD license never had. RSALv2 prevents cloud providers from offering Redis as a managed service without an agreement, while SSPLv1 goes further by requiring anyone who provides Redis “as-a-service” to release much of their own service infrastructure as open source. In practice, this meant that many managed hosting providers could no longer offer newer Redis versions without legal or commercial agreements.
DigitalOcean was one of them. Behind the scenes, their Managed Redis service was powered by Aiven, which decided to step back from Redis for the same reasons. As a result, DigitalOcean rebranded Managed Redis to Managed Caching, capped support at version 7.2, and provided no roadmap for 7.4 or beyond.
This shift left many DigitalOcean users in limbo. Redis was still available, but not in a way that would sustain production workloads over the long term.
Redis 7.2: A Ticking Clock
For now, Redis 7.2 remains fully functional, but its days are numbered. Under Redis’ published product lifecycle policy, Redis 7.2 reaches End of Life in February 2026. That’s less than two years away.
When a version reaches End of Life, Redis Labs stops issuing patches and updates. Over time, that can expose workloads to security vulnerabilities, stability concerns, and compatibility issues with newer libraries or modules. For teams running production systems, the risk is real — but the bigger challenge is not simply the age of the version, it’s the lack of choice. On DigitalOcean’s Managed Caching service, you’re locked to Redis 7.2 with no upgrade path. On Redis Cloud, you’re forced to upgrade on their schedule, whether your application is ready or not.
This loss of control is the real problem. Some organizations need to stay on older Redis versions for legacy reasons, while others want access to the latest releases to unlock new capabilities. Neither DigitalOcean’s freeze nor Redis Cloud’s forced upgrades provide that flexibility.
What About Redis 6.x and Older?
Redis 7.2 is the focal point because it’s the last version available on DigitalOcean’s managed service, but many teams are still running Redis 6.2 or earlier. These older releases are already past their supported lifecycle. Redis 6.2 reached End of Life in February 2025, and Redis 6.0 has been unsupported for even longer.
For these teams, Redis Cloud no longer supports these versions, leaving many organizations without an obvious upgrade path.
This is where ScaleGrid stands apart. ScaleGrid–an open source DBaaS platform–supports Redis versions from 3.x through 7.4+, ensuring that even if your workloads are pinned to older dependencies, you can run them securely while planning an eventual upgrade. We explored this in detail in our article on Surviving Redis End of Life: Upgrade or Migrate? but the key takeaway is simple: ScaleGrid doesn’t force version upgrades on the databases and services it manages, including when when databases such as Redis reach their official EOL.
Why You Might Want to Stay on DigitalOcean
It’s easy to assume that if DigitalOcean has frozen its managed Redis service, the natural next step is to switch clouds entirely. But for many teams, leaving DigitalOcean is neither practical nor desirable. DigitalOcean has built a reputation as the developer-friendly cloud, offering straightforward pricing, intuitive interfaces, and an ecosystem that makes it easy for small teams and startups to operate like larger organizations without the overhead.
From a technical perspective, applications already running on DigitalOcean droplets, Kubernetes, or other managed databases, Redis is not just another service — it’s part of a tightly integrated environment. By keeping Redis close to your other workloads, you avoid the complexity of cross-cloud networking, which can add latency, introduce new security considerations, and complicate billing. Running everything under one roof allows teams to move faster and troubleshoot issues more easily, since infrastructure remains consistent and familiar.
There is also the cost dimension. DigitalOcean’s transparent and predictable pricing is one of its strongest appeals, particularly for startups and growth-stage companies where every dollar counts. Shifting to another cloud provider often comes with higher baseline costs, hidden networking charges, or forced scaling models that don’t align with your actual usage. For teams that have already optimized their spend on DigitalOcean, staying within its ecosystem makes financial sense.
Just as important is the developer experience. DigitalOcean’s simplicity reduces the cognitive load on teams, letting them focus on building features rather than managing infrastructure. For many, moving to another provider would mean rearchitecting applications, reconfiguring CI/CD pipelines, and retraining developers — all of which can slow down velocity. By staying on DigitalOcean, you preserve the workflows your team already knows, while still being able to modernize your Redis deployment through ScaleGrid.
In short, many teams want Redis, and they want to stay on DigitalOcean. The challenge is finding a way to do both.
How ScaleGrid Solves This Problem for Redis on DigitalOcean
ScaleGrid offers a clear solution: managed Redis deployed directly into your own DigitalOcean account. That means you get the best of both worlds — Redis hosted in the DigitalOcean environment you know and trust, with full control over versions and lifecycle.
With ScaleGrid, you can run Redis 7.4, stick with 7.2, or even maintain older versions if your applications require them. There are no forced lock-ins, no arbitrary cutoffs, and no surprise upgrade schedules. You decide when to move forward.
At the same time, ScaleGrid handles the operational complexity: automated backups, high availability and failover, monitoring, scaling, and patching. Whether your workload is a small cache or a large production cluster, ScaleGrid provides the reliability you need while keeping you firmly in control.
Migration Path: How to Move Your Redis® Deployment to ScaleGrid
Migrating from DigitalOcean’s Managed Caching service to ScaleGrid may sound daunting, but it’s a well-defined process and it doesn’t mean giving up control or visibility. Developers can manage every stage of the move with the same level of detail they expect from their infrastructure.
The first step is creating a new Redis deployment inside ScaleGrid. Through the ScaleGrid console, you can choose the exact Redis version (from legacy 3.2 to the latest 7.4), select the hosting plan, and configure options like standalone, replica set, or clustered deployment. As ScaleGrid supports Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC), you can also deploy Redis directly inside your existing Digital Ocean account, ensuring that your data never leaves your cloud environment.
Once provisioned, ScaleGrid gives you a dedicated endpoint and port, along with credentials for admin-level access. Developers can immediately verify connectivity using the redis-cli or application-level drivers, just as they would with a self-managed deployment. For BYOC users on DigitalOcean, network security is configured directly in your DigitalOcean account — for example, setting up firewall rules to restrict access by IP range. ScaleGrid integrates seamlessly with this setup, so you maintain the same security controls you already use for your infrastructure.
With the target deployment ready, the migration shifts to data transfer. Smaller datasets can be migrated using standard backup and restore: export an RDB snapshot or AOF log from your DigitalOcean instance and import it into ScaleGrid. For production environments with larger datasets or continuous writes, ScaleGrid supports live import options. Using Redis-Shake, data can be synced incrementally between source and target, reducing downtime to only the final cutover.
Once the data is synchronized, writes to the old Redis instance are stopped to prevent divergence. At that point, application traffic is redirected to the new ScaleGrid-managed endpoint. Developers can then validate data integrity, monitor performance in the ScaleGrid dashboard, and configure alerts for memory usage, CPU thresholds, replica lag, and disk capacity. For clustered deployments, ScaleGrid’s console exposes cluster state and slot allocation, making it easier to confirm that sharding is working as expected.
It’s important to note that restore operations overwrite data on the target deployment, so any testing should be done in a fresh environment. For clustered Redis, additional planning around slot migration may be required, and ScaleGrid provides documentation and support for those scenarios.
The result is a migration process that is both transparent and developer-friendly. You retain full visibility into the steps, while ScaleGrid provides the platform features and tooling to ensure the transition is smooth, secure, and efficient.
Migration Support and Full Redis Lifecycle Control with ScaleGrid
While the migration path is technically straightforward, many teams worry about choosing the wrong Redis version or encountering downtime in production. That’s why ScaleGrid approaches migration as a guided process. We begin by helping you select the Redis version that makes the most sense for your application — whether that means staying on 6.x or older versions for legacy compatibility, running 7.2 as a stable bridge, or moving directly to 7.4 for the latest features. Our engineers work with you to validate your deployment, assist with configuration best practices, and plan the cutover. For workloads where minimizing downtime is critical, we can advise on strategies such as incremental sync and phased switchover, helping to reduce impact and ensure a smooth transition. Speak to the ScaleGrid team to discuss your requirements.
Once you’ve completed the migration, the advantages extend far beyond the cutover. With ScaleGrid, you regain control of your Redis lifecycle. Unlike Redis Cloud, where versions are retired quickly and upgrades are mandatory, ScaleGrid supports Redis from 3.2 through 7.4. That means you can remain on older releases when stability is your priority or adopt the latest features when your roadmap allows. The decision is yours, not dictated by an outside vendor.
This combination of expert migration support today and lifecycle freedom tomorrow ensures that Redis can remain a dependable part of your DigitalOcean infrastructure for the long term. You gain confidence in the transition and the flexibility to evolve at your own pace, without lock-ins or forced timelines.
Conclusion: Redis on DigitalOcean Isn’t Dead — But You Need a New Strategy
The freeze of Redis on DigitalOcean is more than a versioning inconvenience. It exposes teams to the growing risks of running unsupported software, from unpatched vulnerabilities to compliance failures that can stall business growth. Ignoring these timelines doesn’t just affect infrastructure — it can slow down your ability to deliver secure, reliable products to your users.
Abandoning DigitalOcean in search of Redis support carries its own costs. Re-architecting applications, absorbing higher cloud bills, and retraining developers can drain time and focus away from your core priorities. Meanwhile, Redis Cloud forces upgrades on its schedule, not yours, creating disruption where you need stability.
This is why a deliberate strategy matters. ScaleGrid provides more than continuity — it gives you control. By supporting Redis across versions from 3.2 onwards, ScaleGrid allows you to modernize on your terms while ensuring expert guidance is available at every step. That means your Redis deployment becomes a tool that strengthens your overall DigitalOcean strategy, not a weak link that forces compromises.
Redis on DigitalOcean isn’t dead. It’s evolving — and now is the moment to decide whether that evolution will happen by default, or by design. With ScaleGrid, you’re not just keeping Redis alive; you’re aligning it with a broader vision of stability, flexibility, cloud independence and long-term growth for your infrastructure.
Get started today with a 7-day free trial of ScaleGrid for Redis.
