Infinispan is open source in-memory distributed database and data grid platform for Java teams that need scalable key/value storage, caching, and search across elastic clusters.
What it is
Infinispan is open source in-memory database and data grid platform written in Java, Apache-2.0 licensed. It provides key/value data store holding all data types, from Java objects to plain text. Data distributes across elastically scalable clusters for high availability and fault tolerance. Deployment works both as volatile cache and as persistent data store, same API surface either way.
Problem solved: replacing separate cache tier and NoSQL store with single distributed data grid. In Java ecosystem, app needs fast reads, survives node loss, and scales horizontally. Traditional answer: bolt on external cache plus separate database plus custom replication code. Infinispan replaces that stack with embedded library (infinispan-core from Maven Central) or standalone infinispan-server. Lives in Java/JVM ecosystem. Runs JVM 17 through 25. Used by Keycloak, Hibernate, Debezium per project. Topics span inmemory-cache, key-value-store, nosql, persistent-storage, search-engine, semantic-search, vector-database.
Key capabilities
- Distributed key/value store holding Java objects and plain text, with data distributed across elastic clusters for high availability and fault tolerance.
- Dual-mode operation: same platform as volatile cache or persistent data store.
infinispan-core artifact published to Maven Central; stable line 16.1, development line 16.2.infinispan-server for standalone deployments.- In-memory search plus semantic search and vector database support, per topic list.
- JVM 17–25 support.
- OpenSSF Best Practices baseline badge. Apache-2.0 license.
Who uses it and how
- Keycloak uses Infinispan, per project badge — authentication session and cache workload.
- Hibernate uses it — second-level cache and query caching for JPA persistence.
- Debezium uses it — change data capture pipelines needing distributed state.
- Java teams embedding
infinispan-core as library dependency instead of operating separate cache cluster.
- Operators deploying
infinispan-server cluster for persistent data store mode, not just volatile caching.
Getting started
Start at 5 Minutes Getting Started on infinispan.org, or pull infinispan-core from Maven Central. infinispan-simple-tutorials repo has runnable examples.
How it compares
Facts name no paid products replaced. Comparable tooling not named in facts either, so it stands alone in this registry on that axis. Self-hosting, Apache-2.0 licence, no vendor cost model imposed.
When to use it — and when not to
Self-hoster operates distributed cluster, persistence storage, and JVM runtime — data grid is infrastructure, not managed service. Do not pick it for simple local caching where plain ConcurrentHashMap or single-node cache suffices; distribution and cluster coordination are overhead there. README is sparse — links to docs and tutorials, no architecture detail in repo root — so expect to read external documentation before committing.
project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline
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Infinispan, In-Memory Distributed Database
Infinispan is an open-source in-memory database that offers flexible deployment options and robust capabilities for
storing, managing, and processing data.
Infinispan provides a key/value data store that can hold all types of data, from Java objects to plain text.
Infinispan distributes your data across elastically scalable clusters to guarantee high availability and fault
tolerance, whether you use Infinispan as a volatile cache or a persistent data store.
Getting Started
Contributing
For contributing guidelines please refer to this document. All contributions are subject
to Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO).
The Infinispan project team