Best caching tools for web apps (buyer asking for advice)

We asked 10 models: My web app's pages are slow because of repeated database queries. Which caching tool would you recommend? Each named its own top 10.

Asked 4 ways: List request · Buyer asking for advice · Search query · Worth paying for?. Share of voice pools every wording.

Agreement between models: 69%
Same model, run twice: 83%
Different picks: 29

When agreement between models is well below a model's agreement with itself, the split reflects real differences in taste rather than randomness.

The consensus

Each cell is the position that model gave the pick; blank means it left the pick off. Click a row for each model's reasoning.

#	Pick	Listed by	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
1	Redis	10/10	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#1) Fast in-memory store; the default choice for caching query results across app servers. GPT-6 Luna (#1) Fast in-memory cache with broad client support and mature persistence and eviction options. Gemini 4 Argon (#1) The industry standard in-memory data store with rich data structures and massive ecosystem support. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#1) De facto standard for query result caching; extremely fast, easy to add to web apps. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#1) Blazing fast in-memory cache with persistence, the industry standard for web apps. GLM-5.3 (#1) In-memory store, de facto standard for caching repeated database queries at scale. Kimi K3 (#1) The gold standard for database query caching; fast, mature, ubiquitous. MiniMax M3 (#1) Fastest in-memory store; ideal for query result caching. Mistral Large 4 (#1) In-memory data store, lightning-fast, ideal for query result caching. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#1) In-memory speed eliminates repeated DB hits
2	Memcached	10/10	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#2) Simple, lightweight, multithreaded key-value cache well suited to database query caching. GPT-6 Luna (#2) Simple, proven distributed in-memory caching purpose-built for reducing repeated database reads. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#2) Simple distributed memory cache; rock-solid for caching repeated database query results. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#2) Lightweight, battle-tested distributed cache for simple key-value workloads. GLM-5.3 (#2) Simple, fast, proven key-value cache for query results with low overhead. Kimi K3 (#2) Dead-simple, blazing-fast key-value cache; zero overhead for query results. MiniMax M3 (#2) Simple, battle-tested memory cache for repeated queries. Mistral Large 4 (#2) Simple, high-performance distributed memory caching, reduces DB load. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#2) Simple distributed cache for query results Gemini 4 Argon (#3) Simple, battle-tested, and ultra-fast multi-threaded key-value caching ideal for straightforward database query results.
3	Varnish Cache	8/10	3			4	5	5	3	3	3	4
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#3) HTTP reverse proxy cache that offloads repeated page requests before they reach the app. Kimi K3 (#3) Superb HTTP-level caching when entire pages or fragments can be cached. MiniMax M3 (#3) HTTP-level cache that slashes database load for pages. Mistral Large 4 (#3) HTTP accelerator that caches full pages at the edge, massive speedup. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#4) HTTP-level reverse-proxy cache; caches whole pages, reducing query load entirely. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#4) HTTP accelerator caches full page responses DeepSeek V4 Pro (#5) HTTP reverse proxy that caches full pages, ideal for reducing DB reads. GLM-5.3 (#5) Great for caching full HTTP responses when pages, not queries, are the bottleneck.
4	Amazon ElastiCache	8/10	8	3	10	3	6	3			6	3
GPT-6 Luna (#3) Managed Redis and Memcached services simplify deployment, scaling, and operations on AWS. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#3) Managed Redis/Memcached hosting removes operational burden from your team. GLM-5.3 (#3) Managed Redis/Memcached; ideal if already running on AWS. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#3) Managed Redis/Memcached on AWS Mistral Large 4 (#6) Managed Redis/Memcached on AWS, zero ops overhead. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#8) Managed Redis or Memcached service; low operational burden for production caching.
5	Hazelcast	8/10	4	9	6		3	8	7	4		10
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#3) Embedded distributed cache with near-cache for sub-millisecond lookups. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#4) Distributed in-memory data grid with near-cache support for Java-based web apps. MiniMax M3 (#4) Distributed in-memory cache with strong consistency features. Gemini 4 Argon (#6) Distributed in-memory data grid providing near-cache capabilities and strong consistency for enterprise applications. Kimi K3 (#7) Solid in-memory data grid; good when you need more than caching. GLM-5.3 (#8) In-memory data grid with near-cache features for Java-heavy stacks. GPT-6 Luna (#9) Distributed in-memory data platform with caching and flexible deployment options. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#10) Distributed cache with near-realtime access
6	KeyDB	6/10		8	5	6		6	6	8
Gemini 4 Argon (#5) High-performance, multi-threaded fork of Redis that scales vertically on multicore hardware with ease. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#6) Multithreaded Redis-compatible server offering higher throughput on fewer cores. GLM-5.3 (#6) Redis-compatible multithreaded alternative, strong throughput on one box. Kimi K3 (#6) Multithreaded Redis fork; great throughput on multi-core servers. GPT-6 Luna (#8) Multithreaded Redis-compatible cache that can serve demanding workloads. MiniMax M3 (#8) Redis-compatible, multithreaded cache with higher throughput.
7	DragonflyDB	6/10		5	4	9	8	9	9
Gemini 4 Argon (#4) Modern, multi-threaded drop-in Redis replacement engineered for extreme throughput and lower memory consumption. GPT-6 Luna (#5) Redis-compatible in-memory datastore designed for high throughput and lower infrastructure overhead. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#8) Drop-in Redis/Memcached replacement with massive throughput gains. Kimi K3 (#9) Modern Redis-compatible drop-in with far better memory efficiency.
8	Valkey	3/10		6	2			4
Gemini 4 Argon (#2) Open-source Redis fork backed by the Linux Foundation, offering complete compatibility without license restrictions. GLM-5.3 (#4) Open-source Redis fork; drop-in replacement with no licensing worries. GPT-6 Luna (#6) Open-source, Redis-compatible in-memory datastore suitable for application-level caching.
9	Ehcache	4/10	6				7		5	6
Kimi K3 (#5) Excellent in-process caching for Java apps; no network hop at all. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#6) Mature in-process Java cache; ideal for reducing queries within a single application instance. MiniMax M3 (#6) Mature JVM cache; great for Java app query caching. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#7) Robust JVM-local cache, great for Hibernate second-level caching.
10	Couchbase	4/10	7		9		4			7
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#4) Built-in caching layer with memory-first architecture and SQL support. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#7) Memory-first NoSQL database with built-in caching, useful when data access is heavily repeated. MiniMax M3 (#7) Low-latency key-value store doubles as query cache. Gemini 4 Argon (#9) Combines a persistent NoSQL database with a built-in, sub-millisecond managed cache layer.
11	Apache Ignite	3/10	5				9			5
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#5) Distributed in-memory computing platform with SQL-queryable caching and persistence options. MiniMax M3 (#5) Distributed cache plus compute; scales query caching well. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#9) In-memory data grid that caches and can replace the database tier.
12	Azure Cache for Redis	3/10		7				7				5
Nemotron 3 Ultra (#5) Fully managed Redis on Microsoft cloud GPT-6 Luna (#7) Managed Redis service with familiar APIs and useful integration across Azure applications.
13	Cloudflare	4/10	10			7				10	4
Mistral Large 4 (#4) Global CDN with edge caching, offloads traffic from your origin. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#10) Edge caching CDN that serves cached pages globally and cuts origin database load.
14	Google Cloud Memorystore	3/10		4				10				6
GPT-6 Luna (#4) Managed Redis and Memcached caching service with straightforward integration on Google Cloud. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#6) Managed Redis/Memcached on GCP
15	NGINX	3/10							4	9		7
Nemotron 3 Ultra (#7) Built-in proxy cache for static/dynamic content MiniMax M3 (#9) Built-in proxy cache reduces hits to the database.

14 lower-scoring picks are not shown; every ballot below lists them in full.

Most divisive

Picks most models listed, at very different positions

Amazon ElastiCache#3 for GPT-6 Luna #10 for Gemini 4 Argon
Hazelcast#3 for DeepSeek V4 Pro #10 for Nemotron 3 Ultra
Cloudflare#4 for Mistral Large 4 #10 for MiniMax M3

Hot takes

Picks that appear on only one ballot

Akamai at #5, only Mistral Large 4
Aerospike at #7, only Gemini 4 Argon
Akamai Ion at #8, only Qwen 3.8 Flash
CDN at #8, only Mistral Large 4
CDN like Cloudflare at #8, only Nemotron 3 Ultra
Vercel Edge Cache at #9, only Mistral Large 4
APCu at #9, only Nemotron 3 Ultra
Amazon MemoryDB at #10, only GPT-6 Luna
NCache at #10, only DeepSeek V4 Pro
Apache Traffic Server at #10, only Kimi K3
Next.js Cache at #10, only Mistral Large 4

Every ballot

Hover a pick to find it on the other ballots. Marked picks appear on no other ballot.

Claude Haiku 5.5

Redis
Memcached
Varnish Cache
Hazelcast
Apache Ignite
Ehcache
Couchbase
Amazon ElastiCache
Caffeine
Cloudflare

82% with consensus · 93% self-consistent

GPT-6 Luna

Redis
Memcached
Amazon ElastiCache
Google Cloud Memorystore
DragonflyDB
Valkey
Azure Cache for Redis
KeyDB
Hazelcast
Amazon MemoryDB

76% with consensus · 83% self-consistent

Gemini 4 Argon

Redis
Valkey
Memcached
DragonflyDB
KeyDB
Hazelcast
Aerospike
Upstash Redis
Couchbase
Amazon ElastiCache

67% with consensus · 91% self-consistent

Qwen 3.8 Flash

Redis
Memcached
Amazon ElastiCache
Varnish Cache
Upstash Redis
KeyDB
Cloudflare
Akamai Ion
DragonflyDB
Fastly

83% with consensus · 73% self-consistent

DeepSeek V4 Pro

Redis
Memcached
Hazelcast
Couchbase
Varnish Cache
Amazon ElastiCache
Ehcache
DragonflyDB
Apache Ignite
NCache

80% with consensus · 80% self-consistent

GLM-5.3

Redis
Memcached
Amazon ElastiCache
Valkey
Varnish Cache
KeyDB
Azure Cache for Redis
Hazelcast
DragonflyDB
Google Cloud Memorystore

84% with consensus · 71% self-consistent

Kimi K3

Redis
Memcached
Varnish Cache
NGINX
Ehcache
KeyDB
Hazelcast
Caffeine
DragonflyDB
Apache Traffic Server

82% with consensus · 79% self-consistent

MiniMax M3

Redis
Memcached
Varnish Cache
Hazelcast
Apache Ignite
Ehcache
Couchbase
KeyDB
NGINX
Cloudflare

82% with consensus · 88% self-consistent

Mistral Large 4

Redis
Memcached
Varnish Cache
Cloudflare
Akamai
Amazon ElastiCache
Fastly
CDN
Vercel Edge Cache
Next.js Cache

76% with consensus · 84% self-consistent

Nemotron 3 Ultra

Redis
Memcached
Amazon ElastiCache
Varnish Cache
Azure Cache for Redis
Google Cloud Memorystore
NGINX
CDN like Cloudflare
APCu
Hazelcast

77% with consensus · 86% self-consistent

Who agrees with whom

Overlap between two models' lists, weighted toward the top · 100 means identical · Color runs from 51 (lightest) to 96 (darkest)

	Claude Haiku 5.5	GPT-6 Luna	Gemini 4 Argon	Qwen 3.8 Flash	DeepSeek V4 Pro	GLM-5.3	Kimi K3	MiniMax M3	Mistral Large 4	Nemotron 3 Ultra
Claude Haiku 5.5		61	57	70	84	68	81	96	74	70
GPT-6 Luna	61		66	74	65	85	62	61	62	80
Gemini 4 Argon	57	66		59	59	69	60	59	51	51
Qwen 3.8 Flash	70	74	59		70	84	73	70	76	81
DeepSeek V4 Pro	84	65	59	70		72	72	82	69	69
GLM-5.3	68	85	69	84	72		72	68	69	82
Kimi K3	81	62	60	73	72	72		83	71	71
MiniMax M3	96	61	59	70	82	68	83		71	69
Mistral Large 4	74	62	51	76	69	69	71	71		72
Nemotron 3 Ultra	70	80	51	81	69	82	71	69	72