Best caching tools for web apps

We asked 10 models: The best caching tools for speeding up a web application. 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: 74%
Same model, run twice: 83%
Different picks: 23

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	2	1	1	1	1	1
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#1) Fast in-memory store, versatile data structures, and the de facto standard for application caching. GPT-6 Luna (#1) Versatile in-memory data store with broad ecosystem support for application caching. Gemini 4 Argon (#1) The industry standard for in-memory data structures, session caching, and high-throughput web performance. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#1) De facto standard for fast in-memory caching of app data and sessions. GLM-5.3 (#1) Industry-standard in-memory store; versatile caching, sessions, and pub/sub. Kimi K3 (#1) Industry-standard in-memory cache; versatile, fast, huge ecosystem. MiniMax M3 (#1) Fastest in-memory data store with rich data structures. Mistral Large 4 (#1) Blazing fast in-memory store, industry standard for caching and sessions. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#1) In-memory speed, versatile data structures DeepSeek V4 Pro (#2) Blazing fast in-memory data store; de facto standard for caching, session storage, and queuing.
2	Varnish Cache	10/10	3	2	3	3	1	3	2	2	3	3
DeepSeek V4 Pro (#1) Powerful HTTP reverse proxy; excels at serving cached pages with sub-millisecond response times. GPT-6 Luna (#2) High-performance HTTP reverse proxy cache, especially effective for cacheable web responses. Kimi K3 (#2) Best HTTP reverse-proxy cache for full-page acceleration. MiniMax M3 (#2) Dedicated full-page HTTP accelerator, battle-tested at scale. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#3) Powerful HTTP reverse-proxy cache that dramatically speeds up dynamic websites. Gemini 4 Argon (#3) Unmatched HTTP reverse-proxy accelerator capable of speeding up dynamic content delivery by orders of magnitude. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#3) High-performance HTTP reverse-proxy cache purpose-built for web apps. GLM-5.3 (#3) Blazing-fast HTTP reverse proxy that dramatically accelerates page delivery. Mistral Large 4 (#3) Powerful HTTP reverse proxy that accelerates dynamic websites dramatically. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#3) HTTP accelerator for dynamic content
3	Memcached	10/10	2	6	4	2	4	2	3	3	2	2
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#2) Simple, lightweight, and very fast distributed memory cache for key-value workloads. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#2) Simple, battle-tested distributed object cache for dynamic web content. GLM-5.3 (#2) Simple, proven distributed key-value cache with tiny overhead. Mistral Large 4 (#2) Simple, multithreaded, extremely fast for straightforward key-value caching. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#2) Simple, high-performance distributed caching Kimi K3 (#3) Simple, lightweight, battle-tested for pure object caching. MiniMax M3 (#3) Simple, distributed memory cache ideal for read-heavy apps. Gemini 4 Argon (#4) Simple, rock-solid, multithreaded in-memory key-value store ideal for pure, scalable object caching. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#4) Ultra-lightweight, high-throughput object cache; still unbeatable for simple key-value workloads. GPT-6 Luna (#6) Simple, fast distributed object cache for reducing repeated database work.
4	Cloudflare	10/10	4	3	2	4	3	4	4	4	4	6
Gemini 4 Argon (#2) Essential global edge caching that drastically reduces latency and shields origin servers from traffic spikes. GPT-6 Luna (#3) Combines CDN edge caching with straightforward controls to reduce origin load and latency. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#3) Global edge caching reduces latency massively; built-in DDoS protection sweetens the deal. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#4) Global CDN with edge caching that cuts latency and offloads origin servers. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#4) Global CDN edge caching with one-click cache rules at massive scale. GLM-5.3 (#4) Global CDN with edge caching that offloads traffic instantly. Kimi K3 (#4) Global CDN edge caching with near-zero setup effort. MiniMax M3 (#4) Global edge caching with instant setup and strong defaults. Mistral Large 4 (#4) Global edge network caching static assets closer to users worldwide. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#6) CDN with caching, WAF, DDoS protection
5	NGINX	8/10		7	6	5		6	5	8	7	4
Nemotron 3 Ultra (#4) Reverse proxy caching and load balancing Qwen 3.8 Flash (#5) Ubiquitous web server whose proxy_cache layer speeds delivery cheaply. Kimi K3 (#5) Excellent built-in proxy and static content caching layer. Gemini 4 Argon (#6) Doubles as a premier web server and highly efficient reverse proxy cache for static assets. GLM-5.3 (#6) Reverse proxy caching that's fast and already ubiquitous in stacks. GPT-6 Luna (#7) Can cache proxied responses efficiently while also serving as a widely used web server. Mistral Large 4 (#7) Versatile web server with excellent built-in caching and proxy capabilities.
6	Fastly	7/10	6	4	7	6			7	5	6
GPT-6 Luna (#4) Powerful edge caching with rapid purging and fine-grained request controls. MiniMax M3 (#5) Programmable edge caching with instant purge capability. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#6) Programmable edge cache with instant purging, popular with developer-focused teams. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#6) Real-time programmable CDN edge cache with instant purge capabilities. Mistral Large 4 (#6) Real-time CDN with instant purging and powerful edge compute capabilities. Gemini 4 Argon (#7) Developer-centric edge cloud platform built on Varnish with near-instantaneous global cache purging capabilities. Kimi K3 (#7) Real-time edge caching with powerful instant purging.
7	Amazon ElastiCache	7/10	9	5	10		8	5	6		5
GPT-6 Luna (#5) Managed Redis and Memcached service that simplifies operating application caches on AWS. GLM-5.3 (#5) Managed Redis/Memcached caching with zero ops burden. Mistral Large 4 (#5) Managed Redis/Memcached service eliminating operational overhead entirely. Kimi K3 (#6) Managed Redis/Memcached with AWS reliability and scaling. DeepSeek V4 Pro (#8) Fully managed Redis/Memcached; eliminates operational overhead with seamless AWS integration.
8	Amazon CloudFront	7/10	5	8	9	8		10		7		5
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#5) Scalable AWS CDN with fine-grained caching behaviors and tight cloud integration. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#5) Global CDN with edge caching MiniMax M3 (#7) Tight AWS integration with Lambda for dynamic edge logic. GPT-6 Luna (#8) Mature global CDN with configurable caching close to end users. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#8) AWS-native CDN delivering static and dynamic content from edge locations. Gemini 4 Argon (#9) Deeply integrated AWS content delivery network providing reliable, low-latency edge caching for cloud-native apps.
9	Hazelcast	5/10	7				7	8	9			8
Claude Haiku 5.5 (#7) Distributed in-memory data grid offering caching with clustering and near-cache support. GLM-5.3 (#8) Scalable in-memory data grid with strong Java integration. Nemotron 3 Ultra (#8) Distributed in-memory computing platform Kimi K3 (#9) Strong distributed in-memory data grid for Java-heavy stacks.
10	Akamai	4/10	10			7				6	8
MiniMax M3 (#6) Premium edge network with advanced cache control features. Qwen 3.8 Flash (#7) Enterprise-grade global CDN with deep caching and security controls. Mistral Large 4 (#8) Enterprise-grade CDN with massive global infrastructure and robust security. Claude Haiku 5.5 (#10) Mature, large-scale edge caching platform for high-traffic enterprise sites.
11	NGINX Plus	2/10					5			10
No reasons recorded.
12	Squid	2/10					6	9
GLM-5.3 (#9) Veteran caching proxy, reliable for HTTP and content acceleration.
13	Valkey	1/10			5
Gemini 4 Argon (#5) The Linux Foundation-backed open-source fork of Redis offering drop-in compatibility without licensing restrictions.
14	Apache Ignite	2/10					9	7
GLM-5.3 (#7) Distributed in-memory cache and compute grid for heavy workloads.
15	Apache Traffic Server	3/10		10					10			7
Nemotron 3 Ultra (#7) High-performance HTTP proxy cache Kimi K3 (#10) High-performance proxy caching for large-scale deployments.

8 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#5 for GPT-6 Luna #10 for Gemini 4 Argon
Amazon CloudFront#5 for Claude Haiku 5.5 #10 for GLM-5.3
Memcached#2 for Claude Haiku 5.5 #6 for GPT-6 Luna

Hot takes

Picks that appear on only one ballot

Valkey at #5, only Gemini 4 Argon
Ehcache at #8, only Claude Haiku 5.5
Dragonfly at #8, only Gemini 4 Argon
NCache at #9, only Qwen 3.8 Flash
NGINX FastCGI Cache at #9, only MiniMax M3
Aerospike at #10, only DeepSeek V4 Pro

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
Cloudflare
Amazon CloudFront
Fastly
Hazelcast
Ehcache
Amazon ElastiCache
Akamai

84% with consensus · 88% self-consistent

GPT-6 Luna

Redis
Varnish Cache
Cloudflare
Fastly
Amazon ElastiCache
Memcached
NGINX
Amazon CloudFront
KeyCDN
Apache Traffic Server

86% with consensus · 86% self-consistent

Gemini 4 Argon

Redis
Cloudflare
Varnish Cache
Memcached
Valkey
NGINX
Fastly
Dragonfly
Amazon CloudFront
Amazon ElastiCache

80% with consensus · 84% self-consistent

Qwen 3.8 Flash

Redis
Memcached
Varnish Cache
Cloudflare
NGINX
Fastly
Akamai
Amazon CloudFront
NCache
KeyDB

88% with consensus · 90% self-consistent

DeepSeek V4 Pro

Varnish Cache
Redis
Cloudflare
Memcached
NGINX Plus
Squid
Hazelcast
Amazon ElastiCache
Apache Ignite
Aerospike

65% with consensus · 40% self-consistent

GLM-5.3

Redis
Memcached
Varnish Cache
Cloudflare
Amazon ElastiCache
NGINX
Apache Ignite
Hazelcast
Squid
Amazon CloudFront

84% with consensus · 94% self-consistent

Kimi K3

Redis
Varnish Cache
Memcached
Cloudflare
NGINX
Amazon ElastiCache
Fastly
KeyDB
Hazelcast
Apache Traffic Server

96% with consensus · 85% self-consistent

MiniMax M3

Redis
Varnish Cache
Memcached
Cloudflare
Fastly
Akamai
Amazon CloudFront
NGINX
NGINX FastCGI Cache
NGINX Plus

91% with consensus · 78% self-consistent

Mistral Large 4

Redis
Memcached
Varnish Cache
Cloudflare
Amazon ElastiCache
Fastly
NGINX
Akamai
CDN77
KeyCDN

86% with consensus · 90% self-consistent

Nemotron 3 Ultra

Redis
Memcached
Varnish Cache
NGINX
Amazon CloudFront
Cloudflare
Apache Traffic Server
Hazelcast
CDN77
KeyCDN

79% with consensus · 95% self-consistent

Who agrees with whom

Overlap between two models' lists, weighted toward the top · 100 means identical · Color runs from 52 (lightest) to 91 (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		73	75	88	59	85	80	83	87	85
GPT-6 Luna	73		78	75	63	76	84	83	81	67
Gemini 4 Argon	75	78		79	59	76	78	77	77	71
Qwen 3.8 Flash	88	75	79		54	86	85	87	91	85
DeepSeek V4 Pro	59	63	59	54		61	65	62	56	52
GLM-5.3	85	76	76	86	61		85	77	91	84
Kimi K3	80	84	78	85	65	85		86	85	78
MiniMax M3	83	83	77	87	62	77	86		83	75
Mistral Large 4	87	81	77	91	56	91	85	83		81
Nemotron 3 Ultra	85	67	71	85	52	84	78	75	81