cache2k vs Varnish Enterprise
cache2k
cache2k.org
Varnish Enterprise
varnish-software.comSide by side
| Figure | cache2k | Varnish Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Caching Software | 8.1 (#6) | 7.1 (#18) |
| Headquarters | Munich, Germany | Oslo, Norway |
| Integrations | The site lists Spring Framework, Scala Cache, DataNucleus through JCache, and Hibernate through JCache integrations. | Documented VMOD integrations include DataDome bot protection, Akamai, and AWS services including S3 and Secrets Manager. |
| Purpose | cache2k is an in-memory object caching library for Java applications. | Varnish Enterprise is a programmable delivery layer for live video, dynamic web and API traffic, and CI/CD artifact delivery. |
| Support | The project directs bug reports and feature requests to GitHub issues and general usage questions to the cache2k Stack Overflow tag. | The product page describes standard, 24/7, and fully managed service plans as expert support options. |
Plans
In their own words
cache2k
cache2k is an Apache-licensed, open-source library that keeps Java application objects in memory. Its project describes a JAR smaller than 400 KB with no external dependencies, and the implementation is written in pure Java without sun.misc.Unsafe. Cache behavior includes automatic expiry, refresh, refresh ahead, read-through loading, and event listeners. Cache loaders can suppress exceptions or retry them according to configuration. Integrations listed include Spring Framework, Scala Cache, DataNucleus through JCache, and Hibernate through JCache. cache2k supports JCache / JSR 107, while its guide notes extra overhead for that API compared with the native interface. Monitoring options include low-overhead statistics, JMX, and documented Micrometer metrics. Version 2 requires Java 8 or later and is described as compatible with Android API level 26. The library is free, available from Maven Central, self-hosted, and does not persist data.
Varnish Enterprise
Varnish Enterprise has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.