etcd

Windows · Mac · Linux · Self-hosted · API

Freedom report

Three barsScore 6.5

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely3 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

etcd is ranked #5 of 30 in key-value databases on Freedom251. It runs on API, Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Windows. There is a free plan.

etcd plans and pricing

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Open-source etcd Free Apache 2.0 licensed · self-hosted software github.com · 4 Oct 2026

Compared on key-value databases

Deployment model: self_hosted
Persistence modes: both
TTL support: Yes
Clustering support: Yes
Multi-region support: Yes
Supported protocols: gRPC, HTTP/JSON

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The record

Purpose: etcd is a strongly consistent, distributed key-value store for data accessed by distributed systems or clusters of machines.
Fault tolerance: It handles leader elections during network partitions and can tolerate machine failure, including failure of the leader node.
Key-value storage: It stores data in hierarchically organized directories and lets clients watch keys or directories for changes.
Interface: Values can be read and written using standard HTTP tools such as curl.
Consensus: The project says etcd is distributed using the Raft protocol.
Performance: The project states etcd is benchmarked at thousands of writes per second per instance.
Expiry: Keys can be configured with optional time-to-live expiration.
Kubernetes: etcd is a core Kubernetes component and the primary datastore for Kubernetes.
Integrations: The integrations listing includes Kubernetes, CoreDNS, and client libraries for multiple languages; it cautions that third-party tools and libraries listed there are not tested or maintained by the etcd team.
Security: etcd supports TLS and client-certificate authentication for client-to-server and peer communication, but these security features are not enabled by default.
Supported platforms: The current platform table lists Linux on AMD64 and ARM64 as tier 1; Darwin and Windows on AMD64 or ARM64 are tier 3, and unlisted platforms are unsupported.
Installation: The project provides pre-built binaries, source builds, and container images; its install guide warns that OS package manager installations may be outdated and are not officially supported.
Support policy: The project typically maintains only its latest two minor versions; its 2025 release announcement said those were v3.5 and v3.6 at that time.
License: The etcd source repository identifies the software as licensed under Apache 2.0.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Key-Value Databases in 2026#5 of 30

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Sources

etcd.io· checked 4 Oct 2026
etcd.io/blog/2026/announcing-etcd-3.7/· checked 4 Oct 2026
etcd.io/docs/v3.6/integrations/· checked 4 Oct 2026
etcd.io/docs/v3.8/op-guide/security/· checked 4 Oct 2026
etcd.io/docs/v3.5/op-guide/supported-platform/· checked 4 Oct 2026
etcd.io/docs/v3.7/install/· checked 4 Oct 2026
etcd.io/blog/2025/announcing-etcd-3.6/· checked 4 Oct 2026
github.com/etcd-io/etcd· checked 4 Oct 2026