The Howdy Glossary

Memcached is a free and open-source caching system. The technology allows frequently accessed database query results, objects, or page fragments to be cached in memory for quicker access. Memcached operates by storing data in a distributed memory object caching system to reduce the number of times an external data source must be read from or written. It's typically used to speed up dynamic web applications by alleviating database load. As a NoSQL key-value store designed for scalability, it can work with multiple servers that operate in unison through client-side hashing algorithms, allowing users to expand caching space without modifying existing codebases significantly.