Managed in-memory cache service - like RAM for your database queries.
Simple analogy:
A temporary storage for frequently accessed data stored in RAM (memory) instead of disk.
Why it's fast:
| RDS | ElastiCache |
|---|---|
| Managed Relational Databases | Managed Cache (Redis/Memcached) |
| MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc. | Redis or Memcached |
| Data stored on disk | Data stored in RAM (memory) |
| Permanent storage | Temporary/fast storage |
Think of it: