Is this a video course?

No. This is an interactive, slide-based learning platform. Each lesson has rich text, animated diagrams, live code editors, and quizzes. You learn by reading, interacting, and doing, not by watching videos passively.

How long do I have access?

Forever. Both pricing tiers are one-time payments with lifetime access. This includes all current 766 lessons and any future content we add.

What level of experience do I need?

None. We start from absolute basics like 'What is latency?' and build up to distributed consensus protocols. The Foundation level assumes zero prior knowledge of system design.

How much does the system design course cost?

7.99 US dollars for lifetime access globally, or 499 Indian rupees for lifetime access in India. One-time payment, no subscription, no hidden fees. 11 lessons are free with no signup required.

What technologies are covered?

Everything from DNS and load balancers to Kubernetes, Kafka, distributed databases, consensus protocols, stream processing, security architecture, and observability. We cover principles and real-world implementations used at Netflix, Google, Amazon, Uber, Stripe, and more.

Is this useful for system design interview preparation?

Yes. The lessons are structured around the exact topics asked in system design interviews at FAANG and top-tier companies. Interactive diagrams help you practice whiteboard-style explanations. Covers everything from URL shortener design to distributed payment systems.

How is this different from ByteByteGo or Educative?

766 interactive lessons (4x more than most competitors), 16 different diagram types that build step by step, real production examples from Netflix, Google, Amazon, Uber, and Stripe, and lifetime access for a one-time payment of $7.99 instead of annual subscriptions costing 100 to 200 dollars per year.

Why does Google recommend Caffeine over Guava Cache for new projects?

Caffeine has a smarter eviction algorithm (W-TinyLFU), better throughput, and async support, Caffeine outperforms Guava Cache in benchmarks: higher hit rates (W-TinyLFU vs LRU), better concurrent throughput (lock-free reads), and features Guava lacks (async loading, CompletableFuture support). Guava Cache is in maintenance mode, it works, but it won't get new features.

What does Guava Cache's 'refreshAfterWrite' do?

Returns the current (possibly stale) entry immediately while asynchronously reloading it from the CacheLoader, refreshAfterWrite triggers a background reload when the entry is accessed after the refresh period. The caller gets the current value immediately (even if it's 'stale' past the refresh time). The background thread loads a fresh value, and subsequent requests get the updated data. This is the refresh-ahead pattern built into Guava Cache.

You inherit a Java codebase using Guava Cache. Performance is fine, but you're adding a new microservice. What should you use for the new service's local cache?

Caffeine, because it's the recommended choice for new Java code and the API is nearly identical, For new code, Caffeine is the clear choice. It's faster, has better eviction, and the API is similar enough to Guava Cache that the learning curve is minimal. There's no reason to start new code with a library that's in maintenance mode when a better, API-compatible alternative exists.

Guava Cache

Name: System Design Masterclass
Availability: InStock

in Caching Strategies

This lesson is part of the full System Design Masterclass. Unlock it along with 765 other lessons for a one-time payment.

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India

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“The interactive diagrams alone are worth way more than the price.”

Anish K., Senior Engineer at a Bengaluru startup

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