Amanda vs bup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Amanda
Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver
VS
bup
Efficient backup system based on the git packfile format
| Feature | Amanda | bup |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | LGPL-2.1 |
| Language | C | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 267 | ★ 7,337 |
| First released | 1991 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Veeam, CommVault | Time Machine |
Why pick each one
Choose Amanda if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in C
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose bup if…
- Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
- Mature project with 7.3k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Amanda or bup better?
bup is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Amanda if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Amanda and bup free and open-source?
Yes. Amanda is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and bup under LGPL-2.1. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Amanda and bup with Docker?
Amanda: check the project docs for container support. bup: check the project docs for container support.