Amanda vs Minarca Backup
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
Minarca Backup
Centralized rdiff-backup with self-service restore
| Feature | Amanda | Minarca Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 267 | ★ 239 |
| First released | 1991 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Veeam, CommVault | CrashPlan, Veeam |
Why pick each one
Choose Amanda if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in C
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose Minarca Backup if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Amanda or Minarca Backup better?
Neither is universally better. Amanda has the larger community, while Minarca Backup is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Amanda and Minarca Backup free and open-source?
Yes. Amanda is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Minarca Backup under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Amanda and Minarca Backup with Docker?
Amanda: check the project docs for container support. Minarca Backup: yes.