Amanda vs pgmoneta
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Amanda | pgmoneta |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 8 · At risk | 75 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | C | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 272 | ★ 317 |
| First released | 1991 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Veeam, CommVault | Veeam |
What are Amanda and pgmoneta?
Amanda
Amanda is a mature backup solution that allows an administrator to set up a single backup server to back up multiple hosts to tape, disk, or cloud storage. It is widely used in enterprise environments.
- Centralized network backups
- Tape, disk, and cloud targets
- Mature enterprise tooling
pgmoneta
pgmoneta is a backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL that focuses on efficiency and modern features. It supports incremental backups, compression, and encryption with minimal overhead.
- Incremental PostgreSQL backups
- Built-in compression
- Low-overhead design
Amanda vs pgmoneta: key differences
Both projects are written in C. Pgmoneta is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Amanda. Amanda is the more established project (first released 1991), while pgmoneta arrived in 2021.
Why pick each one
Choose Amanda if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in C
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Choose pgmoneta if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Amanda or pgmoneta better?
Neither is universally better. pgmoneta has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Amanda and pgmoneta free and open-source?
Yes. Amanda is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and pgmoneta under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Amanda and pgmoneta with Docker?
Amanda: check the project docs for container support. pgmoneta: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Amanda or pgmoneta?
pgmoneta has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Amanda. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.