Bareos vs Kopia
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?
Bareos
Backup Archiving Recovery Open Sourced
VS
Kopia
Fast, encrypted backup with a clean interface
| Feature | Bareos | Kopia |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,232 | ★ 13,798 |
| First released | 2010 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Veeam, CommVault | Backblaze, Carbonite |
Why pick each one
Choose Bareos if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is Bareos or Kopia better?
Kopia is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Bareos if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Bareos and Kopia free and open-source?
Yes. Bareos is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Kopia under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bareos and Kopia with Docker?
Bareos: yes. Kopia: yes.