Bareos 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 | Bareos | pgmoneta |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 75 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | C++ | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,256 | ★ 317 |
| First released | 2010 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Veeam, CommVault | Veeam |
What are Bareos and pgmoneta?
Bareos
Bareos is a cross-network open-source backup solution forked from Bacula. It preserves and recovers data from disk, tape, and other media, with a web-based management interface.
- Network-wide backup management
- Web UI for administration
- Tape and disk support
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
Bareos vs pgmoneta: key differences
Bareos is written in C++, while pgmoneta is built with C. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Bareos versus BSD-3-Clause for pgmoneta. Pgmoneta is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Bareos. Bareos is the more established project (first released 2010), while pgmoneta arrived in 2021. Bareos has the considerably larger community, at 1,256 GitHub stars versus 317. Bareos lists first-class Docker deployment; pgmoneta does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Bareos if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
Choose pgmoneta if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Bareos or pgmoneta better?
Neither is universally better. Bareos has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bareos and pgmoneta free and open-source?
Yes. Bareos is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pgmoneta under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bareos and pgmoneta with Docker?
Bareos: yes. pgmoneta: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Bareos or pgmoneta?
pgmoneta has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Bareos. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.