DAR vs Velero
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?
DAR
Disk Archive tool for full and incremental backups
VS
Velero
Backup and migrate Kubernetes cluster resources
| Feature | DAR | Velero |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 201 | ★ 10,187 |
| First released | 2002 | 2017 |
| Replaces | tar | Kasten K10 |
Why pick each one
Choose DAR if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Velero if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 10.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is DAR or Velero better?
Neither is universally better. Velero has the larger community, while DAR is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are DAR and Velero free and open-source?
Yes. DAR is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Velero under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run DAR and Velero with Docker?
DAR: check the project docs for container support. Velero: check the project docs for container support.