Restic Exporter 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?
Restic Exporter
Prometheus exporter for restic repository status
VS
Velero
Backup and migrate Kubernetes cluster resources
| Feature | Restic Exporter | Velero |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 158 | ★ 10,187 |
| First released | 2022 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Datadog | Kasten K10 |
Why pick each one
Choose Restic Exporter if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
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 Restic Exporter or Velero better?
Neither is universally better. Velero has the larger community, while Restic Exporter is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Restic Exporter and Velero free and open-source?
Yes. Restic Exporter is licensed under MIT and Velero under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Restic Exporter and Velero with Docker?
Restic Exporter: yes. Velero: check the project docs for container support.