Conserve Backup 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?
Conserve Backup
Robust, fast, deduplicating backup tool
VS
Velero
Backup and migrate Kubernetes cluster resources
| Feature | Conserve Backup | Velero |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 278 | ★ 10,187 |
| First released | 2015 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | Kasten K10 |
Why pick each one
Choose Conserve Backup if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 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 Conserve Backup or Velero better?
Neither is universally better. Velero has the larger community, while Conserve Backup is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Conserve Backup and Velero free and open-source?
Yes. Conserve Backup is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Velero under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Conserve Backup and Velero with Docker?
Conserve Backup: check the project docs for container support. Velero: check the project docs for container support.