Kopia vs pgBackRest

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?
FeatureKopiapgBackRest
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageGoC
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentbinary, dockerdocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 13,798★ 4,296
First released20192013
ReplacesBackblaze, CarboniteVeeam

Why pick each one

Choose Kopia if…

  • GUI and CLI both available
  • Fast and efficient
  • Modern design
Kopia details

Choose pgBackRest if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (4.3k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C
pgBackRest details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kopia or pgBackRest better?

Kopia is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider pgBackRest if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Kopia and pgBackRest free and open-source?

Yes. Kopia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pgBackRest under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kopia and pgBackRest with Docker?

Kopia: yes. pgBackRest: yes.

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