pgBackRest vs Spacedrive

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeaturepgBackRestSpacedrive
CategoryBackup & RecoveryFile Sync & Storage
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageCRust
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarybinary
GitHub stars★ 4,296★ 38,732
First released20132022
ReplacesVeeamGoogle Drive, Dropbox

Why pick each one

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

Choose Spacedrive if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 38.7k GitHub stars
  • Written in Rust
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Spacedrive details

Frequently asked questions

Is pgBackRest or Spacedrive better?

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

Are pgBackRest and Spacedrive free and open-source?

Yes. pgBackRest is licensed under MIT and Spacedrive under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run pgBackRest and Spacedrive with Docker?

pgBackRest: yes. Spacedrive: check the project docs for container support.

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