pgBackRest vs rsnapshot
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?
pgBackRest
Reliable backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL
VS
rsnapshot
Filesystem snapshot utility based on rsync
| Feature | pgBackRest | rsnapshot |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,296 | ★ 3,662 |
| First released | 2013 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Veeam | Time Machine |
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
Choose rsnapshot if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Active community (3.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Perl
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is pgBackRest or rsnapshot better?
Neither is universally better. pgBackRest has the larger community, while rsnapshot is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are pgBackRest and rsnapshot free and open-source?
Yes. pgBackRest is licensed under MIT and rsnapshot under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pgBackRest and rsnapshot with Docker?
pgBackRest: yes. rsnapshot: check the project docs for container support.