pgBackRest vs SnapRAID
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
SnapRAID
Parity-based backup for disk arrays of large files
| Feature | pgBackRest | SnapRAID |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | C |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,296 | ★ 2,543 |
| First released | 2013 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Veeam | unRAID parity |
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 SnapRAID if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is pgBackRest or SnapRAID better?
Neither is universally better. pgBackRest has the larger community, while SnapRAID is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are pgBackRest and SnapRAID free and open-source?
Yes. pgBackRest is licensed under MIT and SnapRAID under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pgBackRest and SnapRAID with Docker?
pgBackRest: yes. SnapRAID: check the project docs for container support.