pgBackRest vs ZFS Autobackup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | pgBackRest | ZFS Autobackup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 65 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,402 | ★ 794 |
| First released | 2013 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Veeam | Veeam |
What are pgBackRest and ZFS Autobackup?
pgBackRest
pgBackRest is a robust backup and restore tool for PostgreSQL that supports full, differential, and incremental backups. It offers parallel processing, encryption, and cloud storage targets.
- Full and incremental backups
- Parallel compression
- S3 and Azure storage support
ZFS Autobackup
zfs-autobackup is a tool for automatically creating and replicating ZFS snapshots between hosts and pools. It handles retention thinning and supports encrypted transfers.
- Automated ZFS snapshots
- Cross-host replication
- Retention thinning
- Encrypted sends
pgBackRest vs ZFS Autobackup: key differences
PgBackRest is written in C, while ZFS Autobackup is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for pgBackRest versus GPL-2.0 for ZFS Autobackup. ZFS Autobackup is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for pgBackRest. PgBackRest has the considerably larger community, at 4,402 GitHub stars versus 794. PgBackRest lists first-class Docker deployment; ZFS Autobackup does not.
Why pick each one
Choose pgBackRest if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Choose ZFS Autobackup if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is pgBackRest or ZFS Autobackup better?
Neither is universally better. pgBackRest has the larger community, while ZFS Autobackup is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are pgBackRest and ZFS Autobackup free and open-source?
Yes. pgBackRest is licensed under MIT and ZFS Autobackup under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pgBackRest and ZFS Autobackup with Docker?
pgBackRest: yes. ZFS Autobackup: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, pgBackRest or ZFS Autobackup?
ZFS Autobackup has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for pgBackRest. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.