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.
Not the right match-up?
pgBackRest
Reliable backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL
VS
ZFS Autobackup
Automated ZFS snapshot and replication tool
| Feature | pgBackRest | ZFS Autobackup |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ★ 4,296 | ★ 794 |
| First released | 2013 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Veeam | Veeam |
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 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.