pgmoneta 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 | pgmoneta | ZFS Autobackup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 75 · Good | 65 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 317 | ★ 794 |
| First released | 2021 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Veeam | Veeam |
What are pgmoneta and ZFS Autobackup?
pgmoneta
pgmoneta is a backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL that focuses on efficiency and modern features. It supports incremental backups, compression, and encryption with minimal overhead.
- Incremental PostgreSQL backups
- Built-in compression
- Low-overhead design
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
pgmoneta vs ZFS Autobackup: key differences
Pgmoneta is written in C, while ZFS Autobackup is built with Python. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for pgmoneta versus GPL-2.0 for ZFS Autobackup. ZFS Autobackup is the more established project (first released 2012), while pgmoneta arrived in 2021. ZFS Autobackup has the considerably larger community, at 794 GitHub stars versus 317.
Why pick each one
Choose pgmoneta if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
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 pgmoneta or ZFS Autobackup better?
ZFS Autobackup is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider pgmoneta if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are pgmoneta and ZFS Autobackup free and open-source?
Yes. pgmoneta is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and ZFS Autobackup under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pgmoneta and ZFS Autobackup with Docker?
pgmoneta: check the project docs for container support. ZFS Autobackup: check the project docs for container support.