Velero vs Restic alt MiniBackup

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureVeleroRestic alt MiniBackup
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentkubernetes, helmbinary
GitHub stars★ 10,187★ 1,381
First released20172019
ReplacesKasten K10Backblaze

Why pick each one

Choose Velero if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Mature project with 10.2k GitHub stars
  • Written in Go
Velero details

Choose Restic alt MiniBackup if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Go
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Restic alt MiniBackup details

Frequently asked questions

Is Velero or Restic alt MiniBackup better?

Neither is universally better. Velero has the larger community, while Restic alt MiniBackup is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Velero and Restic alt MiniBackup free and open-source?

Yes. Velero is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Restic alt MiniBackup under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Velero and Restic alt MiniBackup with Docker?

Velero: check the project docs for container support. Restic alt MiniBackup: check the project docs for container support.

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