Top Open-Source Postgres Backup Solutions in 2026

Backups are the boring thing you never want to test the hard way. If you run PostgreSQL in production, you already know that. The good news is the open-source ecosystem gives you several solid options, from a single CLI binary to a full web UI. They differ in language, license, multi-database support, and how much they ask of you operationally.

Below is a look at six of them, with the details you actually need to pick one: language, license, interface, supported databases, and what each is best for. The star history chart gives a rough sense of relative traction.

Databasus#

• GitHub: https://github.com/databasus/databasus
• Language: Go + TypeScript
• Maintainer: Community
• License: Apache 2.0
• Interface: Web UI
• Supported Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB
• Best For: Teams needing a self-hosted, web-based backup management solution

Databasus (rebranded from Postgresus) is a self-hosted database backup management tool with a modern web UI. You get flexible scheduling (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or cron), multiple storage destinations (S3, Google Drive, NAS, SFTP), AES-256-GCM encryption, and team features like role-based access control and audit logging. Notifications go out via email, Telegram, Slack, Discord, and webhooks. If you want to manage backups from a browser rather than a config file, this is the friendliest entry point here.

WAL-G#

• GitHub: https://github.com/wal-g/wal-g
• Language: Go
• Maintainer: Community
• License: Apache License 2.0
• Interface: CLI
• Supported Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, MS SQL Server, MongoDB (beta), Redis (beta)
• Best For: Cloud-native and multi-database environments

WAL-G is an archival and restoration tool for databases in the cloud, and the spiritual successor to WAL-E. It's built for performance, with parallel compression, encryption, and cloud storage integration that mostly stays out of your way. The multi-database support is what sets it apart: if you run a mixed stack rather than just Postgres, this is the one tool here that follows you across it.

pgBackRest#

• GitHub: https://github.com/pgbackrest/pgbackrest (archived)
• Language: C
• Maintainer: Formerly Crunchy Data (unmaintained as of April 2026)
• License: MIT License
• Interface: CLI
• Supported Databases: PostgreSQL only
• Best For: Existing deployments only (not recommended for new setups)

pgBackRest was built for speed, reliability, and flexibility: full, differential, and incremental backups with parallel processing, compression, encryption, and cloud storage integration. It was widely deployed in production through the early 2020s and still works fine at v2.58.0, but it no longer accepts contributions. For anything new, WAL-G, Barman, or pgmoneta are the safer bets.

Barman#

• GitHub: https://github.com/EnterpriseDB/barman
• Language: Python
• Maintainer: EnterpriseDB (EDB)
• License: GNU GPL 3
• Interface: CLI
• Supported Databases: PostgreSQL only
• Best For: Enterprises requiring centralized backup management

Barman (Backup And Recovery Manager) is an open-source administration tool for disaster recovery of PostgreSQL servers, written in Python and backed by EnterpriseDB. It's aimed at organisations that need to run remote backups of multiple servers in business-critical environments: the goal is to reduce risk and give DBAs a sane workflow during recovery. Having a commercial company behind it is a point in its favour if you care about who you can call when things break.

pgmoneta#

• GitHub: https://github.com/pgmoneta/pgmoneta
• Language: C
• Maintainer: Community
• License: BSD-3-Clause
• Interface: CLI (daemon mode)
• Supported Databases: PostgreSQL only
• Best For: Teams needing efficient daemon-based backup with incremental support

pgmoneta is a backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL, named after the Roman goddess of memory. It runs as a daemon and supports full and incremental backups (PostgreSQL 14+), multiple compression options (gzip, zstd, lz4, bzip2), AES encryption, and WAL shipping. It ships with Prometheus monitoring integration, remote management, and TLS v1.2+ support, and is built on a process-based model using shared memory and libev for efficient network operations. It leans technical, but if you want a lightweight C daemon with incremental backups and metrics out of the box, this is it.

pgBackWeb#

• GitHub: https://github.com/eduardolat/pgbackweb
• Language: Go + JavaScript
• Maintainer: Community
• License: AGPL-3.0
• Interface: Web UI
• Supported Databases: PostgreSQL (via pgBackRest; see notice above)
• Best For: Teams preferring visual management on existing pgBackRest deployments

pgBackWeb puts a friendly web dashboard on top of pgBackRest, with visual monitoring, restore operations, and scheduling. It's a nice fit for smaller teams or anyone who would rather click than memorise CLI flags. The catch is the one in the notice above: it inherits pgBackRest's archival, so it's a better story for existing deployments than for new ones.

Comparison Table#

⚠️ pgBackRest is no longer maintained as of April 2026. See the pgBackRest section for details.

Choosing the Right Tool#

• Databasus is the easy pick if you want a self-hosted web UI and you run more than just Postgres.
• WAL-G is the strongest all-rounder for multi-database, cloud-native setups. Recommended for new PostgreSQL deployments.
• pgBackRest is feature-rich and battle-tested, but no longer maintained as of April 2026. Fine for existing installs, not for new ones.
• Barman fits enterprise environments with strict compliance and a preference for a vendor-backed tool. Recommended for new PostgreSQL deployments needing centralized management.
• pgmoneta is the lightweight daemon option, with incremental backups and monitoring if you don't mind living in C and the CLI.
• pgBackWeb is worth it if you already run pgBackRest and want a GUI; for new setups, the archived engine underneath should give you pause.

There's no single winner here, just trade-offs between simplicity, scale, and how much of the ecosystem you want behind the tool. For most new Postgres deployments WAL-G or Barman are the safe starting points; from there, pick based on your scale, your cloud strategy, and how comfortable your team is at the command line.