Advanced Backups vs FastBack

Advanced Backups is a free, open-source backup mod for Minecraft Java edition, supporting NeoForge, Forge, Fabric and Spigot. It can run entirely on a server; a client installation is needed only to receive backup notifications. The mod supports ZIP, differential and incremental backups, with options for schedules, startup and shutdown backups, and minimum and maximum intervals. Automatic purging can be set by storage size, age or backup count, while command-created snapshots are protected from that cleanup. A command-line tool can restore a whole backup or an individual file and export a backup; it requires Java on the system PATH. The tool can detect backups created by other mods, but it cannot export those backups. Client-side toasts report when backups occur and can be disabled or limited to operators. The README says many Minecraft versions are supported and invites requests for additional versions. The project lists a BSD-3-Clause license, and its backup scope is worlds-only with local storage. One limitation matters for incremental backups: losing a partial backup can damage that chain until the next full backup, and incremental restores take the longest.

FastBack is a free Minecraft mod for making incremental snapshots of Java worlds: each snapshot records only the parts that have changed. It can save backups locally, send them to another Git repository, or write them to a network drive without a Git server. Automatic backups can run when a world shuts down or after Minecraft autosaves, with a configurable minimum wait between runs. A snapshot can be restored as a separate world copy, so the current world files remain unchanged. Retention options include daily, fixed-count, GFS, and all-snapshots policies; snapshots can also include mod jars and configuration files. FastBack works on Minecraft clients and dedicated servers, with Linux, Mac, and Windows support. Separate Fabric and NeoForge mod files are listed. It requires native Git and Git LFS to be installed and available on the Minecraft process PATH. Garbage collection can take more than five minutes, and the documentation recommends running git gc directly for worlds larger than 1 GB. The mod is distributed under GNU Public License version 2; modpack use requires attribution with a link to the project page.