Barman vs DBDock
Barman
pgbarman.org
DBDock
dbdock.xyzSide by side
| Figure | Barman | DBDock |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Database Backup Software | 8.8 (#3) | 8.9 (#2) |
| Compression | It can compress WAL files using bzip2, gzip, or a custom method. | The documentation identifies zstd compression for backups. |
| Encryption | Barman supports encryption of backups and WAL files using GPG, subject to configuration requirements. | The project specifies AES-256-GCM encryption and PBKDF2 key derivation for backups. |
| License | Barman's code is distributed under GNU General Public License 3. | The CLI repository is released under the MIT license and is described as self-hosted and free forever. |
| Retention | Barman manages retention policies for backups and WAL files. | Retention cleanup can be based on backup count or age and includes a safety net. |
Plans
In their own words
Barman
Barman is an open-source Python administration tool for PostgreSQL disaster recovery, designed for organizations managing business-critical databases. It supports remote backups of multiple PostgreSQL servers and local or remote recovery, including point-in-time recovery. Backup management includes catalogs, incremental and parallel operations, retention policies, and WAL archiving or streaming. Synchronous WAL streaming supports zero data loss (RPO=0). Remote transfers can use rsync over SSH or pg_basebackup; recovery can run locally or over SSH. Barman integrates with PostgreSQL and standard archiving tools such as tar, and can compress WAL files with bzip2, gzip, or a custom method. GPG encryption for backups and WAL depends on configuration. Immutable storage is supported with a required grace period in the current implementation. Its experimental cloud-streaming method is limited to S3-compatible destinations and does not support encryption or direct restores in Barman. It runs on Linux and UNIX-like systems, uses an INI configuration file, and stores metadata locally. Barman costs nothing and is distributed under GPL-3.
DBDock
DBDock is a database toolkit for backups, restores, copies and cross-database migrations. Its free, MIT-licensed CLI supports backups and restores for PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, SQL Server and Redis. It also supports migration between MongoDB and PostgreSQL in either direction, with schema mapping, dry runs and incremental sync. Backup storage can be local disk, AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, Cloudinary or managed DBDock Storage. The CLI supports cron-based automation and email or Slack notifications. DBDock Cloud adds a managed dashboard with scheduled jobs, managed storage, teams and alerts. Listed safeguards include AES-256-GCM encryption with PBKDF2 key derivation, credential masking and `.pgpass` support. Cloud Sync sends non-secret metadata while database passwords, storage keys, encryption secrets and webhook URLs stay on the user's machine. A TypeScript SDK provides programmatic access from Node.js applications. The CLI requires Node.js 18 or newer, and PostgreSQL backups also require PostgreSQL client tools. DBDock is listed for Linux, macOS, Windows, web, API and self-hosted use.