Barman vs pgBackRest
Barman
pgbarman.orgpgBackRest
pgbackrest.orgSide by side
| Figure | Barman | pgBackRest |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Database Backup Software | 8.8 (#3) | 7.4 (#21) |
| Current release | The homepage lists version 3.20.1, dated 29 September 2026. | The site identifies v2.59.2 as the current stable release, released September 27, 2026. |
| Encryption | Barman supports encryption of backups and WAL files using GPG, subject to configuration requirements. | pgBackRest can encrypt its repository to secure backups wherever they are stored. |
| Purpose | Barman is an open-source Python administration tool for disaster recovery of PostgreSQL servers. | pgBackRest is a backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL designed to scale to large databases and workloads. |
| Support | Community support is available through a mailing list and GitHub bug tracker; EDB offers 24x7 production support, consulting, and training. | Bug reports can be submitted, and the site says sponsors offer products and services that include pgBackRest support. |
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.
pgBackRest
pgBackRest has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.