Storware Backup & Recovery vs Velero

Storware Backup & Recovery protects virtual machines, containers, and cloud workloads through a single console. It is designed for hybrid deployment and lists workload support for VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, OpenStack, Kubernetes, and Proxmox, among other platforms. Storware describes a universal license covering 15+ platforms without per-hypervisor licensing. Backups are agentless and policy-driven, with a lightweight host agent required for Hyper-V. Recovery includes fast recovery and granular restore capabilities; virtual server backup, bare-metal restore, application-aware backup, instant VM recovery, cloud backup targets, and off-site replication are listed. Automation features include a REST API and policy-as-configuration for pipeline use. Security features include WORM immutability, air-gap isolation, AES encryption at rest and in transit, role-based access control, Keycloak MFA, and audit logging. Storware says it holds ISO/IEC 27001 certification and describes its GDPR commitments. The free license costs nothing and excludes technical support. Its 60-day trial also costs nothing, with limits including 20 virtual environments and 20 applications; V2V migration is reserved for the commercial version.

Velero is an open-source tool for backing up and restoring Kubernetes resources and persistent volumes, recovering from data loss, and moving resources between clusters. Backups can cover an entire cluster or selected resources chosen by namespace or label. Recurring schedules and pre- and post-backup hooks support repeatable operations. Velero can restore after data loss and migrate resources, including replication from production to development or test clusters. Its server runs on Kubernetes, while a command-line client runs locally. Storage integrations include maintainer-supported plugins for AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and VMware vSphere, plus community-maintained options. The plugin architecture also permits custom storage integrations and backup or restore behavior. Velero can be used in cloud or on-premises environments with object storage and, optionally, supported block storage. Installation requires access to a Kubernetes cluster, kubectl, a compatible object storage provider, and at least one plugin. File system backup is not installed by default. The project provides community support through GitHub and Kubernetes Slack.