#1 of 16 open-source backup tools · Updated October 2026
Bareos review 2026
Bareos · Vendor-led open platform, growing fastest
Bareos ranks #1 of 16 open-source backup tools in the Open-Source Backup Ledger 2026, with a Ledger Index of 67.7 out of 100. Bareos is the most complete open-source backup platform here and is moving fastest toward VMware leavers, but one small company writes most of the code.
Scores
Source: Open-Source Backup Ledger 2026, edition 2026-10-02. How each score works: methodology.
Pros
- Long-term retention and tape5/5
- Virtual and physical servers4.5/5
- Security and compliance4/5
- New-platform support (VMware exit)4/5
Cons
No domain scores 2.5 or lower out of 5. Check the lock-in and buying notes below.
What the Ledger says
Bareos is the most complete open-source backup platform in this Ledger and the one moving fastest toward VMware leavers: agentless Proxmox and Hyper-V arrived in 2025, on top of long-standing VMware, tape and database support. Everything is AGPLv3 with no closed plugins, and the company behind it ships every year. The trade-offs are long lead times from proposal to release and dependence on one small company for nearly all commits.
No AI or machine-learning feature, and none announced.
Capability by area
Buying, lock-in and release record
Buying and licence (sustainability risk)(lower is better)
- Maintainer concentration3.5
- 81 to 97% of sampled commits from bareos.com
- Backer health2
- Bareos GmbH, stable since 2012, small company
- Licence-change risk1.5
- AGPLv3 with every plugin open; no relicensing in 16 years
- Abandonment signs0.5
- Active: last commit 2026-10-02, 57 open issues with a 24-day median age
- Security response1.5
- Active maintenance; advisory process not separately checked
Technical lock-in(lower is better)
- Formats3
- Bareos volume format (from Bacula)
- Export path1.5
- bextract and bls read volumes without the Director
- Stack coupling2.5
- Daemons plus a mandatory PostgreSQL catalog; PHP or Vue web UI
- Hardware / cloud coupling0
- Any POSIX storage, tape or S3; no phone-home
- Skills and tooling coupling3
- Bacula-style configuration skills
Release credibility
- Cadence4.5
- Yearly major release with 10 to 16 tags a year
- Roadmap transparency4.5
- Public GitHub PRs, milestones and CHANGELOG
- Say-do4
- 10 of 10 items shipped, but with 10 to 27 months from proposal to release
- Velocity4
- Steady feature delivery every year
- Lifecycle stability3.5
- Up to 5 years of LTS for subscribers; MySQL and SQLite catalog backends removed in 21
Partners and services
- Paid support4
- Four subscription tiers with LTS packages
- Consultants and partners4
- Partners in Europe, North America and Japan; training and certification
- Documentation4
- Versioned documentation per release
- Community and packaging3.5
- Official repositories for all major distros; Google group, GitHub discussions
Alternatives to Bareos
Questions about Bareos
Is Bareos any good?
Bareos ranks #1 of 16 open-source backup tools in the Open-Source Backup Ledger 2026, with a Ledger Index of 67.7 out of 100. Its strongest areas are long-term retention and tape, virtual and physical servers, security and compliance.
What are the best alternatives to Bareos?
The closest by Ledger Index are Xen Orchestra (67), PBS (66.2), pgBackRest (63.9), Barman (62.6).
How is Bareos licensed and sold?
81 to 97% of sampled commits from bareos.com.
How much lock-in does Bareos bring?
Bareos scores 10 out of 25 on technical lock-in (lower is better). Export path: bextract and bls read volumes without the Director.
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