WAL-G: Open-Source Backup Ledger 2026

Part of the Open-Source Backup Ledger (edition 2026-10-02). How the scores work: methodology.

Snapshot

Kind: Database backup tool
Licence: Apache-2.0
Backer: Multi-company community (started at Yandex)
Paid edition or support: No single vendor; consultancies offer support
Latest release: 3.0.9, 2026-08-20
Next signal: 3.1; PostgreSQL 18; OrioleDB and Cloudberry engines
Archetype: Multi-company collective
Evidence grade: A. Release dates verified against GitHub. The 2016 snapshot in the research describes WAL-E, a different project, so history starts with WAL-G 0.1 in 2017.

Scope of the scores: Database-only tool covering PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis and others; compare it with other database tools.

Scorecard

Dimension	Score	Direction
Capability today	62.8 / 100	higher is better
Momentum since end of 2022	+0.0 points	higher is better
Credibility	20.5 / 25	higher is better
Sustainability risk	6.5 / 25	lower is better
Technical lock-in	2.5 / 25	lower is better
Support and ecosystem	12.0 / 20	higher is better
AI leverage	1.0 / 20	higher is better
Ledger Index	61.3 / 100	balanced weights

Capability by domain

Scores 0 to 5 against fixed anchors; total is weighted to 100.

Domain (weight)	2016	2019	2022	Today
Virtual and physical servers (12)	n/a	0.5	0.5	0.5
Databases and applications (12)	n/a	4	5	5
Recovery (14)	n/a	3.5	4	4
Cyber resilience (14)	n/a	2.5	3.5	3.5
Storage efficiency and targets (10)	n/a	4	4	4
Long-term retention and tape (6)	n/a	3	3	3
Replication and DR (10)	n/a	3	3.5	3.5
Security and compliance (8)	n/a	3	3.5	3.5
New-platform support (VMware exit) (8)	n/a	0.5	0.5	0.5
Management at scale and automation (6)	n/a	2	3	3
Total / 100	not released	53.2	62.8	62.8

Year by year: 2017: 45.6 · 2018: 45.6 · 2019: 53.2 · 2020: 53.2 · 2021: 53.2 · 2022: 62.8 · 2023: 62.8 · 2024: 62.8 · 2025: 62.8 · 2026: 62.8

What moved the score

Year	Domain	Change	Points	Trigger
2019	Databases and applications	3.5 → 4	+1.2	Delta backups; experimental MySQL and Redis
2019	Long-term retention and tape	2 → 3	+1.2	Retention policies with WAL pruning
2019	Recovery	3 → 3.5	+1.4	Parallel delta restore
2019	Replication and DR	2.5 → 3	+1.0	Replica seeding from cloud
2019	Security and compliance	2.5 → 3	+0.8	Libsodium encryption
2019	Storage efficiency and targets	3 → 4	+2.0	GCS, Azure, Swift, local; several codecs
2022	Cyber resilience	2.5 → 3.5	+2.8	KMS encryption; S3 Object Lock
2022	Databases and applications	4 → 5	+2.4	Several database families: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, ClickHouse
2022	Management at scale and automation	2 → 3	+1.2	Standard engine in Patroni/Spilo stacks; JSON output
2022	Recovery	3.5 → 4	+1.4	Catch-up backups for lagging replicas
2022	Replication and DR	3 → 3.5	+1.0	Catch-up for standbys
2022	Security and compliance	3 → 3.5	+0.8	KMS, managed identities

Direction, 2023 to 2026

Each item carries one theme and one driver (V vision, C customer need, M market window, U upstream, P portfolio).

Date	Item	Theme	Driver
2023-11	PostgreSQL 16 support	D2 Databases and applications	U
2024-03	3.0: FoundationDB engine	D2 Databases and applications	C
2024-10	PostgreSQL 17 support	D2 Databases and applications	U
2026-08	3.0.9: govulncheck pipeline	D9 Security	C

Centre of gravity: Databases and applications (3), Security (1)
Driver mix: Vision 0%, Customer need 50%, Market window 0%, Upstream 50%, Portfolio 0%

Credibility: 20.5 / 25

Criterion	Score	Basis
Cadence	4	3 to 10 releases a year
Roadmap transparency	4	Public issues and PRs
Say-do	4.5	5 of 5 shipped within 3 to 5 months
Velocity	4.5	20 to 29 distinct authors a year
Lifecycle stability	3.5	3.0 major in 2024; per-engine maturity varies

Say-do record, 2023 to 2026: 5 items since 2023, all shipped within 3 to 5 months.

Sustainability risk: 6.5 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Maintainer concentration	1	Broad author base; no author above about 40%
Backer health	2.5	No single backer; several companies contribute
Licence-change risk	1	Apache-2.0
Abandonment signs	0.5	Active
Security response	1.5	govulncheck pipeline added 2026

Project health: 4,265 stars; 247 open issues (median 304 days), 71 open PRs (133 days). The broadest contributor base among the database tools.

Technical lock-in: 2.5 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Formats	0.5	Restores standard database files
Export path	0.5	Standard data files
Stack coupling	0.5	Single Go binary
Hardware / cloud coupling	0	Any object or local storage
Skills and tooling coupling	1	Database skills

Support and ecosystem: 12.0 / 20

Criterion	Score	Basis
Paid support	2.5	Consultancies only
Consultants and partners	3	Used in Patroni/Spilo and by DevOps consultancies
Documentation	3	Docs in the repository
Community and packaging	3.5	Release binaries; large user base in Kubernetes PostgreSQL

AI leverage: 1 / 20

Strand	Today	Latest step
AI for protection / protecting AI	0	none
AI platform stack	0	none
AI-assisted operations	0	none
Agent openness	1	2019: JSON output

No AI features.

Reading

WAL-G is the broadest database backup tool here, covering PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis and more with fast cloud-native backups. No single vendor stands behind it, which spreads risk but means support comes from consultancies.

Open questions and evidence caveats

Maturity differs between database engines; check the one you need.