Percona XtraBackup: 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: GPLv2
Backer: Percona
Paid edition or support: Percona 24/7 support and managed services
Latest release: 8.4.0-7, 2026-09-09; 9.6.0-1 innovation release 2026-04
Next signal: MySQL 9.x vector types; parallel compression for very large backups
Archetype: Vendor-backed reference tool
Evidence grade: A. Dates taken from release notes; git tags are 4 to 14 days earlier, as Percona tags before publishing.

Scope of the scores: MySQL, Percona Server and MariaDB only; compare it with other database tools.

Scorecard

Dimension	Score	Direction
Capability today	59.4 / 100	higher is better
Momentum since end of 2022	+0.0 points	higher is better
Credibility	20.5 / 25	higher is better
Sustainability risk	8.5 / 25	lower is better
Technical lock-in	2.5 / 25	lower is better
Support and ecosystem	16.0 / 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)	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Databases and applications (12)	4	4	4.5	4.5
Recovery (14)	3.5	3.5	4	4
Cyber resilience (14)	2.5	2.5	3	3
Storage efficiency and targets (10)	2.5	3.5	4	4
Long-term retention and tape (6)	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Replication and DR (10)	3.5	4	4	4
Security and compliance (8)	2.5	3	3.5	3.5
New-platform support (VMware exit) (8)	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Management at scale and automation (6)	2	2	3	3
Total / 100	48.6	52.4	59.4	59.4

Year by year: 2016: 48.6 · 2017: 48.6 · 2018: 48.6 · 2019: 52.4 · 2020: 52.4 · 2021: 52.4 · 2022: 59.4 · 2023: 59.4 · 2024: 59.4 · 2025: 59.4 · 2026: 59.4

What moved the score

Year	Domain	Change	Points	Trigger
2019	Replication and DR	3.5 → 4	+1.0	Automated replica seeding across sites
2019	Security and compliance	2.5 → 3	+0.8	Vault keyring
2019	Storage efficiency and targets	2.5 → 3.5	+2.0	xbcloud to S3, zstd
2022	Cyber resilience	2.5 → 3	+1.4	KMS keyring; immutable cloud targets
2022	Databases and applications	4 → 4.5	+1.2	Page tracking incremental; Percona XtraDB Cluster
2022	Management at scale and automation	2 → 3	+1.2	Percona Monitoring and Management; Kubernetes operator
2022	Recovery	3.5 → 4	+1.4	Streaming restore from cloud via xbcloud
2022	Security and compliance	3 → 3.5	+0.8	KMS and IAM
2022	Storage efficiency and targets	3.5 → 4	+1.0	GCS and Azure

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	8.0.35 compatibility	D2 Databases and applications	U
2024-08	8.4 LTS release	D2 Databases and applications	U
2026-04	9.6 innovation release for MySQL 9.x	D2 Databases and applications	U
2026-09	8.4.0-7: xbcloud memory optimisation	D5 Storage efficiency	C

Centre of gravity: Databases and applications (3), Storage efficiency (1)
Driver mix: Vision 0%, Customer need 25%, Market window 0%, Upstream 75%, Portfolio 0%

Credibility: 20.5 / 25

Criterion	Score	Basis
Cadence	4.5	5 to 8 releases a year
Roadmap transparency	3.5	GitHub plus Jira; issues disabled on GitHub
Say-do	4	4 of 4 shipped; MySQL 9.x support took 21 months
Velocity	4	Tracks every MySQL release
Lifecycle stability	4.5	LTS and innovation tracks

Say-do record, 2023 to 2026: 4 items since 2023, all shipped; MySQL 9.x support took about 21 months.

Sustainability risk: 8.5 / 25 (lower is better)

Criterion	Score	Basis
Maintainer concentration	3	Percona engineers and Oracle code syncs
Backer health	2	Percona
Licence-change risk	1.5	GPLv2 inherited from MySQL
Abandonment signs	0.5	Active
Security response	1.5	Percona security process

Project health: 1,559 stars; issues tracked in Percona Jira; 32 open PRs (median 80 days). 6 to 34 distinct authors a year.

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

Criterion	Score	Basis
Formats	0.5	Prepared backups are standard MySQL data directories
Export path	0.5	Standard data files
Stack coupling	0.5	Single binary
Hardware / cloud coupling	0	Any local or cloud target
Skills and tooling coupling	1	MySQL skills

Support and ecosystem: 16.0 / 20

Criterion	Score	Basis
Paid support	4.5	Percona 24/7
Consultants and partners	4	Supported by MySQL consultancies everywhere
Documentation	4	Complete documentation
Community and packaging	3.5	Percona repositories; default MySQL hot-backup tool

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	2016: CLI with JSON progress

No AI features.

Reading

XtraBackup is the standard hot-backup tool for MySQL and the engine behind Percona's operators. Its direction follows MySQL's releases, and its sustainability rests on Percona.

Open questions and evidence caveats

MariaDB support is limited to older versions; MariaDB now ships its own fork (Mariabackup).