Alternatives / Veeam
Looking for an open source Veeam alternative? We compared 2 open source backup tools by license, encryption, sources, and maintenance. Plakar and Pluton cover files, databases, and object storage, but neither provides Veeam's VM-level backup and recovery.
Written by Maxime DERAME
Last updated:
| Alternative | Best for | License |
|---|---|---|
| Plakar | Queryable encrypted backups | ISC |
| Pluton | Restic-based backups with a web UI | Apache-2.0 |
We looked for open-source backup tools with encryption, deduplication, and multiple storage targets. We verified each project's license, recent activity, stars, and self-hosting in its repository. See our methodology for the full criteria.
Plakar creates encrypted, deduplicated, compressed backups with CLI, API, and UI, and lets you browse a backup without restoring it. It can unify cloud, on-premise, database, SaaS, and object storage sources, and the project says its cryptography has been audited.
Pluton is a self-hosted backup tool built on Restic with end-to-end encryption, incremental backups, retention policies, two-factor authentication, and 70+ cloud providers. It runs on about 50 MB of memory idle.
Neither tool offers Veeam's VMware or Hyper-V image-level backup, instant VM recovery, or application-aware processing.
Plakar is ISC. Pluton is Apache-2.0.
Both had commits within days of this update.
Veeam is a proprietary enterprise backup suite licensed per workload, with deep integration into hypervisors. Open-source tools avoid licensing fees, but they target files and data rather than whole virtual machines.
Plakar is an ISC-licensed backup solution that creates encrypted, deduplicated, compressed backups you can browse without restoring, from sources such as cloud, on-premise, databases, and object storage. Its cryptography has been audited, per the project.
Pricing: Free and open source.
Pluton is an Apache-2.0 self-hosted backup tool built on the Restic engine with end-to-end encryption, incremental backups, retention policies, two-factor authentication, and support for over 70 cloud providers. It runs on about 50 MB of memory idle.
Pricing: Free and open source.
| Alternative | Type | License | Self-hosted | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plakar | Backup tool | ISC | Yes | Mixed data sources |
| Pluton | Backup tool | Apache-2.0 | Yes | Cloud and local targets |
Want to browse backups without restoring
Plakar offers queryable, deduplicated, encrypted backups.
Want a simple Restic-based UI
Pluton schedules incremental encrypted backups to 70+ providers.