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Backup · head to head

Clumio vs Velero

Clumio logo

Clumio

Backup

Serverless AWS backup with published per-gigabyte rates and explicit restore charges

From
$0.01/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Velero logo

Velero

Backup

Open source backup and migration for Kubernetes cluster resources

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Velero has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Clumio restore is charged at $0.040 per GiB plus data transfer out, so recovering a hundred terabytes in an incident costs thousands of dollars on top of the storage fee, a bill nobody budgets for.; Velero there is no vendor support contract from the project itself, so a failed restore during an outage is resolved by your team reading source code and GitHub issues.
  • They diverge on capability: Clumio covers Air-gapped backups, Velero covers Cluster resource backup.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Clumio and Velero actually diverge.

Attributes where Clumio and Velero differ
AttributeClumioVelero
Starting price$0.01/monthFree
Pricing modelPer GiB-month protectedOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APILinux

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Backup).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Clumio

  • Air-gapped backups
  • Fifteen-minute recovery points
  • S3 SecureVault
  • Backtrack
  • Terraform provider
  • Compliance attestations

Only in Velero

  • Cluster resource backup
  • Volume snapshots
  • File-level backup
  • Cross-cluster restore
  • Backup hooks
  • Scheduled backups
  • Object storage targets

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Clumio

  • An AWS-native company needing backups outside its own account so a compromised root credential cannot delete themnot Velero
  • A team that has to model recovery cost before an incident rather than discover it during onenot Velero
  • An organisation protecting billions of S3 objects where per-object charges dominate per-gigabyte chargesnot Velero
  • A regulated business needing SOC 2, HIPAA and PCI-DSS attested backup without running backup serversnot Velero

Velero

  • A platform team needing namespace-level restore after an accidental deletion, with no budget for a backup productnot Clumio
  • Migrating workloads between Kubernetes clusters or between cloud providers using backup and restorenot Clumio
  • Capturing cluster configuration before a risky upgrade so the previous state can be reinstatednot Clumio
  • An organisation proving a Kubernetes recovery capability to an auditor before deciding whether to buy a commercial productnot Clumio

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Clumio

  • Restore is charged at $0.040 per GiB plus data transfer out, so recovering a hundred terabytes in an incident costs thousands of dollars on top of the storage fee, a bill nobody budgets for.
  • Per-object charges of $1.50 per million managed objects per month mean estates with billions of small objects pay far more than a per-gigabyte estimate suggests.
  • The archive tier is cheaper to store but restores begin only after 24 to 48 hours, which is incompatible with most recovery time objectives, and early deletion inside six months incurs a fee.
  • It is an AWS product; Azure workloads are on the roadmap rather than shipping, so multi-cloud organisations still need a second backup platform.
  • The Commvault acquisition means Clumio now overlaps with Commvault own cloud protection, and buyers should ask directly how the two portfolios converge before signing multi-year terms.

Velero

  • There is no vendor support contract from the project itself, so a failed restore during an outage is resolved by your team reading source code and GitHub issues.
  • Application consistency depends on backup hooks you write and maintain, and a database backed up without a correct hook restores to a state that may not be usable.
  • Restore ordering across dependent resources such as custom resource definitions and operators needs manual attention, and complex applications frequently need a documented runbook rather than a single restore command.
  • Corporate engineering investment became uncertain after Broadcom acquired VMware, which is a real consideration for anyone building a long retention policy on the project.
  • Object storage egress charges apply on restore and are billed by your cloud provider, so a full cluster recovery from another region carries a cost discovered during the incident rather than during planning.

Pricing, plan by plan

Clumio

$0.01/month
  • S3 SecureVault Standard$0.025/month
    • $0.025 per GiB-month plus $1.50 per million managed objects per month
    • Restores $0.040 per GiB instant access and $0.09 per GiB retrieved
    • $0.025 per 1,000 API requests, data transfer out charged separately
  • S3 SecureVault Archive$0.01/month
    • $0.010 per GiB-month plus $1.50 per million managed objects per month
    • Restores begin after 24 to 48 hours
    • $0.040 per GiB restored plus data transfer out
  • Backtrack$undefined/month
    • $1.50 per million managed objects-month, included free with SecureVault
    • $0.50 per million objects processed on restore
    • Metadata change tracking rather than full backup

Velero

Free
  • VeleroFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed
    • No cluster or capacity limits
    • Community support via Kubernetes Slack and GitHub

Which should you pick?

Choose Clumio if

  • You need air-gapped backups.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want fifteen-minute recovery points.
Clumio review

Choose Velero if

  • You need cluster resource backup.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want volume snapshots.
Velero review

Questions people ask

Is Clumio or Velero better?
Neither clearly leads. Clumio starts at $0.01/month and Velero at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Clumio or Velero?
Velero has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $0.01/month for Clumio and Free for Velero.
Does Clumio or Velero run on more platforms?
Clumio runs on Web, API. Velero runs on Linux.
Can I use Velero for free?
Yes. Velero has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Clumio starts at $0.01/month.
What is Clumio best used for?
Clumio is most often used for an aws-native company needing backups outside its own account so a compromised root credential cannot delete them, a team that has to model recovery cost before an incident rather than discover it during one, an organisation protecting billions of s3 objects where per-object charges dominate per-gigabyte charges, a regulated business needing soc 2, hipaa and pci-dss attested backup without running backup servers. Of those, an aws-native company needing backups outside its own account so a compromised root credential cannot delete them and a team that has to model recovery cost before an incident rather than discover it during one are not what Velero is typically brought in for.
What can Clumio do that Velero cannot?
Clumio covers Air-gapped backups, Fifteen-minute recovery points, S3 SecureVault, Backtrack. Velero covers Cluster resource backup, Volume snapshots, File-level backup, Cross-cluster restore.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Clumio: What does a restore cost?

$0.040 per GiB for instant access, $0.09 per GiB retrieved from archive, $0.025 per 1,000 API requests, plus AWS data transfer out. Model this before an incident.

Velero: Can we buy support for Velero?

Not from the project. Several commercial Kubernetes backup products package or extend it and sell support, which is the practical route to an accountable vendor.

Clumio: Does it support Azure?

Not yet. Azure workloads are listed as on the roadmap. Today it is AWS, with some Google Cloud Storage coverage.

Velero: Does it back up persistent volume data?

Yes, through cloud or Container Storage Interface snapshots, or through file-level upload where snapshots are not available.

Clumio: Is it still Clumio after the Commvault acquisition?

Yes, sold as Clumio by Commvault with its own pricing page and product line, but ask about portfolio convergence on a multi-year deal.

Velero: What does it cost?

Nothing to licence. You pay for object storage capacity and for egress on restore, both billed by your cloud provider.

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