Velerovs
Portworx Backup
Portworx Backup: Portworx Backup for a supported Kubernetes backup product with a free tier up to one terabyte
Velero
Open source backup and migration for Kubernetes cluster resources
As of 1 September 2026, Velero is free to use. The default open source tool for backing up Kubernetes cluster state and persistent volumes to object storage. Softwr lists it under Backup. Velero is made by Velero, a CNCF project, available on Linux.
Overview
What Velero does
Velero backs up Kubernetes API objects and persistent volume data to object storage, restores them into the same or a different cluster, and is commonly used for migration as well as recovery. It supports volume snapshots through the cloud provider or the Container Storage Interface, and file-level backup through an integrated uploader for volumes that cannot be snapshotted. Backup hooks let you quiesce a database before the snapshot is taken. Velero originated at Heptio, moved to VMware after the 2018 acquisition, and is now a CNCF project. That lineage matters: after Broadcom acquired VMware, the level of corporate engineering investment behind the project became a legitimate question for anyone planning a ten year retention policy around it. The code is Apache licensed and the community is active, but there is no company whose revenue depends on it. Buyers, or rather adopters, are platform teams that need cluster-level recovery without a budget line. The trade-off is support and completeness. Velero backs up what Kubernetes knows about; application consistency for databases depends on you writing correct hooks, restore ordering across dependent resources needs care, and nobody is contractually obliged to help when a restore fails. Every commercial Kubernetes backup product on the market is selling the answer to that last sentence.
What people use it for
- A platform team needing namespace-level restore after an accidental deletion, with no budget for a backup product
- Migrating workloads between Kubernetes clusters or between cloud providers using backup and restore
- Capturing cluster configuration before a risky upgrade so the previous state can be reinstated
- An organisation proving a Kubernetes recovery capability to an auditor before deciding whether to buy a commercial product
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Velero
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- VelerovsRestic
Restic: Restic where the requirement is file-level backup to object storage rather than Kubernetes resource capture
- VelerovsVeeam Backup & Replication
Veeam Backup & Replication: Veeam Backup & Replication if you need one vendor covering Kubernetes alongside virtual machines
Pricing
What Velero costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Velero
Free
- Apache 2.0 licensed
- No cluster or capacity limits
- Community support via Kubernetes Slack and GitHub
- No vendor support contract available from the project
- Object storage costs billed by your cloud provider
Capabilities
Features
Cluster resource backup
Captures Kubernetes API objects by namespace, label or resource type
Volume snapshots
Uses cloud provider or Container Storage Interface snapshots for persistent volumes
File-level backup
Uploads volume contents where snapshots are unavailable
Cross-cluster restore
Restores into a different cluster, which makes it a migration tool
Backup hooks
Runs commands in pods before and after backup to quiesce applications
Scheduled backups
Cron-style schedules with retention expiry
Object storage targets
Writes to S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage and compatible stores
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
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.
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.
What does it cost?
Nothing to licence. You pay for object storage capacity and for egress on restore, both billed by your cloud provider.
Keep looking
Where to go from Velero
- Velero alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Velero pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Velero badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Backup softwareThe full category
- Best Backup softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Backup software for
Compare Velero with
- Portworx Backup
- Trilio
- Restic
- HYCU
- UrBackup
- Acronis Cyber Protect
- BDRShield
- Kopia
- Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes
- Amanda Enterprise
- Bacula Enterprise
- Borg Backup
- Axcient x360Recover
- Clonezilla
- Clumio
- Cohesity
- BDRShield
- Bacula Enterprise
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Velero, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Velero
Velero alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Velero pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Velero
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Velero badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Backup software alternatives
Microsoft 365, Dynamics and Salesforce backup from a long-standing Microsoft partner
quoteServerless AWS backup with published per-gigabyte rates and explicit restore charges
Per GiB-month protected
