Open source · GPLv3 · Self-hosted

Backup automation that runs itself

Databases, websites, cloud servers and SaaS apps — scheduled backups to 26 storage destinations you control, with one-click restores.

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bilal414/backupsheep/main/install.sh | sudo bash

One command on Ubuntu 22.04+ or Debian 12+ · Other deploy options

6,500+
users as a SaaS, 2017–2023
26
storage destinations
9
cloud providers
100k+
files verified per site
GPLv3
fully open source
What it backs up

One console for every kind of backup

Point BackupSheep at your infrastructure, pick a schedule, and every backup lands where you want it — verified, logged, and restorable.

Websites & files

FTP, FTPS, SFTP and SSH sources with fine-grained control.

  • Include/exclude rules (regex + glob)
  • Parallel transfers, all key types
  • Incremental mode, standalone zips

Databases

Native dumps for the big three engines.

  • MySQL (bundled 8.4 client) & MariaDB
  • PostgreSQL — pg_dump 14–18
  • Direct TCP or SSH tunnel, SSL/TLS

Cloud servers

Provider-native snapshots & volumes.

  • DigitalOcean, AWS EC2/RDS/Lightsail
  • Hetzner, Vultr, UpCloud, OVH
  • Oracle Cloud & Google Cloud

SaaS apps

Your hosted tools, covered too.

  • WordPress sites
  • Basecamp
  • REST API for everything else
Bring your own storage

26 destinations. Yours, not ours.

Backups go straight to storage you own. Push every backup to several destinations at once.

Amazon S3Backblaze B2WasabiCloudflare R2DigitalOcean SpacesGoogle Cloud StorageGoogle DriveAzure BlobDropboxOneDrivepCloudIDrive e2IBM COSOracle Object StorageScalewayLinodeVultrUpCloudExoscaleFilebaseIONOSLeviiaRackCorpTencent COSAlibaba OSS+ Local disk / NFS
How it works

Up and running in minutes

No agents on your servers, no per-backup pricing, no vendor lock-in. Your data never touches a third party.

1

Install on your server

One command sets up the full Docker Compose stack — web console, workers, scheduler, PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ.

curl -fsSL …/install.sh | sudo bash
2

Connect sources & storage

Add servers, databases and cloud accounts, then attach any of the 26 storage destinations. Credentials are encrypted at rest.

3

Schedule & sleep well

Daily, weekly, monthly or cron schedules with keep-last retention. Notifications by email, Slack or Telegram — restore with one click.

Ransomware-resistant by design

Immutable archives & serious credential hygiene

Backups are your last line of defense. BackupSheep makes sure they survive — and that a bad run never silently becomes your only copy.

S3 Object Lock

Apply governance or compliance retention to every new archive on Amazon S3. Even an attacker with your BackupSheep credentials can't delete locked backups before retention expires — deferred deletions are retried automatically afterwards.

Air-gapped copies

Designate a protected copy that a backup schedule must successfully validate before it starts. No validation, no run — so a broken air-gap never gives you false confidence.

No silent partial backups

Every transfer's exit status is verified — a single failed file fails the run so it retries instead of archiving a gap. Disk-space preflight stops doomed dumps before they start.

Secrets stay secret

Credentials are encrypted at rest, passed via temp credential files and environment instead of process arguments, and redacted from all run logs. Cold-storage lifecycle tiering keeps costs predictable.

Day-2 operations

Built for teams, not just backups

Everything the console does is also available over the REST API — automate BackupSheep itself.

Self-host anywhere

Deploy your way

One-command installer for any Ubuntu/Debian VM, one-click deploys for platforms, or plain Docker Compose. Put it behind HTTPS and you're done.

# one-command install (Ubuntu 22.04+ / Debian 12+)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bilal414/backupsheep/main/install.sh | sudo bash

# or with your own domain
curl -fsSL …/install.sh | sudo bash -s -- --domain backups.example.com

✓ installs Docker + Compose
✓ generates app/db/onboarding secrets
✓ builds the stack & waits for health check
✓ prints your onboarding URL
FAQ

Common questions

Is BackupSheep really free?

Yes. BackupSheep is open source under the GNU GPLv3. It was a paid SaaS from 2017–2023 with 6,500+ users; the codebase was rewritten and open-sourced with all billing machinery removed. You pay only for your own server and storage.

Where do my backups live?

On storage you own — any of the 26 supported destinations (S3, B2, R2, Azure Blob, Google Drive, Dropbox, and more) or plain disk on the BackupSheep server. Your data never passes through a third party.

How do incremental website backups work?

After the first full mirror, only new and changed files cross the network (deletions propagate too). Every backup is still a complete, standalone zip, so restores never depend on a chain. Prefer classic full backups? That's a per-node setting.

Can backups survive a ransomware attack or a rogue admin?

Yes — enable S3 Object Lock (governance or compliance mode) and archives can't be deleted until retention expires. You can also require a schedule to validate a protected air-gapped copy before it runs.

What does a restore look like?

Pick any historical backup and click restore. Websites are pushed back via reverse mirror (optionally exact, with --delete); database dumps are imported with the native client, recreating missing databases. Every restore is a tracked run with live status and logs.

What are the requirements?

A fresh Ubuntu 22.04+ or Debian 12+ server and the one-command installer (it installs Docker for you). Render, Heroku and other cloud VM guides are in the repo's docs/.

Your next backup incident is a non-event.

Install BackupSheep today, schedule your first backup in five minutes.