Backup Chief

Managed restic backups. Your storage. Your data. No lock-in.

Install a small open-source agent on your servers and back up folders, MySQL and PostgreSQL to storage you already pay for. Backup Chief schedules, checks and watches every backup, and tells you the moment one needs you.

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The Backup Chief dashboard: healthy backup jobs, recovery points and storage used across three storage destinations, an offline server that needs attention, the latest runs and the next scheduled backups.
  • Encrypted on your server Before anything leaves it
  • Your own storage S3-compatible or SFTP
  • Files and databases Folders, MySQL and PostgreSQL
  • Open-source agent Read every line it runs
  • Every 5 minutes Or daily on the Free plan
  • Checked and watched Integrity checks and alerts

How it works

Your backups go straight from your server to your storage

The agent does the work on your server and writes encrypted backups directly to your storage. Backup Chief only sends it instructions and receives reports, so your files and databases never pass through us.

Backup Chief

The control panel

  • Jobs, schedules and how long to keep recovery points
  • History, storage use and integrity checks
  • Email alerts when something needs you

Your server

Running the open-source agent

  • Reads your folders and dumps your databases
  • Deduplicates, compresses and encrypts with restic
  • Only connects outwards, no open ports

Your storage

At the provider you choose

  • Any S3-compatible bucket or SFTP server
  • Standard restic format, readable without us
  • Optional extra copy at a second provider
  1. 1

    Connect your storage

    Add a bucket at any S3-compatible provider or an SFTP server. Backup Chief checks it can write there before anything uses it.

  2. 2

    Install the agent

    One command installs the package on Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL, Rocky, Alma or Fedora (amd64 and arm64). A one-time token links it to your team.

    $ curl -fsSL https://pkg.backup.chief.app/install.sh | sudo bash
$ sudo backupchief setup <token>
  3. 3

    Create a backup job

    Pick folders or databases, a schedule and how much history to keep. Save your recovery document, and the first backup runs.

What you get

Backups you can see working, and restore when it counts

A backup is only as good as the restore. Backup Chief shows you what is protected, proves it is intact and makes getting it back the easy part.

One overview

Every server and every backup at a glance

Backups are grouped by the server they run on, with the last result, the next run and where they are stored. A failed backup or a server that stops checking in is the first thing you see, and lands in your inbox too.

  • Files, MySQL and PostgreSQL side by side
  • Email alerts when something breaks, and again when it recovers
  • Invite your team to see and manage the same backups
The backup jobs overview: six jobs grouped by server, each with its type, status, last backup, next run and storage destination. One staging server is marked offline.

Recovery points

Know exactly how far back you can go

Every job shows its last successful backup, how many recovery points you can restore and how much storage they use. Each run reports what it read and what it added, so you can see your backups do real work.

  • Keep the latest backups plus hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly ones
  • Mark an important recovery point to keep it forever
  • Add an extra copy at a second provider, copied after every backup
The Shop uploads backup job: its last successful backup, next run, recovery points and storage used, an hourly run history with a copy to Backblaze B2 after every backup.

Databases

Database backups you can actually restore

MySQL and PostgreSQL databases are dumped on your server and kept as one plain SQL file per database. Bring back a single database, download it, or restore them all at once.

  • Back up every database, or exactly the databases and tables you pick
  • Plain SQL that any MySQL or PostgreSQL server can import
  • Backups every 15 minutes stay small, because only changes are stored again
A Shop database backup run: three MySQL databases saved as separate SQL files of 2 GB, 182 MB and 23 MB, each stored in two locations with download and restore actions.

Browse files

Find the one file you need

Open any recovery point and browse it like a folder on your computer. Preview a file, download a file or folder as a ZIP, or put a folder straight back on the server.

  • Browse without downloading the whole backup first
  • Prepared downloads come with a private link you can share
  • Restore a single folder instead of everything
The file browser inside a recovery point of Shop uploads, showing the products folder with plant photos, their sizes, modification dates and owners.

Restore your way

Restores on your own servers are unlimited

Every recovery point comes with a ready-to-run command for the agent, so restoring onto your server never waits for a download. It always restores into an empty directory, so you can check the data before you swap it in.

  • Restore directly on the server, or export a ZIP there
  • Pick a recovery point from the main or the extra copy
  • Prefer plain restic? That works just as well
The restore page for a Shop uploads recovery point, with copyable commands to restore it directly on the server or export it as a ZIP.

You hold the key

A recovery document that makes us optional

Every job starts with a recovery document: the password that unlocks your backups and the exact restic commands to restore them without Backup Chief. You download it once, after that we cannot show it again.

  • Save it as a file or straight into 1Password
  • The job only starts after you confirm you saved it
  • Backup Chief runs backups with its own key, and never keeps yours
A new Customer invoices job asking to save the recovery document before it activates, with buttons to download it or save it in 1Password.

The agent

A small agent that stays out of the way

The agent is a single binary for Linux. It only makes outgoing connections, runs at low CPU and disk priority and keeps its schedule on disk, so backups keep running even when Backup Chief cannot be reached.

  • No open ports and no inbound connections
  • Detects which backup types the server supports
  • Keeps itself up to date, if you want it to
The db-01 server page: connected agent 0.21.2 on linux/amd64, configuration up to date, file, MySQL and PostgreSQL backups available, and the two jobs that run on it.

Storage

Bring the storage you already trust

Connect any S3-compatible object storage or an SFTP server. You pay your provider directly, and we never limit how much data or how many recovery points you keep there.

  • Each job gets its own encrypted location
  • Spread jobs and extra copies over several providers
  • See how much storage every location uses
The storage overview: Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2 and a Hetzner Storage Box over SFTP, with the jobs and extra copies on each and the storage they use.
See every feature

No lock-in, by design

Trust us with your backups, without depending on us

Backup software you cannot leave is a risk of its own. Backup Chief makes running backups easy, and keeps every way out open.

Standard restic backups

Everything is stored in restic's open format in your own storage. The stock restic command line reads it, no Backup Chief required.

Restore without us

Your recovery document holds the password and the commands to restore every job, even if Backup Chief is gone.

Open-source agent

Review exactly what runs on your servers, report issues or build the agent yourself from GitHub.

Keeps going on its own

Schedules live on your server. If Backup Chief is unreachable, backups still run and report back later.

chieftools/backupchief-agent · powered by restic

Your first backup is ten minutes away

Connect your storage, install the agent and pick what to protect. The Free plan includes one server and one daily backup job, for as long as you like.

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Pricing

Every feature on every plan

Start free with one server and a daily backup. You pay your storage provider directly, and restores on your own servers are always unlimited.

Yearly billing gives you 2 months free!

Free plan

€0 /forever

Get started for free
  • 1 server
  • 1 backup job
  • Daily backups
  • 1 GB downloads

Personal plan

  • 3 servers
  • 15 backup jobs
  • Hourly backups
  • 25 GB downloads

Pro plan

  • 10 servers
  • 50 backup jobs
  • 5-minute backups
  • 50 GB downloads

Business plan

  • 30 servers
  • 150 backup jobs
  • 5-minute backups
  • 50 GB downloads

Scale plan

  • 100 servers
  • 500 backup jobs
  • 5-minute backups
  • 50 GB downloads

Your purchase may be subject to sales tax and will automatically renew every month or year, depending on the billing period you’ve chosen, until cancelled.

Batteries included

Every plan includes unlimited backup storage and retention in your own S3-compatible storage. Paid plans support schedules from every five minutes and hosted downloads up to 50 GB each. Need more capacity? Contact us.

What's included

  • File, MySQL, and PostgreSQL backups

  • Your own S3-compatible storage

  • Encryption, deduplication, integrity checks, and email alerts

  • Flexible retention and keep forever recovery points

  • Snapshot browsing, hosted downloads, and manual restic recovery

  • Full REST API & MCP server

  • Collaborate with unlimited team members





Need help?

We are happy to help you with any questions you might have.

  Documentation   Roadmap   Changelog   Report a bug   Get in touch
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