Quick summary
- Best fit for Proxmox-only: PBS wins on integration, incremental forever, dedupe efficiency, and simpler restores.
- Mixed estates: Veeam can cover non-Proxmox platforms; PBS can remain primary for PVE while Veeam ingests replicas/exports.
- Operational simplicity: PBS has fewer moving parts for PVE; Veeam adds policy breadth but more components.
Architecture fit
- PBS: native Proxmox integration (storage plugin, fingerprint trust, tokens). Incremental forever, chunk dedupe, namespaces.
- Veeam: agent or hypervisor integrations; Proxmox support via backup jobs to a Veeam repo. Extra components (proxies, repos) to size and manage.
- Operational load: PBS is lighter to deploy and maintain in PVE-centric environments.
Performance & efficiency
- PBS: incremental forever with Zstd + chunk dedupe reduces network/storage churn; fast verify when storage is tuned.
- Veeam: strong across multiple platforms but adds processing overhead; proxies and repos must be sized for dedupe/compression.
- Throughput: PBS leverages PVE integration for efficient change-block-style incremental backups; Veeam may run more data per job depending on config.
Features & integrations
- PBS: namespaces, tokens, ACLs, Remote Sync for offsite, verify, prune/GC, S3 backend (tech preview; object-lock/WORM enforced by the storage) or S3-compatible target via secondary PBS, API-driven.
- Veeam: broad ecosystem (tape, cloud tiers), application-aware processing, plugins, and reporting suites; mixed-hypervisor support.
- Compliance: Veeam has mature reporting/compliance modules; PBS can pair with object-lock storage via Remote Sync for immutability (enforced at the storage).
Restore experience
- PBS: fast incremental chains; file-level restore, mount, and full VM/CT restore tightly integrated with PVE.
- Veeam: flexible restores across platforms; may add steps for Proxmox-specific restores depending on workflow.
- Testing: Both need regular restore drills; PBS verification is lightweight when storage is tuned.
Cost model
- PBS: open source; costs are infra + ops. Dedup/forever-incremental reduces storage footprint.
- Veeam: licensing + infra + ops; strong value if you need cross-platform coverage and ecosystem features.
- Bandwidth/storage: PBS typically uses less due to chunk dedupe; Veeam depends on repo settings and job design.
Recommendations
- If 100% Proxmox: choose PBS as primary. Add a secondary PBS with object-lock-capable storage for immutability/DR (enforced at the storage).
- If mixed platforms: keep PBS for Proxmox; use Veeam for other hypervisors. Optionally back up PBS copies into Veeam for unified reporting.
- If heavy compliance/reporting needs: PBS + object-lock (storage-enforced) + external reporting, or Veeam where its compliance modules are required.
Need help deciding or designing both?
We build PBS-first designs and, if needed, integrate Veeam for mixed estates.