Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

CompactView VS pghoard

Compare CompactView VS pghoard and see what are their differences

CompactView logo CompactView

Viewer for Microsoftยฎ SQL Serverยฎ CE database files (sdf)

pghoard logo pghoard

Tools for making PostgreSQL backups to cloud object storages
  • CompactView Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-23
  • pghoard Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-03

CompactView features and specs

  • Free and Open Source
    CompactView is open-source software available for free, allowing users to download, modify, and distribute the software without any cost.
  • Lightweight
    The software is lightweight, ensuring that it doesn't consume much system resources and runs efficiently even on older hardware.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    CompactView provides a simple and intuitive interface, making it easy for users to navigate and utilize its features without a steep learning curve.
  • Portable Application
    It is a portable application, meaning that it doesn't require installation and can be run from a USB drive, making it convenient for mobile use.
  • Focused on Specific Task
    CompactView focuses on a specific task, which is viewing Microsoft Compacted Files, providing great performance and reliability for this purpose.

Possible disadvantages of CompactView

  • Limited Features
    The software is designed primarily to view compacted files and lacks advanced editing or conversion features that some users might require.
  • Windows-Only
    CompactView is only available for Windows operating systems, making it inaccessible to macOS or Linux users without additional software like Wine.
  • No Active Support
    Being an open-source project, it may lack active customer support, relying instead on community forums for assistance.
  • Outdated Interface
    The interface may seem outdated compared to modern software, which could be off-putting to users accustomed to contemporary design aesthetics.
  • Potential Compatibility Issues
    Since it's dependent on Windows, certain updates or system configurations may lead to compatibility issues unless correctly managed.

pghoard features and specs

  • Multi-cloud object storage support
    pghoard supports backing up to multiple cloud storage providers including AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage, Swift, and local filesystem, giving flexibility in choosing or switching backup destinations.
  • Streaming WAL archiving and compression
    It supports continuous WAL streaming and archiving with built-in compression (using algorithms like Snappy, LZMA, or zstd) and encryption, reducing storage costs and improving backup transfer efficiency.
  • Point-in-time recovery (PITR)
    pghoard enables point-in-time recovery by combining base backups with WAL segments, allowing restoration of a PostgreSQL database to any specific moment, which is critical for disaster recovery scenarios.
  • Open source and actively maintained by Aiven
    Being maintained by Aiven, a company specializing in managed database services, pghoard benefits from real-world production use, ongoing updates, and community contributions, ensuring reliability and continued support.
  • REST API and monitoring integration
    It provides a REST API for managing and monitoring backup operations, and can integrate with monitoring systems, making it easier to automate backup workflows and track backup health in production environments.

Possible disadvantages of pghoard

  • PostgreSQL-specific tool
    pghoard is designed exclusively for PostgreSQL, so organizations using multiple database systems would need separate backup solutions for other databases, increasing operational complexity.
  • Complex initial setup and configuration
    Setting up pghoard requires careful configuration of cloud storage credentials, encryption keys, and WAL-G-like settings, which can be complex for users unfamiliar with PostgreSQL internals or cloud storage APIs.
  • Limited GUI or dashboard
    pghoard primarily operates via command-line and configuration files with a basic REST API, lacking a polished web-based dashboard for easier visualization and management compared to some commercial backup solutions.
  • Documentation gaps for edge cases
    While basic documentation exists, users have reported that some advanced use cases, troubleshooting steps, and edge-case scenarios are not thoroughly documented, requiring deeper investigation into the source code.
  • Smaller community compared to alternatives
    Compared to more widely adopted tools like pgBackRest or Barman, pghoard has a smaller user community and fewer third-party resources, tutorials, or plugins, which may limit support options for troubleshooting.

Analysis of pghoard

Overall verdict

  • pghoard is a solid, mature open-source backup and restore solution for PostgreSQL, developed by Aiven and used in production for managing cloud-based PostgreSQL backups. It's well-suited for teams needing reliable, automated backup management with cloud storage integration, though it requires some setup and PostgreSQL administration knowledge to use effectively.

Why this product is good

  • Supports multiple cloud storage backends including AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Azure Blob Storage
  • Provides continuous WAL archiving and base backups for point-in-time recovery
  • Battle-tested in production by Aiven for their managed PostgreSQL service
  • Open source with an active development history and community support
  • Handles backup compression and encryption out of the box
  • Supports multiple PostgreSQL versions and can manage backups for multiple clusters
  • Written in Python, making it relatively easy to extend or customize

Recommended for

  • Organizations running self-hosted PostgreSQL databases who need robust backup solutions
  • DevOps teams looking for cloud-native backup tooling with multi-provider storage support
  • Companies requiring point-in-time recovery capabilities for compliance or disaster recovery
  • Users already familiar with Aiven's ecosystem or seeking battle-tested tools from a managed database provider
  • Teams needing to manage backups across multiple PostgreSQL instances or clusters
  • Users comfortable with Python-based tooling and command-line configuration

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to CompactView and pghoard)
NoSQL Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Databases
88 88%
12% 12
MySQL Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, pghoard seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

CompactView mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of CompactView yet. Tracking of CompactView recommendations started around Mar 2021.

pghoard mentions (2)

  • Pgbackrest is no longer being maintained
    The "closest" would be using Barman with hook scripts (https://docs.pgbarman.org/release/3.18.0/user_guide/hook_scripts.html#hook-scripts-using-barman-cloud-scripts-as-hooks-in-barman) if you rely on cloud storage for storing backups. https://github.com/aiven-open/pghoard seems like a good option too, but I havenโ€™t tested it yet to have a solid opinion. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Future PostgreSQL: improvement to the replication protocol
    This story starts with our own PgHoard, a PITR backup tool for PostgreSQL. PgHoard offers several methods to archive the WAL (Write Ahead Log), including pg_receivewal, a small application shipping with PostgreSQL which connects to a PostgreSQL cluster using the physical replication protocol to stream WAL as they are produced, optionally keeping track of the position on the server using a replication slot. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing CompactView and pghoard, you can also consider the following products

Microsoft SQL Server Compact - Bring Microsoft SQL Server 2017 to the platform of your choice. Use SQL Server 2017 on Windows, Linux, and Docker containers.

ObjectBox - ObjectBox empower edge computing with an edge device database and synchronization solution for Mobile & IoT. Store and sync data from edge to cloud.

Realm.io - Realm is a mobile platform and a replacement for SQLite & Core Data. Build offline-first, reactive mobile experiences using simple data sync.

UnQLite - UnQLite is a in-process software library which implements a self-contained, serverless...

VoltDB - In-memory relational DBMS capable of supporting millions of database operations per second

HSQLDB - hsqldb: Full-featured 100% Java ORDBMS