4 Most Powerful MongoDB Backup Tools Ultimate Comparison (2024)

Do you manage several databases? Are you afraid of losing all your valuable data to accidents or hardware failures?

Without an effective MongoDB backup tool, your fears might become a reality. A database backup is essential to prevent data loss in unexpected circumstances. They also ensure you can recover and restore data so your organization can survive.

This article will give you 4 powerful MongoDB backup tools to secure your database. 

Introduction to External MongoDB Backup Tools

MongoDB offers basic backups through its built-in MongoDump and MongoRestore. But these tools lack advanced features offered by third-party alternatives. 

An external MongoDB backup tool enhances the general backup and recovery process. Their features include:

• Automate backups to create regular and consistent schedules. Depending on your tool, you can schedule daily, weekly, or monthly backups at a specific time. This way, you don’t have to remind yourself to create data copies.  
• Incremental backups instead of full backups. This means saving only changed data to reduce backup time and storage. 
• Point-in-time recovery allows users to restore databases at specific times. This is particularly useful in case your data gets corrupted or deleted. You can track changes, manage different versions or roll back to a specific bug-free state. 
• File Compression and deduplication for efficient use of available storage. This means the MongoDB backup tool removes duplicate files and stores unique data. It also shrinks your files to reduce overall database backup size.  
• Cloud services allow data storage in diverse locations. Cloud infrastructures improve data protection and disaster recovery. Since there are no physical servers, you can access your data whenever, wherever you need, without the extra risk of hardware damage. 
• Encryption and data security protect sensitive data, including user information and payment details. Top backup tools like SimpleBackups use military-grade AES-256 protocols to prevent unauthorized access. 
• Verification checks confirm your backup files' accuracy, authenticity, and reliability. Third-party MongoDB backup tools carry out tests to identify problems with backups. This validates that restored files aren't corrupt, damaged, or inaccurate. 
• Monitoring and reporting let users check on backup statuses, success rates, and potential errors. Some tools use email or push notifications to warn users of backup failures. 
• Data migration support facilitates easy transfers of your MongoDB database backup. For example, you can move your database from a physical, on-premise server to cloud services using these tools. 
• Disaster recovery relies on failover mechanisms or multi-region replication. This is a comprehensive data-loss solution. If primary backup replica sets fail, a secondary set is always available for access for optimized data availability. 

Simply put, these tools boost security and flexibility. With these criteria and your unique requirements in mind, selecting a MongoDB backup and restore tool becomes pretty simple. 

A Deep Dive into MongoDB Backup Tools

There are many MongoDB backup tools on the market. To help you choose an ideal one, this list explores the top 4 tools and their key features. 

SimpleBackups

As the name implies, SimpleBackups is an easy-to-use MongoDB backup and restore tool. It combines robust security, convenient cloud services, and intuitive scheduling for an optimized backup solution. 

Features 

• Top-notch security: All database backups are encrypted using RSA keys, 2-factor authentication, and AES-256. These protocols mean, SimpleBackups always secures your backup data. 
• Multiple Database and Storage Compatibility: In addition to MongoDB, SimpleBackups also supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Redis databases, to name a few.
• Multiple cloud storage providers supported: You can back up your MongoDB database to their internal AWS infrastructure or other supported providers,, such asWasabi, Dropbox, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud 
• Automated, Customizable Backup Schedule: Backup scheduling is entirely customizable. Your choices include a pre-set daily, weekly, monthly, or on-demand schedule. You can also trigger backups and restoration remotely with SimpleBackups’ API. 
• Incremental Backups: Only the first backup includes all files and folders. All subsequent SimpleBackup runs are restricted to changed files. This optimizes data storage and reduces redundancies. 
• Teams, Projects and Users: With SimpleBackups, you can create a team or project, add members and designate roles. Flexible resource access management is essential if your MongoDB database contains business information or you work with multiple companies.

Pros

• Covers backup and restoration processes. 
• Integrates with multiple popular databases and cloud services
• Industry-leading security and data encryption 
• Straightforward setup without scripts or codes 
• Anomaly detection, so you don't have to check in on backups. The interface will automatically notify you via Email, Slack, Discord, PushOver, or webhook if something goes wrong.
• MongoDB optimized using expert-created scripts.  
• Offers data analytics and metrics like running backup reports and storage consumption.

Cons

• The free version is limited to 1 backup job.

Sign up for a free SimpleBackups trial to explore our features. 

Percona

Percona is an adaptable MongoDB backup tool. It is available as an on-premise bundle that can be deployed to Google Cloud, AWS, Azure, and other cloud services. The software works by replicating the entire original database.  

Features 

• Point-in-Time Recovery: Percona XtraBackup allows you to restore your database to a specific point in time. This feature is crucial for data recovery and minimum data loss. 
• Hot Backups Percona’s services are designed to incrementally or fully automate backups without downtime. However, this feature is limited to open-source, physical data backups.  
• Advanced Logging and Auditing Persona’s MongoDB backup tool offers configurable audit logging compared to the database’s standard edition. You can monitor and track all activity for compliance and security audits. 
• Data-at-Rest Encryption Percona’s data-at-rest encryption is designed for the MongoDB WiredTiger Storage engine. This feature adds an extra layer of security. Even if unauthorized access occurs, data remains protected by a master key.  

Pros

• Minimum downtime during the backup process
• Open-source server 
• Percona community offers extensive support and resources 
• Installs on cloud services or Linux 
• Free service 

Cons

• Lacks professional customer support
• Not Windows or macOS compatible 
• Uses a command-line system - its interface is complicated for beginners.  

MongoDB Atlas

MongoDB Atlas was designed by the software house to automate backups. Its cloud services are specialized for use with MongoDB databases. Organizations and developers can create, manage, grow, back up, and restore their databases through the platform. 

Features 

• Multiple Security Measures: MongoDB Atlas implements various security measures, including network isolation, IP whitelists, access control, and VPC peering. It also offers encryption at the field level and when data is in transit or at rest. 
• Easy Scalability: Uses ranged, hashed, or zone sharding to scale your MongoDB database and backups without downtime.  
• Native Automation Tools: Offer automation for several database backup tasks, including configuration, patching, upgrades, monitoring, alerts, and disaster recovery. 
• Real-Time Alerts and Analytics: Get live alerts through built-in tracking and monitoring. Customized alerts let you solve problems with your backups before they impact performance. 

Pros

• Fully managed internal service - don't worry about setups or maintenance. 
• Automatically deploys to new versions of MongoDB 
• Easy-to-use 
• Machine learning capabilities 

Cons

• Unsuitable for complex queries 
• No specific UX design for responsive management 
• Difficulty working with multiple clusters and collections with hundreds of entries 

MongoDB Ops Manager 

MongoDB’s Ops Manager is a straightforward cloud backup tool that manages, monitors, and operates your database. It integrates easily with your MongoDB database to simplify database operations.  

Features 

• Automated Built-in Backups:  With Ops Manager, you can automate backups. It supports point-in-time recovery, query profiling, and automated replica set deployments.   
• Monitoring Capabilities: The MongoDB backup tool has extensive monitoring capabilities to offer real-time insight. These include key metrics on query and cluster performance to troubleshoot bottlenecks. Ops Manager also integrates with MongoDB charts to visualize this data. 
• Customized Alerts: Users can set up customized alerts based on various performance factors. You can also enable proactive monitoring. 
• Security Deployments: Offers multiple security and encryption layers, including native authentication, TLS/SSL, IP whitelisting, and key management. 

Pros

• Central management - backup multiple MongoDB databases from a single interface 
• Simple restoration process with added data protection 
• LDAP and Active Directory integrations 
• Automatic scaling with MongoDB clusters 

Cons

• Locked-in Vendor 
• Complicated interface 
• Limited customization tools 

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing a MongoDB Backup Tool

When selecting a MongoDB backup tool, you should consider things like: 

• Essential features like automated scheduling, point-in-time recovery, data compression, and encryption
• An easy-to-use, intuitive interface 
• Scalability to handle the size of your MongoDB database and support future growth
• Performance to minimize downtime and disruptions 
• Maximum security and encryption to protect sensitive data 
• Multiple, flexible storage options 

You must also evaluate the tool's cost and trade-offs to ensure efficient and strategic backups. 

A tool with sophisticated features might come at a higher cost. So, ask yourself, do the tool's features align with your needs and justify its costs? 

The trade-off between backup frequency and resources might prevent system overloads. Balancing your database size and recovery time for optimal data restoration is essential. 

The final consideration is to compare the tool’s security features to its management and implementation processes. This helps you achieve the desired level of protection. 

Consider your backup priorities, scalability plans, performance impacts, and vendor reputation to make an informed decision. 

MongoDB Built-in Backup Features

MongoDB offers two native backup tools.

MongoDump is easy to use. It uses a command line interface, making it accessible to developers and administrators. It allows flexible backups, allowing you to select particular databases, collections, or even query results. 

By locking the database and modifications during backup, MongoDump delivers data consistency. However, this lock might result in slower performances and downtime.

Furthermore, MongoDump uses single-thread processing. This might slow down large data-intensive MongoDB backups. 

MongoRestore is simple and makes restoring data a breeze. It can restore specific collections, subsets, or individual databases for ultimate customization.

Like MongoDump, MongoRestore is single-threaded - this speeds up restoration speeds of small datasets, But MongoRestore is unsuitable for large data sets as it can experience severe disruptions. 

Conclusion - Ensuring Data Safety with MongoDB Backup Tools

MongoDB backup tools are helpful for everyone, from individuals to large businesses. If data protection is vital to you, it's crucial to consider an effective backup mechanism. 

With a leading backup tool like SimpleBackups, you can rest assured your sensitive data is safe and always accessible, even during disruptions.

Supercharge your backups and database management with SimpleBackups. You can test the waters with a free account for your first backup project.