Databasus

MongoDB backup tool

Databasus is a free, open source and self-hosted tool to backup MongoDB document databases. Automate mongodump with scheduling, store BSON archives in S3, Google Drive or locally. Get notified via Slack, Discord or Telegram when backups complete

Configure in 2 minutes GitHub

Databasus dashboard interface for MongoDB backup management

Overview

Features for MongoDB backup

Databasus wraps mongodump with enterprise features: automated scheduling, cloud storage integration, real-time notifications and AES-256-GCM encryption. Ideal for developers and DevOps teams managing MongoDB document databases and collections

Scheduled MongoDB dumps

Schedule mongodump at optimal times when your application load is low. Choose hourly, daily, weekly, monthly intervals or use cron expressions for precise timing control

MongoDB health monitoring

Monitor MongoDB connection availability with configurable health checks. Get notified when your database or replica set becomes unreachable

Set check intervals (every minute, 5 minutes, etc.) and failure thresholds before marking the database as unavailable

Store BSON archives anywhere

Keep MongoDB backup archives locally, in S3-compatible storage, Google Drive, Dropbox, NAS or other destinations. Your document data stays under your control. View all →

Backup notifications

Get alerts when MongoDB backups complete or fail. Send notifications to your DevOps team chat or personal channels. View all →

Self hosted via Docker

Run Databasus on your own infrastructure. All MongoDB connection strings and backup data stay on servers you control. Deploy in about 2 minutes via script, Docker or Kubernetes

Open source and free

Databasus is fully open source with Apache 2.0 license. Inspect every line of code, fork it, contribute to it. Free for personal and enterprise use

MongoDB versions supported

MongoDB 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are supported. Databasus uses the native mongodump tool for each version to ensure full compatibility with your document database

Security

MongoDB connection strings are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage. Each BSON archive is encrypted with a unique key. Credentials are passed securely to mongodump, never exposed in logs. Read more →

Access management

for teams

Control who can view or manage MongoDB databases. Create workspaces for different projects. Assign viewer, editor or admin roles. Read more →

Audit logs

for teams

Track all activities: backup downloads, schedule changes, configuration updates. See who did what and when for compliance and accountability. Read more →

Security

Works with MongoDB Atlas and self-hosted

Databasus connects to cloud-hosted MongoDB databases including MongoDB Atlas, AWS DocumentDB and self-hosted deployments. Since it uses logical backups via mongodump, you only need standard connection credentials — no special cloud permissions or filesystem access required

Built on mongodump

How MongoDB backup works

Databasus uses mongodump under the hood — the official MongoDB backup utility. When you trigger a backup, Databasus executes mongodump with optimized parameters:

--archive for single-file BSON output instead of directory structure
--gzip for compressed archives reducing storage and transfer size
--db to backup specific databases from your MongoDB instance
--uri for secure connection string handling with authentication

The backup stream is piped directly to your configured storage, optionally encrypted with AES-256-GCM before writing. This approach minimizes disk I/O and works efficiently with large collections.

Supported MongoDB versions:

MongoDB 4MongoDB 5MongoDB 6MongoDB 7MongoDB 8

Official MongoDB backup via mongodump with gzip compression, encryption and cloud storage

Get started

How to install?

Databasus supports multiple installation methods. Deploy on your VPS, local machine or Kubernetes cluster in about 2 minutes. Same installation works for MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB backups

Automated script (recommended)

The installation script will install Docker with Docker Compose (if not already installed), set up Databasus and configure automatic startup on system reboot.

sudo apt-get install -y curl && \
sudo curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/databasus/databasus/refs/heads/main/install-databasus.sh | sudo bash

MongoDB backup questions

Common questions about backing up MongoDB document databases with Databasus. If you have other questions, join our community on Telegram

What is Databasus and how does it backup MongoDB databases?

Databasus is an Apache 2.0 licensed, self-hosted backup tool that uses mongodump under the hood to create consistent MongoDB backups. It wraps mongodump with a modern web interface, automated scheduling, cloud storage integration (S3, Google Drive, Dropbox), real-time notifications (Slack, Discord, Telegram) and AES-256-GCM encryption — eliminating the need for custom shell scripts and cron jobs.

Does Databasus support MongoDB replica sets?

Yes, Databasus fully supports MongoDB replica sets. You can connect to any member of a replica set using the standard MongoDB connection URI format with replica set options. Databasus will read from the specified node, allowing you to backup from secondary nodes to reduce load on your primary. This is particularly useful for production environments where you want to avoid impacting primary node performance.

Can I backup MongoDB Atlas databases with Databasus?

Yes, Databasus works seamlessly with MongoDB Atlas. Since Databasus uses logical backups via mongodump, it only requires standard MongoDB connection credentials — no special Atlas permissions, IP whitelisting beyond your Databasus server, or administrative roles needed. Just provide your Atlas connection string (available in the Atlas dashboard) and Databasus handles the rest.

Which MongoDB versions does Databasus support?

Databasus supports MongoDB versions 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. All backups use the native mongodump tool with --archive and --gzip flags for efficient, compressed BSON archives. The archives can be restored using mongorestore to any compatible MongoDB version, making migrations between versions straightforward.

How does Databasus handle large MongoDB collections?

Databasus streams mongodump output directly to your storage destination, optionally encrypting the stream in transit. This approach avoids writing temporary files to disk, making it efficient for databases with large collections. The --archive flag creates a single compressed file rather than a directory structure, reducing I/O overhead and simplifying storage management.

Can I backup sharded MongoDB clusters with Databasus?

Databasus currently focuses on backing up individual MongoDB databases rather than coordinated sharded cluster backups.

For sharded clusters, you can:

• Backup each shard individually by connecting to shard replica sets
• Backup via a mongos router (though this may impact performance)

For production sharded clusters, consider MongoDB Atlas native backups or mongodump with --oplog for point-in-time consistency across shards.

How does Databasus secure MongoDB credentials and backups?

Databasus implements multi-layer security:

1. Credential encryption: All MongoDB connection URIs, passwords and authentication details are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage.

2. Backup encryption: Each BSON archive is encrypted with a unique key derived from master key, backup ID and random salt.

3. Secure credential handling: Connection URIs are passed directly to mongodump via secure parameters, never exposed in logs or process listings.

Does Databasus support incremental MongoDB backups or oplog tailing?

Databasus focuses on full logical backups using mongodump rather than incremental backups or oplog-based point-in-time recovery. For most use cases, scheduled full backups (hourly, daily, weekly) provide sufficient recovery points without the complexity of oplog management. MongoDB Atlas already offers native continuous backups with point-in-time recovery, and external incremental backups cannot be easily restored to Atlas clusters.

Can I restore MongoDB backups to a different version or cluster?

Yes, since Databasus creates standard mongodump archives in BSON format, you can restore them to any compatible MongoDB server — different version, different cloud provider or local development machine. Download the backup from Databasus (automatically decrypted), then use mongorestore with --archive and --gzip flags. Databasus shows the exact restore command for each backup.

How does mongodump compression work in Databasus?

Databasus uses mongodump's built-in --gzip flag which compresses BSON data during the dump process. This typically reduces archive size by 60-80% compared to uncompressed BSON. The compression happens in the mongodump stream before optional encryption, so both compressed and encrypted archives remain efficient. Decompression is automatic when using mongorestore with the --gzip flag.

Can I backup specific MongoDB collections instead of entire databases?

Currently, Databasus backs up entire MongoDB databases rather than individual collections. This ensures you have complete, consistent backups including all collections, indexes and metadata. If you need collection-level backups, you can create separate databases for different data domains, each with its own backup schedule in Databasus.

Does Databasus work with MongoDB running in Docker or Kubernetes?

Yes, Databasus connects to MongoDB over the network using standard connection URIs, so it works with MongoDB regardless of where it's deployed — Docker containers, Kubernetes pods, VMs or bare metal. Just ensure network connectivity between Databasus and your MongoDB instance. For Kubernetes deployments, you can use internal service DNS names or external load balancer endpoints.