Tink vs UrBackup
UrBackup copies file and image backups through urbackupsrv. That is not a mechanic. Tink installs in one command, watches the Linux host, explains what is wrong, and helps you fix it.
UrBackup runs the backup. Tink answers “why is this VPS sick?”
Accidental sysadmins land on UrBackup because a client/server backup looks cheaper than a NAS. Then the host volume fills, nginx dies, and urbackupclientctl status still looks complete — no backup match for host fill. A filling /var is a Tink warning; it is not a UrBackup job unless you scraped the :55414 Web UI and watched it.
Tink is the other job: detect the issue on the machine, say why it happened in plain English, propose the command, and run it only after you approve. Keep using UrBackup if you already run file and image backups. Use Tink if you run Linux servers and want a mechanic.
| Feature | Tink | UrBackup |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 30 seconds (one curl | sh command) | Hours — urbackupsrv, urbackupclientbackend, :55414 Web UI, internet clients, then a host that still has no mechanic after the last file backup shows ok |
| What you get | Working monitoring, diagnosis, and approved fixes | File backups, image backups, and restore points. Disk fill, nginx, Postgres, and certs stay your problem until you SSH past urbackupclientctl status |
| Pricing | Free (Scout) / $9 / $29 per machine per month | AGPLv3+ and free. You still pay the person who owns the VPS after the last client stays green |
| Hidden costs | None — fully managed | A quiet urbackupsrv at 2am, a healthy backup that is not host fill, and a second tool to tell you the box is sick while :55414 still looks complete |
| Monitoring approach | Agent on the server — CPU, disk, services, logs, certs, ports | Clients, last file backup, last image backup. UrBackup does not watch a quiet cert or host auth.log after the last incremental finished |
| Configuration | None after install — heuristics and AI | urbackupsrv, client settings, internet mode, image vs file backups, and which systemd unit actually pages you |
| Plain-English diagnosis | Yes — AI explains root cause, impact, and fix | You read urbackupclientctl status, then SSH into the host to change the Linux box UrBackup already sits on |
| Fix execution | Proposes and executes approved commands with an audit trail | systemctl restart urbackupsrv and a restore — UrBackup cannot free host disk, rotate a cert, or stop SSH brute-force unless you wrote that job |
| Alerting | Built-in across 8 channels | Not a UrBackup job — Web UI mail plus a separate monitoring tool have to fire |
| Predictive alerts | Yes — disk fills in ~6 days, memory and CPU trends | Not a UrBackup job — a last-backup timestamp does not forecast a quiet host filling up |
| SSH brute-force detection | Built-in — parses auth.log every scan | Never — UrBackup does not read host auth.log, journald, or firewall state after the last file backup landed |
| Machine offline detection | Agent presence monitoring with multi-channel alerts | Silence if urbackupclientbackend dies after the last schedule — unless you built a separate uptime check |
| Public status page | Shareable URL with 90-day history | None — the :55414 Web UI is not a customer-facing status page for the Linux host |
| Weekly fleet digest | Automated Monday digest + daily brief when issues are open | None — a backup recap is not a plain-English fleet narrative |
| On-call tracking | Built-in /oncall command + incident acknowledgment | Not included — wire failed UrBackup clients into PagerDuty or another incident tool |
| Conversation interface | Telegram, WhatsApp, web dashboard, CLI | urbackupclientctl and SSH. No mechanic you text when /var filled and the last file backup still showed ok |
| Learning curve | None — works after install | Steep — urbackupsrv, client backend, :55414, internet clients, image vs file, and which failure is UrBackup vs the running host |
| Best for | Freelancers, small teams, accidental sysadmins (1-50 Linux servers) | Teams that already run UrBackup for file and image backups, not a sick-VPS mechanic |
When UrBackup is the right choice
Keep using UrBackup when you already want that exact job:
- Client/server backups with urbackupsrv — you need file backups, image backups, and the :55414 Web UI, not a mechanic.
- An existing backup stack — last-backup times, internet clients, and restore points matter more than guest nginx, certs, and SSH on a quiet VPS.
- An existing lab or nested setup — UrBackup already starts, the clients already ship, and someone owns the UrBackup box.
- Hosts that only page on backup or restore death — you already run UrBackup mail, not a sick-box SSH loop.
The real cost of “just watch urbackupclientctl status”
UrBackup runs backups and restores. A working ops loop for five Linux boxes is not:
- A healthy last-backup timestamp still means you SSH into the host and change the box by hand when it gets sick later
- Host fill, nginx, certs, and SSH brute-force never appear unless a separate tool scraped those signals and a rule fired
- A filling /var is a Tink disk warning on every scan — UrBackup will stay quiet until the next schedule fails
- A single VPS with a dead agent still needs a mechanic, not another green client
For a 5-server team, Tink Mechanic at $45/month is cheaper than the engineer who keeps failed-backup notifications alive after a free UrBackup install, and every scan includes a diagnosis a quiet urbackupclientctl status will not type.
No urbackupsrv homework. No silent host. One command install.
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