K8up is a Kubernetes operator, built by VSHN, that backs up PersistentVolumeClaims and application-level dumps using restic. You apply a Backup or Schedule CRD in a namespace, and the operator spawns a Job that mounts the PVCs in read-only mode, runs restic against an S3, Azure Blob, GCS, Swift, or B2 repository, and records the result as a Snapshot CR.
The useful details: because it is restic under the hood, you get deduplication, encryption at rest, and incremental backups for free, and you can restore using plain restic from outside the cluster if the operator is unavailable. K8up also supports pre-backup hooks — it can exec into pods to run pg_dump, mysqldump, or custom commands and stream the output into the same restic repository, so databases get consistent logical backups alongside volume snapshots. Retention (keepDaily, keepWeekly, etc.) and prune jobs are expressed in the same CRD, so lifecycle policy is GitOps-friendly.
It sits alongside Velero and Kanister in the Kubernetes backup space. Velero focuses on whole-cluster disaster recovery and is heavier; K8up is simpler and per-namespace, which tends to suit multi-tenant clusters where each team wants to own its own backup policy.