Autorestic vs Backrest
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Backrest
Web UI and orchestrator for Restic backups
| Feature | Autorestic | Backrest |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 52 · Fair | 91 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,868 | ★ 7,394 |
| First released | 2019 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | Backblaze |
What are Autorestic and Backrest?
Autorestic
Autorestic is a higher-level wrapper around Restic that makes it easy to manage multiple backups from a single declarative configuration file. It handles backends, locations, and scheduling.
- Declarative backup config
- Multiple backends and locations
- Cron-based scheduling
Backrest
Backrest is a web-based backup orchestrator built on top of Restic, adding scheduling, monitoring, and a friendly interface. It targets users who want Restic's power with a GUI. It is deployed via Docker or a binary.
- Web UI for Restic
- Scheduling and retention policies
- Backup health monitoring
- Notifications
Autorestic vs Backrest: key differences
Autorestic is written in Go, while Backrest is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Autorestic versus GPL-3.0 for Backrest. Autorestic is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Backrest. Autorestic is the more established project (first released 2019), while Backrest arrived in 2024. Backrest has the considerably larger community, at 7,394 GitHub stars versus 1,868.
Why pick each one
Choose Autorestic if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
Choose Backrest if…
- Makes Restic approachable
- Good scheduling
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Young project
- Depends on Restic underneath
Frequently asked questions
Is Autorestic or Backrest better?
Neither is universally better. Backrest has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Autorestic and Backrest free and open-source?
Yes. Autorestic is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Backrest under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Autorestic and Backrest with Docker?
Autorestic: yes. Backrest: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Autorestic or Backrest?
Autorestic has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Backrest. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.