Autorestic vs Bupstash
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Autorestic | Bupstash |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 52 · Fair | 13 · At risk |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,868 | ★ 924 |
| First released | 2019 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are Autorestic and Bupstash?
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
Bupstash
Bupstash is a tool for encrypted, deduplicated, and compressed backups. It is designed to be simple, secure, and efficient, storing backups locally or over SSH.
- Encrypted deduplicated backups
- Works over SSH
- Simple command-line interface
Autorestic vs Bupstash: key differences
Autorestic is written in Go, while Bupstash is built with Rust. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Autorestic versus MIT for Bupstash. Autorestic is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Bupstash. Autorestic has the considerably larger community, at 1,868 GitHub stars versus 924. Autorestic lists first-class Docker deployment; Bupstash does not.
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 Bupstash if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Autorestic or Bupstash better?
Autorestic is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Bupstash if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Autorestic and Bupstash free and open-source?
Yes. Autorestic is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Bupstash under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Autorestic and Bupstash with Docker?
Autorestic: yes. Bupstash: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Autorestic or Bupstash?
Autorestic has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Bupstash. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.