Autorestic vs Knoxite
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Autorestic | Knoxite |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 53 · Fair | 13 · At risk |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,868 | ★ 493 |
| First released | 2019 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | Backblaze |
What are Autorestic and Knoxite?
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
Knoxite
Knoxite is a flexible data storage and backup tool that supports deduplication, encryption, and many storage backends. It can back up to local disk, SFTP, and S3-compatible targets.
- Deduplicated backups
- Encryption
- Multiple storage backends
- Cross-platform
Autorestic vs Knoxite: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Autorestic versus GPL-3.0 for Knoxite. Autorestic is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Knoxite. Knoxite is the more established project (first released 2016), while Autorestic arrived in 2019. Autorestic has the considerably larger community, at 1,868 GitHub stars versus 493. Autorestic lists first-class Docker deployment; Knoxite 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 Knoxite if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Autorestic or Knoxite better?
Autorestic is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Knoxite if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Autorestic and Knoxite free and open-source?
Yes. Autorestic is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Knoxite under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Autorestic and Knoxite with Docker?
Autorestic: yes. Knoxite: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Autorestic or Knoxite?
Autorestic has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Knoxite. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.