Autorestic vs Rdiffweb
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Autorestic | Rdiffweb |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,868 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2019 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | CrashPlan |
What are Autorestic and Rdiffweb?
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
Rdiffweb
Rdiffweb is a web application used to browse and restore data from rdiff-backup repositories. It provides email notifications, quota management, and multi-user access.
- Browse rdiff-backup repos
- Email notifications
- Per-user quotas
Autorestic vs Rdiffweb: key differences
Autorestic is written in Go, while Rdiffweb is built with Python. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Autorestic versus GPL-3.0 for Rdiffweb. Autorestic is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Rdiffweb. Rdiffweb is the more established project (first released 2014), while Autorestic arrived in 2019. Autorestic has the considerably larger community, at 1,868 GitHub stars versus 200.
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 Rdiffweb if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Autorestic or Rdiffweb better?
Autorestic is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Rdiffweb if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Autorestic and Rdiffweb free and open-source?
Yes. Autorestic is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Rdiffweb under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Autorestic and Rdiffweb with Docker?
Autorestic: yes. Rdiffweb: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Autorestic or Rdiffweb?
Autorestic has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Rdiffweb. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.