Autorestic vs Rustic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Autorestic
Config-driven wrapper for Restic backups
VS
Rustic
Fast encrypted deduplicated backup compatible with Restic
| Feature | Autorestic | Rustic |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,855 | ★ 3,170 |
| First released | 2019 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
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 Rustic if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Autorestic or Rustic better?
Neither is universally better. Rustic has the larger community, while Autorestic is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Autorestic and Rustic free and open-source?
Yes. Autorestic is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Rustic under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Autorestic and Rustic with Docker?
Autorestic: yes. Rustic: check the project docs for container support.