Backrest vs CKAN

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?
FeatureBackrestCKAN
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptPython
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarybare-metal
GitHub stars★ 7,071★ 5,088
First released20242026
ReplacesBackblaze

Why pick each one

Choose Backrest if…

  • Makes Restic approachable
  • Good scheduling
  • Lightweight
Backrest details

Choose CKAN if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
  • Written in Python
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
CKAN details

Frequently asked questions

Is Backrest or CKAN better?

Backrest is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider CKAN if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Backrest and CKAN free and open-source?

Yes. Backrest is licensed under GPL-3.0 and CKAN under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Backrest and CKAN with Docker?

Backrest: yes. CKAN: check the project docs for container support.

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