Backrest vs Duplicati
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Backrest
Web UI and orchestrator for Restic backups
VS
Duplicati
Free backup software with a friendly web UI
| Feature | Backrest | Duplicati |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 95 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,394 | ★ 15,020 |
| First released | 2024 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | Backblaze, Carbonite |
What are Backrest and Duplicati?
Backrest
Backrest is a web-based backup orchestrator built on top of Restic, adding scheduling, monitoring, and a friendly interface. It targets users who want Restic's power with a GUI. It is deployed via Docker or a binary.
- Web UI for Restic
- Scheduling and retention policies
- Backup health monitoring
- Notifications
Duplicati
Duplicati is free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups to cloud and local destinations through a web interface. It targets users who want scheduled GUI-driven backups. It is deployed via Docker or installers.
- Web-based backup management
- Encrypted incremental backups
- Many cloud storage targets
- Scheduling built in
Backrest vs Duplicati: key differences
Backrest is written in TypeScript, while Duplicati is built with C#. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Backrest versus MIT for Duplicati. Duplicati is the more established project (first released 2008), while Backrest arrived in 2024. Duplicati has the considerably larger community, at 15,020 GitHub stars versus 7,394.
Why pick each one
Choose Backrest if…
- Makes Restic approachable
- Good scheduling
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Young project
- Depends on Restic underneath
Choose Duplicati if…
- Friendly GUI
- Broad storage support
- Free
Watch out for
- Restores can be slow
- Long beta history
Frequently asked questions
Is Backrest or Duplicati better?
Neither is universally better. Duplicati has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Backrest and Duplicati free and open-source?
Yes. Backrest is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Duplicati under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Backrest and Duplicati with Docker?
Backrest: yes. Duplicati: yes.