Backrest vs Puter

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureBackrestPuter
CategoryBackup & RecoveryFile Sync & Storage
LicenseGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker
GitHub stars★ 7,071★ 43,003
First released20242026
ReplacesBackblaze

Why pick each one

Choose Backrest if…

  • Makes Restic approachable
  • Good scheduling
  • Lightweight
Backrest details

Choose Puter if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 43k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
Puter details

Frequently asked questions

Is Backrest or Puter better?

Neither is universally better. Puter has the larger community, while Backrest is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Backrest and Puter free and open-source?

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

Can I run Backrest and Puter with Docker?

Backrest: yes. Puter: yes.

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