Backrest vs Rclone
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
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
| Feature | Backrest | Rclone |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,394 | ★ 59,925 |
| First released | 2024 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | Backblaze |
What are Backrest and Rclone?
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
Rclone
Rclone is a command-line program to manage, sync, and copy files across more than seventy cloud storage providers. It targets users moving or backing up data between storage systems. It is deployed as a single binary.
- Supports 70+ cloud providers
- Encryption and mount support
- Powerful sync and copy
- Single self-contained binary
Backrest vs Rclone: key differences
Backrest is written in TypeScript, while Rclone is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Backrest versus MIT for Rclone. Rclone is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Backrest. Rclone is the more established project (first released 2014), while Backrest arrived in 2024. Rclone has the considerably larger community, at 59,925 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 Rclone if…
- Works with almost any cloud
- Extremely versatile
- Reliable
Watch out for
- Not a snapshot backup tool
- Command-line focused
Frequently asked questions
Is Backrest or Rclone better?
Neither is universally better. Rclone 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 Rclone free and open-source?
Yes. Backrest is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Backrest and Rclone with Docker?
Backrest: yes. Rclone: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Backrest or Rclone?
Rclone has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Backrest. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.