SHSelfHostIndex

Backrest vs Restic REST Server

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?
BA Backrest Web UI and orchestrator for Restic backups VS RE Restic REST Server High-performance HTTP backend for Restic backups
FeatureBackrestRestic REST Server
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseGPL-3.0BSD-2-Clause
LanguageTypeScriptGo
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarydocker, binary
GitHub stars★ 7,071★ 1,470
First released20242016
ReplacesBackblazeBackblaze B2

Why pick each one

Choose Backrest if…

  • Makes Restic approachable
  • Good scheduling
  • Lightweight
Backrest details

Choose Restic REST Server if…

  • Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
Restic REST Server details

Frequently asked questions

Is Backrest or Restic REST Server better?

Neither is universally better. Backrest has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Backrest and Restic REST Server free and open-source?

Yes. Backrest is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Restic REST Server under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Backrest and Restic REST Server with Docker?

Backrest: yes. Restic REST Server: yes.

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