Backup tool nono Plakar vs Rclone

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?
FeatureBackup tool nono PlakarRclone
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score86 · Excellent100 · Excellent
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseISCMIT
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarybinary, docker
GitHub stars★ 2,068★ 59,925
First released20212014
ReplacesBackblaze, CrashPlanBackblaze

What are Backup tool nono Plakar and Rclone?

Backup tool nono Plakar

Plakar is a modern open-source backup solution that creates encrypted, deduplicated snapshots with built-in integrity verification. It includes a web UI for browsing and restoring data.

  • Encrypted deduplicated snapshots
  • Integrity verification
  • Web UI for restores

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

Read the full Rclone guide →

Backup tool nono Plakar vs Rclone: key differences

Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — ISC for Backup tool nono Plakar versus MIT for Rclone. Rclone is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Backup tool nono Plakar. Rclone is the more established project (first released 2014), while Backup tool nono Plakar arrived in 2021. Rclone has the considerably larger community, at 59,925 GitHub stars versus 2,068.

Why pick each one

Choose Backup tool nono Plakar if…

  • Released under the ISC license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Go
Backup tool nono Plakar details

Choose Rclone if…

  • Works with almost any cloud
  • Extremely versatile
  • Reliable

Watch out for

  • Not a snapshot backup tool
  • Command-line focused
Rclone details

Frequently asked questions

Is Backup tool nono Plakar or Rclone better?

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

Are Backup tool nono Plakar and Rclone free and open-source?

Yes. Backup tool nono Plakar is licensed under ISC and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Backup tool nono Plakar and Rclone with Docker?

Backup tool nono Plakar: yes. Rclone: yes.

Which is lighter on resources, Backup tool nono Plakar or Rclone?

Rclone has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Backup tool nono Plakar. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.

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