BackupNinja vs Rustic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | BackupNinja | Rustic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 2 · At risk | 88 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Shell | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 68 | ★ 3,273 |
| First released | 2004 | 2022 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are BackupNinja and Rustic?
BackupNinja
Backupninja lets you coordinate system backups through a central configuration directory of simple files. It supports many backends including rdiff-backup, rsync, duplicity, and database dumps.
- Central config directory
- Many backup backends
- Database dump handlers
Rustic
Rustic is a backup tool written in Rust that creates fast, encrypted, and deduplicated backups. It is fully compatible with Restic repositories while offering lower memory usage.
- Restic-compatible repositories
- Low memory footprint
- Cold storage support
BackupNinja vs Rustic: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: BackupNinja's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Rustic is actively maintained. BackupNinja is written in Shell, while Rustic is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for BackupNinja versus Apache-2.0 for Rustic. BackupNinja is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Rustic. BackupNinja is the more established project (first released 2004), while Rustic arrived in 2022. Rustic has the considerably larger community, at 3,273 GitHub stars versus 68.
Why pick each one
Choose BackupNinja if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Shell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Rustic if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is BackupNinja or Rustic better?
Neither is universally better. Rustic has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are BackupNinja and Rustic free and open-source?
Yes. BackupNinja is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Rustic under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BackupNinja and Rustic with Docker?
BackupNinja: check the project docs for container support. Rustic: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, BackupNinja or Rustic?
BackupNinja has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Rustic. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.