btrbk vs Restic Browser
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?
btrbk
Backup tool for Btrfs subvolume snapshots
VS
Restic Browser
Desktop app to browse and restore Restic snapshots
| Feature | btrbk | Restic Browser |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Perl | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,125 | ★ 1,275 |
| First released | 2014 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Time Machine | Time Machine |
Why pick each one
Choose btrbk if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Perl
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Restic Browser if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is btrbk or Restic Browser better?
Neither is universally better. btrbk has the larger community, while Restic Browser is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are btrbk and Restic Browser free and open-source?
Yes. btrbk is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Restic Browser under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run btrbk and Restic Browser with Docker?
btrbk: check the project docs for container support. Restic Browser: check the project docs for container support.