btrbk vs Sanoid
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | btrbk | Sanoid |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 78 · Good | 69 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Perl | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, binary | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,155 | ★ 3,861 |
| First released | 2014 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Time Machine | Time Machine |
What are btrbk and Sanoid?
btrbk
btrbk is a backup tool for creating and managing snapshots of Btrfs subvolumes and replicating them to local or remote targets. It is designed for incremental, atomic backups driven by a simple configuration file.
- Incremental Btrfs backups
- Remote replication over SSH
- Configurable retention
- Atomic snapshots
Sanoid
Sanoid is a policy-driven snapshot management tool for ZFS filesystems, bundled with Syncoid for snapshot replication. Together they automate ZFS snapshots and offsite backup replication.
- Policy-based ZFS snapshots
- Syncoid replication included
- Automated pruning
btrbk vs Sanoid: key differences
Both projects are written in Perl. Btrbk is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Sanoid.
Why pick each one
Choose btrbk if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Perl
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Btrfs only
- No graphical interface
Choose Sanoid if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (3.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in Perl
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is btrbk or Sanoid better?
Neither is universally better. Sanoid has the larger community, while btrbk is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are btrbk and Sanoid free and open-source?
Yes. btrbk is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sanoid under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run btrbk and Sanoid with Docker?
btrbk: check the project docs for container support. Sanoid: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, btrbk or Sanoid?
btrbk has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Sanoid. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.