Bupstash vs Duplicacy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Bupstash | Duplicacy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 13 · At risk | 76 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | Proprietary |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 924 | ★ 5,683 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | Backblaze, Carbonite |
What are Bupstash and Duplicacy?
Bupstash
Bupstash is a tool for encrypted, deduplicated, and compressed backups. It is designed to be simple, secure, and efficient, storing backups locally or over SSH.
- Encrypted deduplicated backups
- Works over SSH
- Simple command-line interface
Duplicacy
Duplicacy is a cross-platform cloud backup tool using a novel lock-free deduplication algorithm for efficient encrypted backups. It targets users backing up to cloud storage. It is deployed as a binary with an optional web UI.
- Lock-free deduplication
- Many cloud backends
- Cross-computer deduplication
- Optional web GUI
Bupstash vs Duplicacy: key differences
Bupstash is written in Rust, while Duplicacy is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Bupstash versus Proprietary for Duplicacy. Bupstash is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Duplicacy. Duplicacy is the more established project (first released 2016), while Bupstash arrived in 2020. Duplicacy has the considerably larger community, at 5,683 GitHub stars versus 924. Duplicacy lists first-class Docker deployment; Bupstash does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Bupstash if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Duplicacy if…
- Efficient deduplication
- Good cloud support
- Reliable
Watch out for
- Web edition is paid
- CLI is free but licensed
Frequently asked questions
Is Bupstash or Duplicacy better?
Neither is universally better. Duplicacy has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bupstash and Duplicacy free and open-source?
Yes. Bupstash is licensed under MIT and Duplicacy under Proprietary. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bupstash and Duplicacy with Docker?
Bupstash: check the project docs for container support. Duplicacy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Bupstash or Duplicacy?
Bupstash has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Duplicacy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.