Bupstash vs Knoxite
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Bupstash | Knoxite |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 13 · At risk | 13 · At risk |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 924 | ★ 493 |
| First released | 2020 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | Backblaze |
What are Bupstash and Knoxite?
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
Knoxite
Knoxite is a flexible data storage and backup tool that supports deduplication, encryption, and many storage backends. It can back up to local disk, SFTP, and S3-compatible targets.
- Deduplicated backups
- Encryption
- Multiple storage backends
- Cross-platform
Bupstash vs Knoxite: key differences
Bupstash is written in Rust, while Knoxite is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Bupstash versus GPL-3.0 for Knoxite. Knoxite is the more established project (first released 2016), while Bupstash arrived in 2020.
Why pick each one
Choose Bupstash if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Knoxite if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Bupstash or Knoxite better?
Neither is universally better. Bupstash has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bupstash and Knoxite free and open-source?
Yes. Bupstash is licensed under MIT and Knoxite under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bupstash and Knoxite with Docker?
Bupstash: check the project docs for container support. Knoxite: check the project docs for container support.