Bupstash vs Restic Cron
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Bupstash | Restic Cron |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 13 · At risk | 70 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Rust | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 924 | ★ 715 |
| First released | 2020 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | Backblaze |
What are Bupstash and Restic Cron?
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
Restic Cron
A containerized scheduler that runs restic backups on a cron schedule and prunes old snapshots. It is designed to be a drop-in backup sidecar for self-hosted stacks.
- Cron-scheduled backups
- Automatic pruning
- restic backend
- Sidecar container
Bupstash vs Restic Cron: key differences
Bupstash is written in Rust, while Restic Cron is built with Shell. Licensing differs — MIT for Bupstash versus BSD-2-Clause for Restic Cron. Restic Cron is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Bupstash. Restic Cron 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 Restic Cron if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Shell
Frequently asked questions
Is Bupstash or Restic Cron better?
Neither is universally better. Bupstash has the larger community, while Restic Cron is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Bupstash and Restic Cron free and open-source?
Yes. Bupstash is licensed under MIT and Restic Cron under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bupstash and Restic Cron with Docker?
Bupstash: check the project docs for container support. Restic Cron: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Bupstash or Restic Cron?
Restic Cron has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Bupstash. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.