Bupstash vs Rclone
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
| Feature | Bupstash | Rclone |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 13 · At risk | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 924 | ★ 59,925 |
| First released | 2020 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, CrashPlan | Backblaze |
What are Bupstash and Rclone?
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
Rclone
Rclone is a command-line program to manage, sync, and copy files across more than seventy cloud storage providers. It targets users moving or backing up data between storage systems. It is deployed as a single binary.
- Supports 70+ cloud providers
- Encryption and mount support
- Powerful sync and copy
- Single self-contained binary
Bupstash vs Rclone: key differences
Bupstash is written in Rust, while Rclone is built with Go. Rclone is the more established project (first released 2014), while Bupstash arrived in 2020. Rclone has the considerably larger community, at 59,925 GitHub stars versus 924. Rclone 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 Rclone if…
- Works with almost any cloud
- Extremely versatile
- Reliable
Watch out for
- Not a snapshot backup tool
- Command-line focused
Frequently asked questions
Is Bupstash or Rclone better?
Neither is universally better. Rclone has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bupstash and Rclone free and open-source?
Yes. Bupstash is licensed under MIT and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bupstash and Rclone with Docker?
Bupstash: check the project docs for container support. Rclone: yes.