Burp vs HashBackup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Burp | HashBackup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 74 · Good | 0 · At risk |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 502 | ★ 1 |
| First released | 2011 | 2009 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan | CrashPlan |
What are Burp and HashBackup?
Burp
Burp is a backup and restore program that uses librsync to save network and disk usage, while protecting against corruption. It supports client-side encryption and Windows VSS.
- librsync-based deduplication
- Client-side encryption
- Windows VSS support
HashBackup
HashBackup is a command-line backup program for Unix-like systems that performs deduplicated, compressed, and encrypted backups to local or remote destinations. It supports retention policies, selective restore, and many storage targets.
- Deduplication and compression
- Encrypted backups
- Many remote destinations
- Flexible retention
Burp vs HashBackup: key differences
Burp is written in C, while HashBackup is built with Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Burp versus MIT for HashBackup. HashBackup is the more established project (first released 2009), while Burp arrived in 2011. Burp has the considerably larger community, at 502 GitHub stars versus 1.
Why pick each one
Choose Burp if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in C
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose HashBackup if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Burp or HashBackup better?
Neither is universally better. Burp has the larger community, while HashBackup is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Burp and HashBackup free and open-source?
Yes. Burp is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and HashBackup under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Burp and HashBackup with Docker?
Burp: check the project docs for container support. HashBackup: check the project docs for container support.