Burp vs Rustic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Burp | Rustic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 74 · Good | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 502 | ★ 3,273 |
| First released | 2011 | 2022 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are Burp and Rustic?
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
Rustic
Rustic is a backup tool written in Rust that creates fast, encrypted, and deduplicated backups. It is fully compatible with Restic repositories while offering lower memory usage.
- Restic-compatible repositories
- Low memory footprint
- Cold storage support
Burp vs Rustic: key differences
Burp is written in C, while Rustic is built with Rust. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Burp versus Apache-2.0 for Rustic. Rustic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Burp. Burp is the more established project (first released 2011), while Rustic arrived in 2022. Rustic has the considerably larger community, at 3,273 GitHub stars versus 502.
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 Rustic if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Burp or Rustic better?
Rustic is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Burp if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Burp and Rustic free and open-source?
Yes. Burp is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Rustic under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Burp and Rustic with Docker?
Burp: check the project docs for container support. Rustic: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Burp or Rustic?
Rustic has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Burp. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.