CKAN vs Custom Backup

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureCKANCustom Backup
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0-only
LanguagePythonShell
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metalbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 5,088★ 4
First released20262024
Replaces

Why pick each one

Choose CKAN if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 5.1k GitHub stars
  • Written in Python
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
CKAN details

Choose Custom Backup if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0-only license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in Shell
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Custom Backup details

Frequently asked questions

Is CKAN or Custom Backup better?

Neither is universally better. CKAN has the larger community, while Custom Backup is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are CKAN and Custom Backup free and open-source?

Yes. CKAN is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Custom Backup under AGPL-3.0-only. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run CKAN and Custom Backup with Docker?

CKAN: check the project docs for container support. Custom Backup: check the project docs for container support.

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