Conserve Backup vs Duplicity
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Conserve Backup | Duplicity |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 278 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2015 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | CrashPlan, Backblaze |
What are Conserve Backup and Duplicity?
Conserve Backup
Conserve is a robust backup program written in Rust that creates deduplicated, versioned archives to local or remote storage. It emphasizes data safety and resumable operations.
- Deduplicated archives
- Versioned backups
- Resumable operations
- Data-safety focus
Duplicity
Duplicity backs up directories by producing encrypted, signed tar-format volumes and uploading them to a remote or local file server. It uses the rsync algorithm for incremental archives.
- GPG-encrypted archives
- Many remote storage backends
- Incremental rsync deltas
Conserve Backup vs Duplicity: key differences
Conserve Backup is written in Rust, while Duplicity is built with Python. Duplicity is the more established project (first released 2002), while Conserve Backup arrived in 2015.
Why pick each one
Choose Conserve Backup if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Duplicity if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Conserve Backup or Duplicity better?
Neither is universally better. Duplicity has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Conserve Backup and Duplicity free and open-source?
Yes. Conserve Backup is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Duplicity under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Conserve Backup and Duplicity with Docker?
Conserve Backup: check the project docs for container support. Duplicity: check the project docs for container support.