Custom Backup vs Rclone

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?
FeatureCustom BackupRclone
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseAGPL-3.0-onlyMIT
LanguageShellGo
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentbare-metalbinary, docker
GitHub stars★ 4★ 58,995
First released20242014
ReplacesBackblaze

Why pick each one

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

Choose Rclone if…

  • Works with almost any cloud
  • Extremely versatile
  • Reliable
Rclone details

Frequently asked questions

Is Custom Backup or Rclone better?

Neither is universally better. Rclone 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 Custom Backup and Rclone free and open-source?

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

Can I run Custom Backup and Rclone with Docker?

Custom Backup: check the project docs for container support. Rclone: yes.

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