Custom Backup vs Restic

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 BackupRestic
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseAGPL-3.0-onlyBSD-2-Clause
LanguageShellGo
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentbare-metalbinary, docker
GitHub stars★ 4★ 35,412
First released20242015
ReplacesBackblaze, Carbonite

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 Restic if…

  • Strong encryption
  • Efficient deduplication
  • Wide backend support
Restic details

Frequently asked questions

Is Custom Backup or Restic better?

Neither is universally better. Restic 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 Restic free and open-source?

Yes. Custom Backup is licensed under AGPL-3.0-only and Restic under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Custom Backup and Restic with Docker?

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

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