Duplicacy vs Knoxite
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Duplicacy | Knoxite |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 76 · Good | 13 · At risk |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Proprietary | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,683 | ★ 493 |
| First released | 2016 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Backblaze |
What are Duplicacy and Knoxite?
Duplicacy
Duplicacy is a cross-platform cloud backup tool using a novel lock-free deduplication algorithm for efficient encrypted backups. It targets users backing up to cloud storage. It is deployed as a binary with an optional web UI.
- Lock-free deduplication
- Many cloud backends
- Cross-computer deduplication
- Optional web GUI
Knoxite
Knoxite is a flexible data storage and backup tool that supports deduplication, encryption, and many storage backends. It can back up to local disk, SFTP, and S3-compatible targets.
- Deduplicated backups
- Encryption
- Multiple storage backends
- Cross-platform
Duplicacy vs Knoxite: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Duplicacy versus GPL-3.0 for Knoxite. Knoxite is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Duplicacy. Duplicacy has the considerably larger community, at 5,683 GitHub stars versus 493. Duplicacy lists first-class Docker deployment; Knoxite does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Duplicacy if…
- Efficient deduplication
- Good cloud support
- Reliable
Watch out for
- Web edition is paid
- CLI is free but licensed
Choose Knoxite if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Duplicacy or Knoxite better?
Neither is universally better. Duplicacy has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Duplicacy and Knoxite free and open-source?
Yes. Duplicacy is licensed under Proprietary and Knoxite under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Duplicacy and Knoxite with Docker?
Duplicacy: yes. Knoxite: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Duplicacy or Knoxite?
Knoxite has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Duplicacy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.