Duplicacy vs Rclone
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
| Feature | Duplicacy | Rclone |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 76 · Good | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Proprietary | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,683 | ★ 59,925 |
| First released | 2016 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Backblaze |
What are Duplicacy and Rclone?
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
Rclone
Rclone is a command-line program to manage, sync, and copy files across more than seventy cloud storage providers. It targets users moving or backing up data between storage systems. It is deployed as a single binary.
- Supports 70+ cloud providers
- Encryption and mount support
- Powerful sync and copy
- Single self-contained binary
Duplicacy vs Rclone: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Duplicacy versus MIT for Rclone. Rclone is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Duplicacy. Rclone is the more established project (first released 2014), while Duplicacy arrived in 2016. Rclone has the considerably larger community, at 59,925 GitHub stars versus 5,683.
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 Rclone if…
- Works with almost any cloud
- Extremely versatile
- Reliable
Watch out for
- Not a snapshot backup tool
- Command-line focused
Frequently asked questions
Is Duplicacy or Rclone better?
Neither is universally better. Rclone has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Duplicacy and Rclone free and open-source?
Yes. Duplicacy is licensed under Proprietary and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Duplicacy and Rclone with Docker?
Duplicacy: yes. Rclone: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Duplicacy or Rclone?
Rclone 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.