Duplicacy vs Deja Dup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Duplicacy | Deja Dup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Proprietary | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Vala |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,683 | ★ 600 |
| First released | 2016 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Time Machine, Backblaze |
What are Duplicacy and Deja Dup?
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
Deja Dup
Deja Dup is a simple backup tool that hides the complexity of doing backups properly. It supports local, network, and cloud storage with encryption and incremental backups powered by Restic.
- Beginner-friendly GUI
- Encrypted incremental backups
- Local and cloud targets
Duplicacy vs Deja Dup: key differences
Duplicacy is written in Go, while Deja Dup is built with Vala. Licensing differs — Proprietary for Duplicacy versus GPL-3.0 for Deja Dup. Deja Dup is the more established project (first released 2008), while Duplicacy arrived in 2016. Duplicacy has the considerably larger community, at 5,683 GitHub stars versus 600. Duplicacy lists first-class Docker deployment; Deja Dup 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 Deja Dup if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Vala
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Duplicacy or Deja Dup better?
Neither is universally better. Duplicacy has the larger community, while Deja Dup is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Duplicacy and Deja Dup free and open-source?
Yes. Duplicacy is licensed under Proprietary and Deja Dup under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Duplicacy and Deja Dup with Docker?
Duplicacy: yes. Deja Dup: check the project docs for container support.