Duplicati vs Knoxite
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Duplicati
Free backup software with a friendly web UI
VS
Knoxite
Data storage and backup with deduplication and encryption
| Feature | Duplicati | Knoxite |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 13 · At risk |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C# | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,020 | ★ 493 |
| First released | 2008 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Backblaze |
What are Duplicati and Knoxite?
Duplicati
Duplicati is free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups to cloud and local destinations through a web interface. It targets users who want scheduled GUI-driven backups. It is deployed via Docker or installers.
- Web-based backup management
- Encrypted incremental backups
- Many cloud storage targets
- Scheduling built in
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
Duplicati vs Knoxite: key differences
Duplicati is written in C#, while Knoxite is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Duplicati versus GPL-3.0 for Knoxite. Knoxite is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Duplicati. Duplicati is the more established project (first released 2008), while Knoxite arrived in 2016. Duplicati has the considerably larger community, at 15,020 GitHub stars versus 493. Duplicati lists first-class Docker deployment; Knoxite does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Duplicati if…
- Friendly GUI
- Broad storage support
- Free
Watch out for
- Restores can be slow
- Long beta history
Choose Knoxite if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Duplicati or Knoxite better?
Duplicati is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Knoxite if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Duplicati and Knoxite free and open-source?
Yes. Duplicati is licensed under MIT and Knoxite under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Duplicati and Knoxite with Docker?
Duplicati: yes. Knoxite: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Duplicati or Knoxite?
Knoxite has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Duplicati. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.