Duplicati vs Kopia
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
Kopia
Fast, encrypted backup with a clean interface
| Feature | Duplicati | Kopia |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 94 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C# | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,020 | ★ 14,188 |
| First released | 2008 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Backblaze, Carbonite |
What are Duplicati and Kopia?
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
Kopia
Kopia is a fast and secure backup tool that creates encrypted, deduplicated snapshots and offers both a CLI and a desktop GUI. It targets users who want modern backups with a clean interface. It is deployed as a binary or via Docker.
- Encrypted deduplicated snapshots
- Both CLI and desktop GUI
- Many storage backends
- Compression and policies
Duplicati vs Kopia: key differences
Duplicati is written in C#, while Kopia is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Duplicati versus Apache-2.0 for Kopia. Duplicati is the more established project (first released 2008), while Kopia arrived in 2019.
Why pick each one
Choose Duplicati if…
- Friendly GUI
- Broad storage support
- Free
Watch out for
- Restores can be slow
- Long beta history
Choose Kopia if…
- GUI and CLI both available
- Fast and efficient
- Modern design
Watch out for
- Younger than Restic
- Advanced options can confuse
Frequently asked questions
Is Duplicati or Kopia better?
Neither is universally better. Duplicati has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Duplicati and Kopia free and open-source?
Yes. Duplicati is licensed under MIT and Kopia under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Duplicati and Kopia with Docker?
Duplicati: yes. Kopia: yes.