Duplicati vs Restic Mailer
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
Restic Mailer
Notification wrapper for restic backup jobs
| Feature | Duplicati | Restic Mailer |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 95 · Excellent | 76 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | C# | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,020 | ★ 663 |
| First released | 2008 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Backblaze |
What are Duplicati and Restic Mailer?
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
Restic Mailer
A wrapper around restic that runs backups on schedule and emails detailed success or failure reports. It adds visibility to unattended restic deployments.
- Scheduled restic runs
- Email job reports
- systemd integration
- Unattended backups
Duplicati vs Restic Mailer: key differences
Duplicati is written in C#, while Restic Mailer is built with Shell. Restic Mailer is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Duplicati. Duplicati is the more established project (first released 2008), while Restic Mailer arrived in 2018. Duplicati has the considerably larger community, at 15,020 GitHub stars versus 663.
Why pick each one
Choose Duplicati if…
- Friendly GUI
- Broad storage support
- Free
Watch out for
- Restores can be slow
- Long beta history
Choose Restic Mailer if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Shell
Frequently asked questions
Is Duplicati or Restic Mailer 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 Restic Mailer free and open-source?
Yes. Duplicati is licensed under MIT and Restic Mailer under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Duplicati and Restic Mailer with Docker?
Duplicati: yes. Restic Mailer: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Duplicati or Restic Mailer?
Restic Mailer has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Duplicati. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.