Duplicity vs Rustic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Duplicity | Rustic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 300 | ★ 3,273 |
| First released | 2002 | 2022 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are Duplicity and Rustic?
Duplicity
Duplicity backs up directories by producing encrypted, signed tar-format volumes and uploading them to a remote or local file server. It uses the rsync algorithm for incremental archives.
- GPG-encrypted archives
- Many remote storage backends
- Incremental rsync deltas
Rustic
Rustic is a backup tool written in Rust that creates fast, encrypted, and deduplicated backups. It is fully compatible with Restic repositories while offering lower memory usage.
- Restic-compatible repositories
- Low memory footprint
- Cold storage support
Duplicity vs Rustic: key differences
Duplicity is written in Python, while Rustic is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Duplicity versus Apache-2.0 for Rustic. Duplicity is the more established project (first released 2002), while Rustic arrived in 2022. Rustic has the considerably larger community, at 3,273 GitHub stars versus 300.
Why pick each one
Choose Duplicity if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Rustic if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Duplicity or Rustic better?
Neither is universally better. Rustic has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Duplicity and Rustic free and open-source?
Yes. Duplicity is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Rustic under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Duplicity and Rustic with Docker?
Duplicity: check the project docs for container support. Rustic: check the project docs for container support.