SHSelfHostIndex

Kanister vs Rclone

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
KA Kanister Application-level data management for Kubernetes VS RC Rclone Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
FeatureKanisterRclone
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentkubernetes, helmbinary, docker
GitHub stars★ 883★ 58,995
First released20182014
ReplacesKasten K10Backblaze

Why pick each one

Choose Kanister if…

  • Released under the Apache-2.0 license
  • Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
  • Written in Go
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Kanister details

Choose Rclone if…

  • Works with almost any cloud
  • Extremely versatile
  • Reliable
Rclone details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kanister or Rclone better?

Rclone is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Kanister if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Kanister and Rclone free and open-source?

Yes. Kanister is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kanister and Rclone with Docker?

Kanister: check the project docs for container support. Rclone: yes.

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