SHSelfHostIndex

Kanister vs Restic

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 RE Restic Fast, secure, efficient backup program
FeatureKanisterRestic
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseApache-2.0BSD-2-Clause
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyHardMedium
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentkubernetes, helmbinary, docker
GitHub stars★ 883★ 35,412
First released20182015
ReplacesKasten K10Backblaze, Carbonite

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 Restic if…

  • Strong encryption
  • Efficient deduplication
  • Wide backend support
Restic details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kanister or Restic better?

Restic 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 Restic free and open-source?

Yes. Kanister is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Restic under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kanister and Restic with Docker?

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

Related comparisons