SHSelfHostIndex

Kopia vs ElkarBackup alt Snapper

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?
KO Kopia Fast, encrypted backup with a clean interface VS EL ElkarBackup alt Snapper Btrfs snapshot management tool with rollback
FeatureKopiaElkarBackup alt Snapper
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseApache-2.0GPL-2.0
LanguageGoC++
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB64 MB
Deploymentbinary, dockerbare-metal
GitHub stars★ 13,798★ 1,158
First released20192011
ReplacesBackblaze, CarboniteTime Machine

Why pick each one

Choose Kopia if…

  • GUI and CLI both available
  • Fast and efficient
  • Modern design
Kopia details

Choose ElkarBackup alt Snapper if…

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Active community (1.2k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
ElkarBackup alt Snapper details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kopia or ElkarBackup alt Snapper better?

Kopia is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider ElkarBackup alt Snapper if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Kopia and ElkarBackup alt Snapper free and open-source?

Yes. Kopia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ElkarBackup alt Snapper under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Kopia and ElkarBackup alt Snapper with Docker?

Kopia: yes. ElkarBackup alt Snapper: check the project docs for container support.

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