Kopia vs Rclone
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Kopia
Fast, encrypted backup with a clean interface
VS
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
| Feature | Kopia | Rclone |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,188 | ★ 59,925 |
| First released | 2019 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Backblaze |
What are Kopia and Rclone?
Kopia
Kopia is a fast and secure backup tool that creates encrypted, deduplicated snapshots and offers both a CLI and a desktop GUI. It targets users who want modern backups with a clean interface. It is deployed as a binary or via Docker.
- Encrypted deduplicated snapshots
- Both CLI and desktop GUI
- Many storage backends
- Compression and policies
Rclone
Rclone is a command-line program to manage, sync, and copy files across more than seventy cloud storage providers. It targets users moving or backing up data between storage systems. It is deployed as a single binary.
- Supports 70+ cloud providers
- Encryption and mount support
- Powerful sync and copy
- Single self-contained binary
Kopia vs Rclone: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Kopia versus MIT for Rclone. Rclone is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Kopia. Rclone is the more established project (first released 2014), while Kopia arrived in 2019. Rclone has the considerably larger community, at 59,925 GitHub stars versus 14,188.
Why pick each one
Choose Kopia if…
- GUI and CLI both available
- Fast and efficient
- Modern design
Watch out for
- Younger than Restic
- Advanced options can confuse
Choose Rclone if…
- Works with almost any cloud
- Extremely versatile
- Reliable
Watch out for
- Not a snapshot backup tool
- Command-line focused
Frequently asked questions
Is Kopia or Rclone better?
Neither is universally better. Rclone has the larger community, while Kopia is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kopia and Rclone free and open-source?
Yes. Kopia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kopia and Rclone with Docker?
Kopia: yes. Rclone: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Kopia or Rclone?
Rclone has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Kopia. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.