Kopia vs Rustic
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
Rustic
Fast encrypted deduplicated backup compatible with Restic
| Feature | Kopia | Rustic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,188 | ★ 3,273 |
| First released | 2019 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are Kopia and Rustic?
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
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
Kopia vs Rustic: key differences
Kopia is written in Go, while Rustic is built with Rust. Rustic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Kopia. Kopia is the more established project (first released 2019), while Rustic arrived in 2022. Kopia has the considerably larger community, at 14,188 GitHub stars versus 3,273. Kopia lists first-class Docker deployment; Rustic does not.
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 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 Kopia or Rustic better?
Kopia is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Rustic if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Kopia and Rustic free and open-source?
Yes. Kopia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Rustic under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kopia and Rustic with Docker?
Kopia: yes. Rustic: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Kopia or Rustic?
Rustic 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.