SHSelfHostIndex

Kopia vs Tarsnap GUI

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 TA Tarsnap GUI Cross-platform desktop front end for Tarsnap backups
FeatureKopiaTarsnap GUI
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseApache-2.0BSD-2-Clause
LanguageGoC++
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM256 MB128 MB
Deploymentbinary, dockerbinary, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 13,798★ 250
First released20192016
ReplacesBackblaze, CarboniteBackblaze

Why pick each one

Choose Kopia if…

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

Choose Tarsnap GUI if…

  • Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Tarsnap GUI details

Frequently asked questions

Is Kopia or Tarsnap GUI better?

Neither is universally better. Kopia has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Kopia and Tarsnap GUI free and open-source?

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

Can I run Kopia and Tarsnap GUI with Docker?

Kopia: yes. Tarsnap GUI: check the project docs for container support.

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