Restic Cron vs Obnam2
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Restic Cron | Obnam2 |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Shell | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 715 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2019 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | Backblaze |
What are Restic Cron and Obnam2?
Restic Cron
A containerized scheduler that runs restic backups on a cron schedule and prunes old snapshots. It is designed to be a drop-in backup sidecar for self-hosted stacks.
- Cron-scheduled backups
- Automatic pruning
- restic backend
- Sidecar container
Obnam2
Obnam2 is a backup program that splits files into chunks for deduplicated, encrypted storage to a backup server. It is built with a focus on simplicity and verifiable correctness.
- Chunk-based deduplication
- Encrypted storage
- Backup server model
- Simplicity focused
Restic Cron vs Obnam2: key differences
Restic Cron is written in Shell, while Obnam2 is built with Rust. Licensing differs — BSD-2-Clause for Restic Cron versus AGPL-3.0 for Obnam2. Restic Cron is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Obnam2. Restic Cron has the considerably larger community, at 715 GitHub stars versus 200. Restic Cron lists first-class Docker deployment; Obnam2 does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Restic Cron if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Shell
Choose Obnam2 if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Restic Cron or Obnam2 better?
Restic Cron is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Obnam2 if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Restic Cron and Obnam2 free and open-source?
Yes. Restic Cron is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Obnam2 under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Restic Cron and Obnam2 with Docker?
Restic Cron: yes. Obnam2: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Restic Cron or Obnam2?
Restic Cron has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Obnam2. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.