Restic Cron vs resticprofile
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 | resticprofile |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 70 · Good | 77 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Shell | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 715 | ★ 1,425 |
| First released | 2019 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | Backblaze |
What are Restic Cron and resticprofile?
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
resticprofile
Resticprofile is a configuration profiles manager for Restic that simplifies running scheduled backups. It lets you define complex backup workflows in YAML, TOML, or JSON files.
- Profile-based Restic config
- Scheduling integration
- Multiple config formats
Restic Cron vs resticprofile: key differences
Restic Cron is written in Shell, while resticprofile is built with Go. Licensing differs — BSD-2-Clause for Restic Cron versus GPL-3.0 for resticprofile. Restic Cron lists first-class Docker deployment; resticprofile 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 resticprofile if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Restic Cron or resticprofile better?
Neither is universally better. resticprofile has the larger community, while Restic Cron is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Restic Cron and resticprofile free and open-source?
Yes. Restic Cron is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and resticprofile under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Restic Cron and resticprofile with Docker?
Restic Cron: yes. resticprofile: check the project docs for container support.