Restic Cron vs Restic alt MiniBackup
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?
Restic Cron
Containerized scheduled restic backup runner
VS
Restic alt MiniBackup
Self-hosted backup orchestration for Restic repositories
| Feature | Restic Cron | Restic alt MiniBackup |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ★ 702 | ★ 1,381 |
| First released | 2019 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | Backblaze |
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 Restic alt MiniBackup 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 Restic alt MiniBackup better?
Neither is universally better. Restic alt MiniBackup 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 Restic alt MiniBackup free and open-source?
Yes. Restic Cron is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Restic alt MiniBackup under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Restic Cron and Restic alt MiniBackup with Docker?
Restic Cron: yes. Restic alt MiniBackup: check the project docs for container support.