Kup vs Rclone
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?
Kup
KDE backup scheduler for personal files
VS
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
| Feature | Kup | Rclone |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 100 | ★ 58,995 |
| First released | 2012 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Time Machine | Backblaze |
Why pick each one
Choose Kup if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in C++
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Kup or Rclone better?
Neither is universally better. Rclone has the larger community, while Kup is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Kup and Rclone free and open-source?
Yes. Kup is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Kup and Rclone with Docker?
Kup: check the project docs for container support. Rclone: yes.