Minarca Backup 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?
Minarca Backup
Centralized rdiff-backup with self-service restore
VS
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
| Feature | Minarca Backup | Rclone |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 239 | ★ 58,995 |
| First released | 2016 | 2014 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Veeam | Backblaze |
Why pick each one
Choose Minarca Backup if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Minarca Backup or Rclone better?
Neither is universally better. Rclone has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Minarca Backup and Rclone free and open-source?
Yes. Minarca Backup is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Minarca Backup and Rclone with Docker?
Minarca Backup: yes. Rclone: yes.