SHSelfHostIndex

Minarca vs Minarca Backup

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 Cross-platform backup software with a central server VS MI Minarca Backup Centralized rdiff-backup with self-service restore
FeatureMinarcaMinarca Backup
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 100★ 263
First released20152016
ReplacesCrashPlanCrashPlan, Veeam

What are Minarca and Minarca Backup?

Minarca

Minarca is a free and open-source backup software with a centralized web-based server and cross-platform clients. It is built on rdiff-backup for efficient incremental backups.

  • Central backup server
  • Cross-platform clients
  • rdiff-backup engine

Minarca Backup

Minarca is a centralized backup solution built on rdiff-backup that lets users back up multiple machines and restore their own files through a web interface. It is designed for organizations protecting many endpoints.

  • Centralized endpoint backup
  • Self-service restore
  • rdiff-backup engine
  • Web management

Minarca vs Minarca Backup: key differences

Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Minarca versus AGPL-3.0 for Minarca Backup. Minarca Backup has the considerably larger community, at 263 GitHub stars versus 100.

Why pick each one

Choose Minarca if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in Python
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Minarca details

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
Minarca Backup details

Frequently asked questions

Is Minarca or Minarca Backup better?

Neither is universally better. Minarca Backup has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Minarca and Minarca Backup free and open-source?

Yes. Minarca is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Minarca Backup under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Minarca and Minarca Backup with Docker?

Minarca: yes. Minarca Backup: yes.

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