Nextcloud vs Restic

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureNextcloudRestic
CategoryFile Sync & StorageBackup & Recovery
LicenseAGPL-3.0BSD-2-Clause
LanguagePHPGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, snapbinary, docker
GitHub stars★ 36,362★ 35,412
First released20162015
ReplacesDropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft 365Backblaze, Carbonite

Why pick each one

Choose Nextcloud if…

  • Feature-rich and extensible
  • Active development and large community
  • Integrates calendar, contacts and office
Nextcloud details

Choose Restic if…

  • Strong encryption
  • Efficient deduplication
  • Wide backend support
Restic details

Frequently asked questions

Is Nextcloud or Restic better?

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

Are Nextcloud and Restic free and open-source?

Yes. Nextcloud is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Restic under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Nextcloud and Restic with Docker?

Nextcloud: yes. Restic: yes.

Related comparisons