Obnam2 vs Rustic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Obnam2 | Rustic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 200 | ★ 3,273 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are Obnam2 and Rustic?
Obnam2
Obnam2 is a backup program that splits files into chunks for deduplicated, encrypted storage to a backup server. It is built with a focus on simplicity and verifiable correctness.
- Chunk-based deduplication
- Encrypted storage
- Backup server model
- Simplicity focused
Rustic
Rustic is a backup tool written in Rust that creates fast, encrypted, and deduplicated backups. It is fully compatible with Restic repositories while offering lower memory usage.
- Restic-compatible repositories
- Low memory footprint
- Cold storage support
Obnam2 vs Rustic: key differences
Both projects are written in Rust. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Obnam2 versus Apache-2.0 for Rustic. Obnam2 is the more established project (first released 2020), while Rustic arrived in 2022. Rustic has the considerably larger community, at 3,273 GitHub stars versus 200.
Why pick each one
Choose Obnam2 if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Choose Rustic if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Obnam2 or Rustic better?
Neither is universally better. Rustic has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Obnam2 and Rustic free and open-source?
Yes. Obnam2 is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Rustic under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Obnam2 and Rustic with Docker?
Obnam2: check the project docs for container support. Rustic: check the project docs for container support.