Open Archiver vs Sanoid
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?
Open Archiver
Email archiving solution with full-text search and eDiscovery search
VS
Sanoid
Policy-driven ZFS snapshot management and replication
| Feature | Open Archiver | Sanoid |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,224 | ★ 3,830 |
| First released | 2026 | 2014 |
| Replaces | — | Time Machine |
Why pick each one
Choose Open Archiver if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Choose Sanoid if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Perl
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Open Archiver or Sanoid better?
Neither is universally better. Sanoid has the larger community, while Open Archiver is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Open Archiver and Sanoid free and open-source?
Yes. Open Archiver is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Sanoid under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Open Archiver and Sanoid with Docker?
Open Archiver: yes. Sanoid: check the project docs for container support.