Rclone vs Restic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
VS
Restic
Fast, secure, efficient backup program
| Feature | Rclone | Restic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 99 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 59,925 | ★ 36,213 |
| First released | 2014 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | Backblaze, Carbonite |
What are Rclone and Restic?
Rclone
Rclone is a command-line program to manage, sync, and copy files across more than seventy cloud storage providers. It targets users moving or backing up data between storage systems. It is deployed as a single binary.
- Supports 70+ cloud providers
- Encryption and mount support
- Powerful sync and copy
- Single self-contained binary
Restic
Restic is a fast and secure backup program that creates encrypted, deduplicated snapshots to many storage backends. It targets users and admins who want reliable command-line backups. It is deployed as a single binary.
- Encrypted deduplicated snapshots
- Many storage backends
- Fast incremental backups
- Single self-contained binary
Rclone vs Restic: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Rclone versus BSD-2-Clause for Restic. Rclone is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Restic.
Why pick each one
Choose Rclone if…
- Works with almost any cloud
- Extremely versatile
- Reliable
Watch out for
- Not a snapshot backup tool
- Command-line focused
Choose Restic if…
- Strong encryption
- Efficient deduplication
- Wide backend support
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- No built-in scheduler
Frequently asked questions
Is Rclone or Restic 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 Rclone and Restic free and open-source?
Yes. Rclone is licensed under MIT and Restic under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Rclone and Restic with Docker?
Rclone: yes. Restic: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Rclone or Restic?
Rclone has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Restic. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.