Rclone vs BackupNinja
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?
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
VS
BackupNinja
Lightweight backup configuration and scheduling system
| Feature | Rclone | BackupNinja |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 58,995 | ★ 68 |
| First released | 2014 | 2004 |
| Replaces | Backblaze | CrashPlan |
Why pick each one
Choose BackupNinja if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Shell
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Rclone or BackupNinja 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 BackupNinja free and open-source?
Yes. Rclone is licensed under MIT and BackupNinja under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Rclone and BackupNinja with Docker?
Rclone: yes. BackupNinja: check the project docs for container support.