rdiff-backup vs rsnapshot
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | rdiff-backup | rsnapshot |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 65 · Good | 72 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,267 | ★ 3,683 |
| First released | 2001 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Time Machine | Time Machine |
What are rdiff-backup and rsnapshot?
rdiff-backup
rdiff-backup backs up one directory to another, keeping the latest copy plus reverse diffs for older versions. It preserves permissions, ownership, and special files while working over SSH.
- Reverse-incremental storage
- Preserves file metadata
- Works over SSH
rsnapshot
rsnapshot is a filesystem snapshot utility built on rsync that makes incremental backups of local and remote machines. It uses hard links to keep multiple full backups while saving disk space.
- Hard-link snapshot rotation
- Local and remote backups
- Low storage overhead
rdiff-backup vs rsnapshot: key differences
Rdiff-backup is written in Python, while rsnapshot is built with Perl. Rdiff-backup is the more established project (first released 2001), while rsnapshot arrived in 2003. Rsnapshot has the considerably larger community, at 3,683 GitHub stars versus 1,267.
Why pick each one
Choose rdiff-backup if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose rsnapshot if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Active community (3.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Perl
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is rdiff-backup or rsnapshot better?
Neither is universally better. rsnapshot has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are rdiff-backup and rsnapshot free and open-source?
Yes. rdiff-backup is licensed under GPL-2.0 and rsnapshot under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run rdiff-backup and rsnapshot with Docker?
rdiff-backup: check the project docs for container support. rsnapshot: check the project docs for container support.