Restic Browser 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?
Restic Browser
Desktop app to browse and restore Restic snapshots
VS
Sanoid
Policy-driven ZFS snapshot management and replication
| Feature | Restic Browser | Sanoid |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,275 | ★ 3,830 |
| First released | 2022 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Time Machine | Time Machine |
Why pick each one
Choose Restic Browser if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.3k 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 Restic Browser or Sanoid better?
Neither is universally better. Sanoid has the larger community, while Restic Browser is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Restic Browser and Sanoid free and open-source?
Yes. Restic Browser is licensed under MIT and Sanoid under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Restic Browser and Sanoid with Docker?
Restic Browser: check the project docs for container support. Sanoid: check the project docs for container support.