Deja Dup vs rsnapshot
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?
Deja Dup
Simple backup tool for the GNOME desktop
VS
rsnapshot
Filesystem snapshot utility based on rsync
| Feature | Deja Dup | rsnapshot |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Vala | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 600 | ★ 3,662 |
| First released | 2008 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Time Machine, Backblaze | Time Machine |
Why pick each one
Choose Deja Dup if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Vala
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 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 Deja Dup or rsnapshot better?
Neither is universally better. rsnapshot has the larger community, while Deja Dup is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Deja Dup and rsnapshot free and open-source?
Yes. Deja Dup is licensed under GPL-3.0 and rsnapshot under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Deja Dup and rsnapshot with Docker?
Deja Dup: check the project docs for container support. rsnapshot: check the project docs for container support.