Deja Dup vs Rustic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Deja Dup | Rustic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Vala | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 600 | ★ 3,273 |
| First released | 2008 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Time Machine, Backblaze | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are Deja Dup and Rustic?
Deja Dup
Deja Dup is a simple backup tool that hides the complexity of doing backups properly. It supports local, network, and cloud storage with encryption and incremental backups powered by Restic.
- Beginner-friendly GUI
- Encrypted incremental backups
- Local and cloud targets
Rustic
Rustic is a backup tool written in Rust that creates fast, encrypted, and deduplicated backups. It is fully compatible with Restic repositories while offering lower memory usage.
- Restic-compatible repositories
- Low memory footprint
- Cold storage support
Deja Dup vs Rustic: key differences
Deja Dup is written in Vala, while Rustic is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Deja Dup versus Apache-2.0 for Rustic. Rustic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Deja Dup. Deja Dup is the more established project (first released 2008), while Rustic arrived in 2022. Rustic has the considerably larger community, at 3,273 GitHub stars versus 600.
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 Rustic if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Deja Dup or Rustic better?
Neither is universally better. Rustic 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 Rustic free and open-source?
Yes. Deja Dup is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Rustic under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Deja Dup and Rustic with Docker?
Deja Dup: check the project docs for container support. Rustic: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Deja Dup or Rustic?
Rustic has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Deja Dup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.