Deja Dup 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?
Deja Dup
Simple backup tool for the GNOME desktop
VS
Sanoid
Policy-driven ZFS snapshot management and replication
| Feature | Deja Dup | Sanoid |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Vala | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 600 | ★ 3,830 |
| First released | 2008 | 2014 |
| 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 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 Deja Dup or Sanoid better?
Neither is universally better. Sanoid 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 Sanoid free and open-source?
Yes. Deja Dup is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sanoid under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Deja Dup and Sanoid with Docker?
Deja Dup: check the project docs for container support. Sanoid: check the project docs for container support.