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.
| Feature | Deja Dup | Sanoid |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| 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 | ★ 3,861 |
| First released | 2008 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Time Machine, Backblaze | Time Machine |
What are Deja Dup and Sanoid?
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
Sanoid
Sanoid is a policy-driven snapshot management tool for ZFS filesystems, bundled with Syncoid for snapshot replication. Together they automate ZFS snapshots and offsite backup replication.
- Policy-based ZFS snapshots
- Syncoid replication included
- Automated pruning
Deja Dup vs Sanoid: key differences
Deja Dup is written in Vala, while Sanoid is built with Perl. Sanoid 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 Sanoid arrived in 2014. Sanoid has the considerably larger community, at 3,861 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 Sanoid if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (3.9k 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.
Which is lighter on resources, Deja Dup or Sanoid?
Sanoid 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.