Restic vs Restic Mailer
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
Fast, secure, efficient backup program
VS
Restic Mailer
Notification wrapper for restic backup jobs
| Feature | Restic | Restic Mailer |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Go | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 35,412 | ★ 661 |
| First released | 2015 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Backblaze |
Why pick each one
Choose Restic Mailer if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Shell
Frequently asked questions
Is Restic or Restic Mailer better?
Neither is universally better. Restic has the larger community, while Restic Mailer is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Restic and Restic Mailer free and open-source?
Yes. Restic is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Restic Mailer under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Restic and Restic Mailer with Docker?
Restic: yes. Restic Mailer: yes.