Restic vs Deja Dup

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?
FeatureResticDeja Dup
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseBSD-2-ClauseGPL-3.0
LanguageGoVala
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentbinary, dockerbinary
GitHub stars★ 35,412★ 600
First released20152008
ReplacesBackblaze, CarboniteTime Machine, Backblaze

Why pick each one

Choose Restic if…

  • Strong encryption
  • Efficient deduplication
  • Wide backend support
Restic details

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
Deja Dup details

Frequently asked questions

Is Restic or Deja Dup better?

Neither is universally better. Restic 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 Restic and Deja Dup free and open-source?

Yes. Restic is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Deja Dup under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Restic and Deja Dup with Docker?

Restic: yes. Deja Dup: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons