Restic vs UrBackup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Restic | UrBackup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 99 · Excellent | 82 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,213 | ★ 922 |
| First released | 2015 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Backblaze, Carbonite | Carbonite |
What are Restic and UrBackup?
Restic
Restic is a fast and secure backup program that creates encrypted, deduplicated snapshots to many storage backends. It targets users and admins who want reliable command-line backups. It is deployed as a single binary.
- Encrypted deduplicated snapshots
- Many storage backends
- Fast incremental backups
- Single self-contained binary
UrBackup
UrBackup is a client-server backup system that performs both file and disk image backups across a network with a web UI. It targets administrators backing up multiple machines. It is deployed via Docker or native packages.
- File and full image backups
- Client-server architecture
- Web-based administration
- Incremental backups
Restic vs UrBackup: key differences
Restic is written in Go, while UrBackup is built with C. Licensing differs — BSD-2-Clause for Restic versus AGPL-3.0 for UrBackup. Restic is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for UrBackup. UrBackup is the more established project (first released 2011), while Restic arrived in 2015. Restic has the considerably larger community, at 36,213 GitHub stars versus 922.
Why pick each one
Choose Restic if…
- Strong encryption
- Efficient deduplication
- Wide backend support
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- No built-in scheduler
Choose UrBackup if…
- Good for backing up many PCs
- Image backup support
- Central management
Watch out for
- Interface feels dated
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Restic or UrBackup better?
Neither is universally better. Restic has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Restic and UrBackup free and open-source?
Yes. Restic is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and UrBackup under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Restic and UrBackup with Docker?
Restic: yes. UrBackup: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Restic or UrBackup?
Restic has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for UrBackup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.