SnapRAID 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?
SnapRAID
Parity-based backup for disk arrays of large files
VS
Sanoid
Policy-driven ZFS snapshot management and replication
| Feature | SnapRAID | Sanoid |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | C | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,543 | ★ 3,830 |
| First released | 2011 | 2014 |
| Replaces | unRAID parity | Time Machine |
Why pick each one
Choose SnapRAID if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
- 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 SnapRAID or Sanoid better?
Neither is universally better. Sanoid has the larger community, while SnapRAID is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are SnapRAID and Sanoid free and open-source?
Yes. SnapRAID is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Sanoid under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run SnapRAID and Sanoid with Docker?
SnapRAID: check the project docs for container support. Sanoid: check the project docs for container support.