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5 top picks · 4 audience rankings

Best open source backup software

The best open source backup tool is restic, with 36,436 GitHub stars and the BSD-2-Clause license; Duplicati and Kopia are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Kopia leads for small business; restic for enterprise; Duplicati for solo developers and home use. The overall ranking weighs GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 5 apps in the backup category of the appsgit catalog.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    restic

    restic/restic

    Fast, secure and efficient backup program with encryption and deduplication.

    BackupGo

    restic has 36,436 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license and had 645 commits in the last year.

  2. Rank 2:

    Duplicati

    duplicati/duplicati

    Free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups on cloud storage and servers.

    BackupC#Docker

    Duplicati has 15,062 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 2,440 commits in the last year.

  3. Rank 3:

    Kopia

    kopia/kopia

    Cross-platform backup tool with encryption, deduplication and a web UI.

    BackupGoDocker

    Kopia has 14,265 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 442 commits in the last year.

1 of 5 · 5 picks

Top picks

5 of the 5 apps in the backup category, ranked on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    restic

    Fast, secure and efficient backup program with encryption and deduplication.

    restic has 36,436 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license and had 645 commits in the last year.

  2. 2

    Duplicati

    Free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups on cloud storage and servers.

    Duplicati has 15,062 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 2,440 commits in the last year.

  3. 3

    Kopia

    Cross-platform backup tool with encryption, deduplication and a web UI.

    Kopia has 14,265 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 442 commits in the last year.

  4. 4

    BorgBackup

    Deduplicating backup program with compression and authenticated encryption.

    BorgBackup has 13,811 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-3-Clause license and had 2,208 commits in the last year.

  5. 5

    Backrest

    Web UI and orchestrator for restic backups.

    Backrest has 7,468 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 177 commits in the last year.

2 of 5 · 5 picks

Best for small business

Ranked for small business on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses, project websites, recent commits and deploy guides.

  1. 1

    Kopia

    Cross-platform backup tool with encryption, deduplication and a web UI.

    Kopia has 14,265 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 442 commits in the last year. For small business it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    restic

    Fast, secure and efficient backup program with encryption and deduplication.

    restic has 36,436 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license and had 645 commits in the last year. For small business it also scores on an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    Duplicati

    Free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups on cloud storage and servers.

    Duplicati has 15,062 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 2,440 commits in the last year. For small business it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    BorgBackup

    Deduplicating backup program with compression and authenticated encryption.

    BorgBackup has 13,811 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-3-Clause license and had 2,208 commits in the last year. For small business it also scores on an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    Backrest

    Web UI and orchestrator for restic backups.

    Backrest has 7,468 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 177 commits in the last year. For small business it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license, a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

3 of 5 · 5 picks

Best for enterprise

Ranked for enterprise on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    restic

    Fast, secure and efficient backup program with encryption and deduplication.

    restic has 36,436 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license and had 645 commits in the last year. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Duplicati

    Free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups on cloud storage and servers.

    Duplicati has 15,062 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 2,440 commits in the last year. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    BorgBackup

    Deduplicating backup program with compression and authenticated encryption.

    BorgBackup has 13,811 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-3-Clause license and had 2,208 commits in the last year. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    Kopia

    Cross-platform backup tool with encryption, deduplication and a web UI.

    Kopia has 14,265 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 442 commits in the last year. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    Backrest

    Web UI and orchestrator for restic backups.

    Backrest has 7,468 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 177 commits in the last year. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

4 of 5 · 5 picks

Best for solo developers

Ranked for solo developers on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Duplicati

    Free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups on cloud storage and servers.

    Duplicati has 15,062 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image, is written in C# and had 2,440 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Kopia

    Cross-platform backup tool with encryption, deduplication and a web UI.

    Kopia has 14,265 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image, is written in Go and had 442 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    restic

    Fast, secure and efficient backup program with encryption and deduplication.

    restic has 36,436 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license, is written in Go and had 645 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    BorgBackup

    Deduplicating backup program with compression and authenticated encryption.

    BorgBackup has 13,811 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-3-Clause license, is written in Python and had 2,208 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    Backrest

    Web UI and orchestrator for restic backups.

    Backrest has 7,468 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image, is written in TypeScript and had 177 commits in the last year. For solo developers it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

5 of 5 · 5 picks

Best for home use

Ranked for home use on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Duplicati

    Free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups on cloud storage and servers.

    Duplicati has 15,062 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 2,440 commits in the last year. For home use it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Kopia

    Cross-platform backup tool with encryption, deduplication and a web UI.

    Kopia has 14,265 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 442 commits in the last year. For home use it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    restic

    Fast, secure and efficient backup program with encryption and deduplication.

    restic has 36,436 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-2-Clause license and had 645 commits in the last year. For home use it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    Backrest

    Web UI and orchestrator for restic backups.

    Backrest has 7,468 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 177 commits in the last year. For home use it also scores on a Docker image, an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    BorgBackup

    Deduplicating backup program with compression and authenticated encryption.

    BorgBackup has 13,811 GitHub stars, uses the BSD-3-Clause license and had 2,208 commits in the last year. For home use it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is the best open source backup tool?

The best open source backup tool is restic, with 36,436 GitHub stars and the BSD-2-Clause license; Duplicati and Kopia are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Kopia leads for small business; restic for enterprise; Duplicati for solo developers and home use. The overall ranking weighs GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 5 apps in the backup category of the appsgit catalog.

Is restic free?

Yes. restic is open-source software released under the BSD-2-Clause license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Which open source backup tool is best for a small business?

Kopia ranks first for small business, with 14,265 GitHub stars, the Apache-2.0 license and a Docker image; restic and Duplicati follow. The small business ranking adds points for Docker images, open-source licenses, project websites, recent commits and deploy guides on top of stars and activity.

Which open source backup tool is best for an enterprise team?

restic ranks first for enterprise, with 36,436 GitHub stars and the BSD-2-Clause license; Duplicati and BorgBackup follow. The enterprise ranking adds points for open-source licenses and recent commits on top of stars and activity.

Can I self-host these backup software with Docker?

Yes, 3 of the 5 picks. Duplicati, Kopia and Backrest publish Docker images, so you can run them on a VPS or home server with Docker Compose. The others install from their own packages or source; follow each project's install guide.

Are all of these backup software open source?

All 5 apps on this list are open source. You can self-host and modify each one under its license.

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