Backup

Restic33.5k★

Restic encrypts and deduplicates your backups, then stores them wherever you want: S3, Backblaze B2, SFTP, Azure, Google Cloud, you name it. Set it up once, run it on a cron, and your backups just work. BSD license, written in Go. Single binary, cross-platform. Every backup is encrypted client-side by default; even if your storage is compromised, the data is useless without your key. Deduplication means only changed blocks get uploaded, so incremental backups are fast and storage-efficient. Fully free. No paid tier, no hosted version. Your only cost is whatever storage backend you choose, and with Backblaze B2 at $0.005/GB/month, backing up 500GB costs $2.50/mo. Solo users: install, point at a storage backend, add to cron. Done. Teams: Restic handles the backup side; you still need to think about restore testing and monitoring. Works at every scale. The catch: Restic is a backup tool, not a backup solution. No built-in scheduling, no web dashboard, no alerting when backups fail. You pair it with cron (or systemd timers) and something like Healthchecks.io for monitoring. BorgBackup is the main alternative: slightly better compression, slightly worse cloud storage support. If you want a GUI or managed experience, Restic isn't it.

Duplicati14.5k★

Duplicati backs up your files to any cloud storage (S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, OneDrive, SFTP) with encryption, compression, and scheduling through a web UI. It's a set-and-forget backup tool that encrypts everything before it leaves your machine. C#. AES-256 encryption by default, block-level deduplication (only uploads changed chunks), compression, and retention policies. The web UI lets you configure backup jobs, monitor progress, and restore files without touching the command line. Fully free. No paid tier, no premium features. Every backend, every encryption option, every scheduling feature: $0. You pay your cloud storage provider, not Duplicati. Solo: set up a backup to Backblaze B2 or Google Drive in 15 minutes. Protects your data for the cost of storage ($0.005/GB on B2). Small teams: works for backing up shared servers. The web UI makes it manageable without sysadmin expertise. Medium and up: Duplicati works but enterprise backup solutions (Veeam, Restic + orchestration) offer better fleet management and reporting. The catch: the project has had long periods between stable releases. The 2.x line was in beta for years. Performance with very large backup sets (10TB+) can be slow, and the database that tracks file states occasionally corrupts, requiring repair operations. For critical business backups, pair it with monitoring to catch silent failures.