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Backup & Disaster Recovery · head to head

Amanda Enterprise vs Restic

Amanda Enterprise logo

Amanda Enterprise

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Open-source backup trusted by enterprises

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Restic logo

Restic

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Fast, secure, and efficient backup program

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Amanda Enterprise amanda Community Edition is genuinely open source, released under a mix of BSD, GPLv2, LGPL and Apache licenses with source on GitHub, but the Enterprise edition that adds central management and paid support is a separate proprietary product sold by Zmanda (a Betsol company since its 2018 acquisition); Zmanda's own pricing page returned 403 to direct fetch, so no current per-client or per-agent figure could be confirmed from the vendor directly.; Restic cold storage is not natively supported; restoring from S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive is only available as an experimental feature behind a feature flag
  • They diverge on capability: Amanda Enterprise covers Cross-platform backup, Restic covers Content-defined chunking.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Amanda Enterprise and Restic actually diverge.

Attributes where Amanda Enterprise and Restic differ
AttributeAmanda EnterpriseRestic
Pricing modelsubscriptionfree
PlatformsWindows, Linux, WebWindows, Mac, Linux
Founded20052014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Backup & Disaster Recovery).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Amanda Enterprise

  • Cross-platform backup
  • Cloud integration
  • Disk staging
  • Web-based management
  • Bare metal recovery
  • Windows Server
  • Linux
  • Web support

Only in Restic

  • Content-defined chunking
  • Cryptographic verification
  • Deduplication
  • Multiple backends
  • Snapshot management
  • Backblaze B2
  • SFTP
  • REST server

Both cover

  • Encryption
  • AWS S3
  • Azure
  • Google Cloud
  • Windows support
  • Linux support

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Amanda Enterprise

  • Data protectionnot Restic
  • Disaster recoverynot Restic
  • Business continuitynot Restic
  • Ransomware protectionnot Restic
  • Compliancenot Restic

Restic

  • Encrypted deduplicated backups to S3, B2, SFTP and local disk from the command linenot Amanda Enterprise
  • Scripted server backups with snapshot retention policiesnot Amanda Enterprise

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Amanda Enterprise

  • Amanda Community Edition is genuinely open source, released under a mix of BSD, GPLv2, LGPL and Apache licenses with source on GitHub, but the Enterprise edition that adds central management and paid support is a separate proprietary product sold by Zmanda (a Betsol company since its 2018 acquisition); Zmanda's own pricing page returned 403 to direct fetch, so no current per-client or per-agent figure could be confirmed from the vendor directly.

Restic

  • Cold storage is not natively supported; restoring from S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive is only available as an experimental feature behind a feature flag
  • A Windows file whose name contains a character Windows treats as invalid cannot be read by restic and has to be renamed
  • Antivirus real-time protection degrades performance on Windows unless the restic binary is added to an exclusions list
  • On large repositories the built-in five minute stuck-request timeout fires during file listing and has to be raised manually with --stuck-request-timeout

Pricing, plan by plan

Amanda Enterprise

Free
  • Amanda Enterprise$30/month
    • Cross-platform
    • Cloud backup
    • Web console

Restic

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Content-defined chunking
    • Encryption
    • Multiple backends

Which should you pick?

Choose Amanda Enterprise if

  • You need cross-platform backup.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, Web.
  • You also want cloud integration.
Amanda Enterprise review

Choose Restic if

  • You need content-defined chunking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, Mac, Linux.
  • You also want cryptographic verification.
Restic review

Questions people ask

Is Amanda Enterprise or Restic better?
Neither clearly leads. Amanda Enterprise starts at Free and Restic at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Amanda Enterprise or Restic?
Amanda Enterprise starts at Free and Restic at Free.
Does Amanda Enterprise or Restic run on more platforms?
Amanda Enterprise runs on Windows, Linux, Web. Restic runs on Windows, Mac, Linux.
Can I use Amanda Enterprise for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Amanda Enterprise best used for?
Amanda Enterprise is most often used for data protection, disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware protection. Of those, data protection and disaster recovery are not what Restic is typically brought in for.
What can Amanda Enterprise do that Restic cannot?
Amanda Enterprise covers Cross-platform backup, Cloud integration, Disk staging, Web-based management. Restic covers Content-defined chunking, Cryptographic verification, Deduplication, Multiple backends. Both handle Encryption, AWS S3, Azure, Google Cloud.
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