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Software · head to head

Restic vs Bacula

Restic logo

Restic

Software

Fast, secure, and efficient backup program

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
B

Bacula

Software

The best open source backup software for Linux

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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; Bacula the community edition has no vendor support contract; bacula.org directs support and paid deployments toward the separate commercial Bacula Enterprise product instead.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Restic and Bacula actually diverge.

Attributes where Restic and Bacula differ
AttributeResticBacula
Pricing modelfreeopen-source
PlatformsWindows, Mac, LinuxWeb
Founded2014Unknown

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

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 Restic

  • Content-defined chunking
  • Cryptographic verification
  • Deduplication
  • Encryption
  • Multiple backends
  • Snapshot management
  • AWS S3
  • Azure

Only in Bacula

Nothing recorded that Restic does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Restic

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

Bacula

No use cases recorded yet. See the Bacula review.

Where each one falls short

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

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

Bacula

  • The community edition has no vendor support contract; bacula.org directs support and paid deployments toward the separate commercial Bacula Enterprise product instead.

Pricing, plan by plan

Restic

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

Bacula

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Bacula review.

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Bacula if

  • You want to start without paying.
Bacula review

Questions people ask

Is Restic or Bacula better?
Neither clearly leads. Restic starts at Free and Bacula at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Restic or Bacula?
Restic starts at Free and Bacula at Free.
Does Restic or Bacula run on more platforms?
Restic runs on Windows, Mac, Linux. Bacula runs on Web.
Can I use Restic for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Restic best used for?
Restic is most often used for encrypted deduplicated backups to s3, b2, sftp and local disk from the command line, scripted server backups with snapshot retention policies. Of those, encrypted deduplicated backups to s3, b2, sftp and local disk from the command line and scripted server backups with snapshot retention policies are not what Bacula is typically brought in for.
What can Restic do that Bacula cannot?
Restic covers Content-defined chunking, Cryptographic verification, Deduplication, Encryption.
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