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Backup & Disaster Recovery · head to head

Restic vs Bacula Enterprise

Restic logo

Restic

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Fast, secure, and efficient backup program

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Bacula Enterprise logo

Bacula Enterprise

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Open-source enterprise backup solution

From
$500/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Restic has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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 Enterprise pricing is not published; the vendor asks for a request rather than listing rates
  • They diverge on capability: Restic covers Content-defined chunking, Bacula Enterprise covers Modular architecture.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Restic and Bacula Enterprise differ
AttributeResticBacula Enterprise
Starting priceFree$500/year
Pricing modelfreesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWindows, Mac, LinuxWindows, Linux, Web
CategoryBackup & Disaster RecoveryUnknown
Founded20142009

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

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
  • Multiple backends
  • Snapshot management
  • AWS S3
  • Google Cloud
  • Backblaze B2
  • SFTP

Only in Bacula Enterprise

  • Modular architecture
  • Plugin framework
  • Cloud storage
  • Automated recovery testing
  • VMware
  • Hyper-V
  • AWS
  • Kubernetes

Both cover

  • Deduplication
  • Encryption
  • Azure
  • Windows support
  • Linux support

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 Enterprise
  • Scripted server backups with snapshot retention policiesnot Bacula Enterprise

Bacula Enterprise

  • Enterprise backup across virtual machines, databases and containersnot Restic
  • Multi-cloud and hybrid backup from one systemnot Restic
  • Backup where licensing by data volume would be prohibitive, since Bacula does not charge by capacitynot Restic
  • Long-retention archival for regulated environmentsnot Restic

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 Enterprise

  • Pricing is not published; the vendor asks for a request rather than listing rates
  • The differences between Enterprise and the open source Community edition are not set out on the product pages, so what the licence buys is unclear until you talk to sales
  • Aimed at data centre and enterprise environments rather than small deployments

Pricing, plan by plan

Restic

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

Bacula Enterprise

$500/year
  • Bacula Enterprise$500/year
    • Unlimited data
    • Plugin support
    • Enterprise support

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 Enterprise if

  • You need modular architecture.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, Web.
  • You also want plugin framework.
Bacula Enterprise review

Questions people ask

Is Restic or Bacula Enterprise better?
Neither clearly leads. Restic starts at Free and Bacula Enterprise at $500/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Restic or Bacula Enterprise?
Restic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Restic and $500/year for Bacula Enterprise.
Does Restic or Bacula Enterprise run on more platforms?
Restic runs on Windows, Mac, Linux. Bacula Enterprise runs on Windows, Linux, Web.
Can I use Restic for free?
Yes. Restic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Bacula Enterprise starts at $500/year.
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 Enterprise is typically brought in for.
What can Restic do that Bacula Enterprise cannot?
Restic covers Content-defined chunking, Cryptographic verification, Multiple backends, Snapshot management. Bacula Enterprise covers Modular architecture, Plugin framework, Cloud storage, Automated recovery testing. Both handle Deduplication, Encryption, Azure, Windows support.
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