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Backup & Disaster Recovery · head to head

Restic vs Clonezilla

Restic logo

Restic

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Fast, secure, and efficient backup program

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Clonezilla logo

Clonezilla

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Free disk cloning and imaging solution

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; Clonezilla the destination partition must be equal to or larger than the source partition
  • They diverge on capability: Restic covers Content-defined chunking, Clonezilla covers Disk/partition imaging.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Restic and Clonezilla actually diverge.

Attributes where Restic and Clonezilla differ
AttributeResticClonezilla
PlatformsWindows, Mac, LinuxLinux, Windows
Founded20142004

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (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 Restic

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

Only in Clonezilla

  • Disk/partition imaging
  • Disk cloning
  • Multicast deployment
  • Multiple file systems
  • Encryption support
  • Unattended mode
  • PXE boot
  • DRBL

Both cover

  • 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 Clonezilla
  • Scripted server backups with snapshot retention policiesnot Clonezilla

Clonezilla

  • Bare metal backup and restore of a whole disk or partitionnot Restic
  • Mass deployment of a disk image to many PCs over the networknot 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

Clonezilla

  • The destination partition must be equal to or larger than the source partition
  • Differential and incremental backup is not implemented
  • Online imaging and cloning is not implemented; the partition being imaged or cloned has to be unmounted first
  • The image format cannot be explored or mounted, so a single file cannot be recovered from an image
  • Recovery media spanning multiple CDs or DVDs is not implemented; the recovery ISO must fit on one disc
  • Clonezilla SE requires a DRBL server to be prepared in advance and the target machine to boot from the network
  • Runs only on x86 or x86-64 processors and needs at least 196 MB of RAM

Pricing, plan by plan

Restic

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

Clonezilla

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Disk cloning
    • Multicast
    • Multiple file systems

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 Clonezilla if

  • You need disk/partition imaging.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows.
  • You also want disk cloning.
Clonezilla review

Questions people ask

Is Restic or Clonezilla better?
Neither clearly leads. Restic starts at Free and Clonezilla at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Restic or Clonezilla?
Restic starts at Free and Clonezilla at Free.
Does Restic or Clonezilla run on more platforms?
Restic runs on Windows, Mac, Linux. Clonezilla runs on Linux, Windows.
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 Clonezilla is typically brought in for.
What can Restic do that Clonezilla cannot?
Restic covers Content-defined chunking, Cryptographic verification, Deduplication, Encryption. Clonezilla covers Disk/partition imaging, Disk cloning, Multicast deployment, Multiple file systems. Both handle Windows support, Linux support.
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