Softwr

Software · head to head

Restic vs Cohesity

Restic logo

Restic

Software

Fast, secure, and efficient backup program

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
C

Cohesity

Software

Protect, secure, and gain insights into your enterprise data

From
On request
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; Cohesity no prices are shown for the Core, Enterprise or Advanced editions; buyers get a 30 day trial or must contact sales for a quote, per cohesity.com, August 2026

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Restic and Cohesity actually diverge.

Attributes where Restic and Cohesity differ
AttributeResticCohesity
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreequote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWindows, Mac, LinuxWeb
Founded2014Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Cohesity

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 Cohesity
  • Scripted server backups with snapshot retention policiesnot Cohesity

Cohesity

No use cases recorded yet. See the Cohesity 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

Cohesity

  • No prices are shown for the Core, Enterprise or Advanced editions; buyers get a 30 day trial or must contact sales for a quote, per cohesity.com, August 2026

Pricing, plan by plan

Restic

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

Cohesity

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Cohesity 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 Cohesity if

Nothing in the data separates Cohesity from Restic on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Cohesity review

Questions people ask

Is Restic or Cohesity better?
Neither clearly leads. Restic starts at Free and Cohesity at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Restic or Cohesity?
Restic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Restic and On request for Cohesity.
Does Restic or Cohesity run on more platforms?
Restic runs on Windows, Mac, Linux. Cohesity runs on Web.
Can I use Restic for free?
Yes. Restic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cohesity starts at On request.
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 Cohesity is typically brought in for.
What can Restic do that Cohesity cannot?
Restic covers Content-defined chunking, Cryptographic verification, Deduplication, Encryption.
ShareXLinkedInRedditWhatsAppEmail

Related pages

More on Restic

More on Cohesity

Keep looking

Other head to heads