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Backup · head to head

Rewind vs rustic

Rewind logo

Rewind

Backup

SaaS backup for cloud business applications

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
rustic logo

rustic

Backup

Rust reimplementation of restic that reads and writes the same repository format

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only rustic has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Rewind cannot back up all QuickBooks Online data due to API limitations, excluding company info, exchange rates, and payroll data; rustic the project is small with a short list of active maintainers, so bus factor is a genuine consideration for software whose job is to still work in five years.
  • They diverge on capability: Rewind covers Automated backup, rustic covers restic format compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Rewind and rustic actually diverge.

Attributes where Rewind and rustic differ
AttributeRewindrustic
Starting price$29/monthFree
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, macOS, Windows
Founded2015Unknown

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

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 Rewind

  • Automated backup
  • One-click restore
  • Version comparison
  • Continuous protection
  • Bulk restore
  • Activity monitoring
  • Shopify
  • BigCommerce

Only in rustic

  • restic format compatibility
  • Configuration profiles
  • Deduplicated encrypted backups
  • Cold and append only storage support
  • Multiple back ends
  • Library crates

What people use each for

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

Rewind

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

rustic

  • An existing restic user who wants configuration files rather than long command lines in cronnot Rewind
  • Backing up a memory constrained machine where the reference implementation is uncomfortably heavynot Rewind
  • Writing to append only or cold object storage where the default tooling assumes rewritable bucketsnot Rewind
  • Keeping a second implementation available so a long lived archive does not depend on one codebasenot Rewind

Where each one falls short

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

Rewind

  • Cannot back up all QuickBooks Online data due to API limitations, excluding company info, exchange rates, and payroll data
  • Backup restore speed is slow for large datasets, causing significant delays during critical recovery situations
  • Cannot back up Shopify inventory tracking quantities, weight, measurement, or cost per item

rustic

  • The project is small with a short list of active maintainers, so bus factor is a genuine consideration for software whose job is to still work in five years.
  • It inherits the restic repository format, so design limits in that format, including the cost of pruning large repositories, are inherited rather than fixed.
  • Command names, flags and behaviour do not map one to one onto restic, so scripts and runbooks need rewriting rather than a binary swap.
  • Far fewer people have performed a real restore from it under pressure, and backup software is one of the few categories where being second most used is itself a risk.
  • Alternating between rustic and restic against one repository works but doubles the surface for a version incompatibility to corrupt state, so most operators should pick one and stay with it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Rewind

$29/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Rewind review.

rustic

Free
  • rusticFree
    • Full functionality, no data limit
    • All supported storage back ends
    • Community support via GitHub

Which should you pick?

Choose Rewind if

  • You need automated backup.
  • You also want one-click restore.
Rewind review

Choose rustic if

  • You need restic format compatibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want configuration profiles.
rustic review

Questions people ask

Is Rewind or rustic better?
Neither clearly leads. Rewind starts at $29/month and rustic at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Rewind or rustic?
rustic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Rewind and Free for rustic.
Does Rewind or rustic run on more platforms?
Rewind runs on Web. rustic runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use rustic for free?
Yes. rustic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rewind starts at $29/month.
What is Rewind best used for?
Rewind is most often used for data protection, disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware protection. Of those, data protection and disaster recovery are not what rustic is typically brought in for.
What can Rewind do that rustic cannot?
Rewind covers Automated backup, One-click restore, Version comparison, Continuous protection. rustic covers restic format compatibility, Configuration profiles, Deduplicated encrypted backups, Cold and append only storage support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Rewind: How long does Rewind keep backup snapshots?

Rewind keeps backup snapshots for 365 days, making them easily accessible for on-demand restores. This provides over a year of recovery options.

Source
rustic: Can it read my existing restic repository?

Yes, that is the point of the project. Take a copy and verify before you rely on it, as with any change to backup tooling.

Rewind: What SaaS applications does Rewind back up?

Rewind backs up Shopify, BigCommerce, GitHub, Jira, Confluence, QuickBooks Online, Trello, monday.com, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and Zendesk Suite, among others.

Source
rustic: Should I switch from restic?

Only for a specific reason such as configuration profiles, memory use or cold storage handling. Compatibility means there is no cost to trying and no cost to going back.

Rewind: Is Rewind compliant with data protection regulations?

Rewind is SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, DORA, HIPAA, and CCPA compliant with AES-256 encryption and role-based access control.

Source
rustic: Is it production ready?

It is used in production by a small community, but it is younger and less exercised than the implementation it is compatible with. Test restores accordingly.

Rewind: Can you restore individual items or only full backups?

Rewind supports granular, item-level recovery understanding parent-child dependencies, allowing you to restore specific files, orders, or customer information without full dataset rollback.

Source
rustic: Does it support the same back ends?

The common ones, including local, SFTP, S3 compatible storage and rclone. Check the current list before committing to an unusual target.

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