Is Kopia or Trilio better?

Neither clearly leads. Kopia starts at Free and Trilio at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Kopia or Trilio?

Kopia starts at Free and Trilio at Free.

Does Kopia or Trilio run on more platforms?

Kopia runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. Trilio runs on Linux, Web.

Can I use Kopia for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Kopia best used for?

Kopia is most often used for backing up laptops and workstations to cheap object storage with a desktop interface rather than a cron job, deduplicating backups of several similar machines into one repository so common content is stored once, replacing a chunk based tool whose per object charges made a cheap bucket expensive, keeping an encrypted offsite copy where the storage provider must never be able to read the contents. Of those, backing up laptops and workstations to cheap object storage with a desktop interface rather than a cron job and deduplicating backups of several similar machines into one repository so common content is stored once are not what Trilio is typically brought in for.

What can Kopia do that Trilio cannot?

Kopia covers Content defined chunking, Global deduplication, Pack blobs, Client side encryption. Trilio covers OpenStack backup, Kubernetes backup, OpenShift Virtualization, Open format backups.

Backup · head to head

Kopia vs Trilio

Kopia

Backup

Open source deduplicating backup with client side encryption and a repository on almost any storage

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Trilio

Backup

Backup and recovery for OpenStack, Kubernetes and Red Hat Virtualization

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Kopia space is only reclaimed when maintenance runs, and in a shared repository full maintenance is owned by one client, so if that machine goes away the repository grows for ever while every backup still reports success.; Trilio coverage is deliberately narrow, so a mixed estate with VMware and physical servers needs a second backup product and two sets of restore procedures.
They diverge on capability: Kopia covers Content defined chunking, Trilio covers OpenStack backup.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kopia and Trilio actually diverge.

Attributes where Kopia and Trilio differ
Attribute	Kopia	Trilio
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	Per node per year
Platforms	Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker	Linux, Web

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Kopia

Content defined chunking
Global deduplication
Pack blobs
Client side encryption
Desktop and command line
Repository verification

Only in Trilio

OpenStack backup
Kubernetes backup
OpenShift Virtualization
Open format backups
Incremental forever
Self-service restore
Free basic edition

What people use each for

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

Kopia

Backing up laptops and workstations to cheap object storage with a desktop interface rather than a cron jobnot Trilio
Deduplicating backups of several similar machines into one repository so common content is stored oncenot Trilio
Replacing a chunk based tool whose per object charges made a cheap bucket expensivenot Trilio
Keeping an encrypted offsite copy where the storage provider must never be able to read the contentsnot Trilio

Trilio

A telco running an OpenStack cloud whose incumbent backup vendor supports it only through generic agentsnot Kopia
An organisation migrating virtual machines from VMware to OpenShift Virtualization and needing protection on the new platform from day onenot Kopia
A research institution protecting tenant workloads where each tenant should restore its own data without a ticketnot Kopia
A platform team wanting to evaluate Kubernetes backup properly on ten nodes before committing budgetnot Kopia

Where each one falls short

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

Kopia

Space is only reclaimed when maintenance runs, and in a shared repository full maintenance is owned by one client, so if that machine goes away the repository grows for ever while every backup still reports success.
The repository format has changed across versions and mixing client versions against one repository is discouraged, so a fleet must be upgraded together rather than machine by machine.
There is no central orchestration or reporting for many machines, so monitoring a fleet means building your own alerting around exit codes.
Restoring many small files is slower than the backup was, because content must be reassembled from pack blobs, and this is rarely tested until the day it matters.
Encryption is client side with no escrow, so a lost repository password means the data is unrecoverable and there is no vendor to appeal to.

Trilio

Coverage is deliberately narrow, so a mixed estate with VMware and physical servers needs a second backup product and two sets of restore procedures.
Trilio is a small vendor next to the backup incumbents, and buyers with ten year retention obligations should assess the risk of the company being acquired or wound down.
Enterprise pricing is per node or per virtual machine and is not published, which makes it hard to compare against per-terabyte competitors without going through sales.
The free basic edition stops at ten nodes with community support only, so the step from evaluation to production is a full commercial negotiation rather than a tier upgrade.
Restore performance depends on the object storage or NFS target you supply, and egress charges from a cloud object store during a large recovery sit outside the vendor quote entirely.

Pricing, plan by plan

Kopia

Free

KopiaFree
- Full functionality, no data limit
- Desktop application included
- Any supported storage back end

Trilio

Free

Basic EditionFree
- Up to ten nodes
- No time limit
- Community support only
Enterprise Edition$undefined/year
- Priced per node or per virtual machine annually
- No scale limits
- OpenStack, Kubernetes, OpenShift and Red Hat Virtualization

Which should you pick?

Choose Kopia if

You need content defined chunking.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker.
You also want global deduplication.

Kopia review

Choose Trilio if

You need openstack backup.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Web.
You also want kubernetes backup.

Trilio review

Questions people ask

Is Kopia or Trilio better?: Neither clearly leads. Kopia starts at Free and Trilio at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kopia or Trilio?: Kopia starts at Free and Trilio at Free.
Does Kopia or Trilio run on more platforms?: Kopia runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker. Trilio runs on Linux, Web.
Can I use Kopia for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Kopia best used for?: Kopia is most often used for backing up laptops and workstations to cheap object storage with a desktop interface rather than a cron job, deduplicating backups of several similar machines into one repository so common content is stored once, replacing a chunk based tool whose per object charges made a cheap bucket expensive, keeping an encrypted offsite copy where the storage provider must never be able to read the contents. Of those, backing up laptops and workstations to cheap object storage with a desktop interface rather than a cron job and deduplicating backups of several similar machines into one repository so common content is stored once are not what Trilio is typically brought in for.
What can Kopia do that Trilio cannot?: Kopia covers Content defined chunking, Global deduplication, Pack blobs, Client side encryption. Trilio covers OpenStack backup, Kubernetes backup, OpenShift Virtualization, Open format backups.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kopia: Is a partly corrupt repository still restorable?

Partly. Deduplication means one damaged pack blob affects every snapshot referencing its contents, but unaffected files still restore. Run verification regularly rather than assuming.

Trilio: Is the free edition production usable?

It is functionally complete up to ten nodes with community support only. Use it to evaluate, but understand that production incidents have no vendor behind them at that tier.

Kopia: How does it compare with restic?

Similar guarantees, with packing that behaves better on per operation billing, a desktop interface, and compression enabled by default.

Trilio: Does it support OpenShift Virtualization?

Yes, which is the main reason it appears on shortlists for organisations moving virtual machines off VMware.

Kopia: Do I need to run maintenance manually?

It is scheduled automatically by default, but you must ensure the client that owns full maintenance keeps running, otherwise deleted snapshots never free space.

Trilio: Where are backups stored?

On NFS or S3-compatible object storage you provide, in an open format rather than a proprietary vendor container.

Kopia: Can several machines share one repository?

Yes, and that is where deduplication pays off, but they should run compatible versions and only one owns full maintenance.

Kopia vs Trilio

Kopia

Trilio

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Kopia

Only in Trilio

What people use each for

Kopia

Trilio

Where each one falls short

Kopia

Trilio

Pricing, plan by plan

Kopia

Trilio

Which should you pick?

Choose Kopia if

Choose Trilio if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Kopia

More on Trilio

Keep looking

Other head to heads