Is rustic or Trilio better?

Neither clearly leads. rustic 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, rustic or Trilio?

rustic starts at Free and Trilio at Free.

Does rustic or Trilio run on more platforms?

rustic runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. Trilio runs on Linux, Web.

Can I use rustic for free?

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

What is rustic best used for?

rustic is most often used for an existing restic user who wants configuration files rather than long command lines in cron, backing up a memory constrained machine where the reference implementation is uncomfortably heavy, writing to append only or cold object storage where the default tooling assumes rewritable buckets, keeping a second implementation available so a long lived archive does not depend on one codebase. Of those, an existing restic user who wants configuration files rather than long command lines in cron and backing up a memory constrained machine where the reference implementation is uncomfortably heavy are not what Trilio is typically brought in for.

What can rustic do that Trilio cannot?

rustic covers restic format compatibility, Configuration profiles, Deduplicated encrypted backups, Cold and append only storage support. Trilio covers OpenStack backup, Kubernetes backup, OpenShift Virtualization, Open format backups.

Backup · head to head

rustic vs Trilio

rustic

Backup

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

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: 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.; 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: rustic covers restic format compatibility, Trilio covers OpenStack backup.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which rustic and Trilio actually diverge.

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

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

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.

rustic

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

Trilio

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

Where each one falls short

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

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.

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

rustic

Free

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

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 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

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 rustic or Trilio better?: Neither clearly leads. rustic 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, rustic or Trilio?: rustic starts at Free and Trilio at Free.
Does rustic or Trilio run on more platforms?: rustic runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. Trilio runs on Linux, Web.
Can I use rustic for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is rustic best used for?: rustic is most often used for an existing restic user who wants configuration files rather than long command lines in cron, backing up a memory constrained machine where the reference implementation is uncomfortably heavy, writing to append only or cold object storage where the default tooling assumes rewritable buckets, keeping a second implementation available so a long lived archive does not depend on one codebase. Of those, an existing restic user who wants configuration files rather than long command lines in cron and backing up a memory constrained machine where the reference implementation is uncomfortably heavy are not what Trilio is typically brought in for.
What can rustic do that Trilio cannot?: rustic covers restic format compatibility, Configuration profiles, Deduplicated encrypted backups, Cold and append only storage support. Trilio covers OpenStack backup, Kubernetes backup, OpenShift Virtualization, Open format backups.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

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.

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.

Trilio: Does it support OpenShift Virtualization?

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

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.

Trilio: Where are backups stored?

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

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.

rustic vs Trilio

rustic

Trilio

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in rustic

Only in Trilio

What people use each for

rustic

Trilio

Where each one falls short

rustic

Trilio

Pricing, plan by plan

rustic

Trilio

Which should you pick?

Choose rustic if

Choose Trilio if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on rustic

More on Trilio

Keep looking

Other head to heads