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Desktop App

restic

Fast, encrypted backups that only store what changed.

Visit restic4.7
  • Rating

    4.7 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Intermediate

  • Works on

    macOS, Windows, Linux

Built with love by Shushant Lakhyani. Building bestproductivityresources.com

What is restic?

restic is a free, open-source backup program that encrypts your data, removes duplicates before saving and checks that backups are intact. It can save to a local folder, a network drive or cloud storage such as Amazon S3, Backblaze B2 or Google Cloud Storage, and you can restore single files or browse snapshots like a normal folder.

Third-party open-source projects. We are not affiliated with their authors; repositories are provided as-is by their maintainers. Review each project's license, code and security before installing. See our Disclaimer.

Pros: what restic does well

  • Backups are encrypted and verified
  • Only changed data is stored again
  • Works with many local and cloud storage options

Cons: where it falls short

  • Runs from the command line
  • You need to schedule backups yourself

Who restic is for

Anyone who wants safe, space-saving backups of their files and is comfortable with a terminal.

Who can skip it

People who prefer a point-and-click backup app.

restic alternatives

Not sold on restic? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

Duplicati

Focus: cloud storage and scheduler. Shares backup and encryption with restic. Rated 4.5 (restic: 4.7).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

fd

Focus: file search and developer tool. Shares command line and open source with restic. Adds Offline. Same 4.7 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

PhotoPrism

Focus: photo library, self-hosted and face recognition. Shares backup and open source with restic. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Rated 4.6 (restic: 4.7).

Web AppFreeWeb

BleachBit

Focus: disk cleaner, privacy and free space. Shares open source and github with restic. Rated 4.5 (restic: 4.7).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, Linux

Double Commander

Focus: file manager, dual pane and batch rename. Shares open source and github with restic. Adds Offline. Rated 4.5 (restic: 4.7).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

Free alternatives to restic

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

PDF Arranger

Focus: pdf editor, merge pdf and split pdf. Shares open source and github with restic. Adds Offline. Rated 4.5 (restic: 4.7).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, Linux

fzf

Focus: fuzzy finder and shell. Shares command line and open source with restic. Adds Offline. Rated 4.8 (restic: 4.7).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

ripgrep

Focus: search tool and developer tool. Shares command line and open source with restic. Adds Offline. Rated 4.8 (restic: 4.7).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

Atuin

Focus: shell history, terminal and sync. Shares command line and open source with restic. Same 4.7 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Linux

bat

Focus: file viewer and developer tool. Shares command line and open source with restic. Adds Offline. Same 4.7 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows

Paperless-ngx

Focus: documents, ocr and self-hosted. Shares open source and github with restic. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Same 4.7 rating.

Web AppFreeWeb, Linux
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