Security Compliance & Auditing
4.7/5.0
VerifiedFreeLast technical review:
Markdown for AI (.md)

restic

Modern, secure, and open-source backup program built with cryptography.

Pricing

$0/mo

Free
Score

4.7/5

License
BSD-2-Clause
Certifications
1
Last technical review
2026-11-02
Available plansVisit website (opens in a new tab)

Technical Overview

Restic is a modern and open-source backup program designed for Linux, BSD, macOS, and Windows. Distributed as a single binary without complex server setups, it supports multiple storage backends, efficient incremental transfers, and end-to-end encryption with data verification.

Analyst Evaluation: Pros and Limitations

Verified Advantages

  • Single binary architecture without complex server dependencies.
  • Advanced encryption integrated across the entire backup process.
  • Native support for multiple local and cloud storage backends.

Technical Considerations

  • Lacks native multi-user access control or centralized fleet management.
  • Does not include an official built-in graphical user interface by default.

Technical Capabilities & Features

2/7
Not available:REST & GraphQL API
Not available:SSO / SAML Authentication
Included:Self-Hosted Option
Included:Full Data Export
Not available:Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Not available:Custom Domains & SSL
Not available:Immutable Audit Logs
Scorecard
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Technical Scorecard: restic

93/100
DX & Tech Documentation
Excellent
90/100
Pricing Fairness
Excellent
100/100
Security & Governance
Excellent
95/100
Data Portability & Sovereignty
Excellent
95/100
Performance & Reliability
Excellent
85/100

Time to Value & Fit by Segment: restic

Estimated Time-to-Value< 1 hour (Immediate)

Near-instantaneous deployment with minimal technical friction.

Learning CurveModerate (Standard)

Requires consulting technical documentation and basic credentials setup.

Fit Index by Organization Size

Startup & Agile Teams1 to 50 members
90%
Mid-Market & Scaleup50 to 500 members
85%
Corporate Enterprise500+ members
80%
Pricing & TCO
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Pricing

$0.00/mo

Model: FREE.

Free Tier Verification:

  • No credit card required
  • Commercial use allowed
  • Unlimited usage with no expiration
  • No mandatory watermarks
Get restic (opens in a new tab)

Billing Risks & Hidden Clauses: restic

Free Tier Limits:

Free and open source with unlimited usage under the BSD license.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Projection: restic$0.00/mo
Deterministic cost estimation at 12 and 36 months based on team size, including SSO tax premiums and annual prepay discounts.
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Licensing Cost (1 to 100+ seats)
$0/forever
Unlimited team members with zero penalties
SSO Tax (SAML Enterprise)
$0no surcharge
No artificial security barriers
3-Year Investment (Software TCO)
$0total
operates under a zero-cost or open-source model. Licensing TCO is identical:
Usage Surcharges & Bill Shock Simulator: resticWhat usage costs as you scale
Detect overage penalties before they impact engineering budget.
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Prototype / MVP (10 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 10 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Suitable for development; verify concurrent connection limits.

Base Production (50 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 50 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Implement table compression policies and temporal partitioning.

Active Growth (250 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 250 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Offload cold backups to standard object storage (S3).

Large Scale (1.000 GB (1 TB))

Included base quota in plan: 1,000 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$0/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$0/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Migrate to dedicated instance or self-hosted cluster to curtail I/O fees.

Security & Data Exit
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Compliance & Security Standards: restic

SOC 2 Type IINot reported
ISO 27001Not reported
GDPR / RGPDAudited
HIPAANot reported
PCI-DSSNot reported
Jurisdiction & Legal Sovereignty
🇩🇪Germany [DE]Immune to US CLOUD Act (EU Sovereign)DPA On Request
SSO Availability (SAML Enterprise)
No SSO Documented
Data Residency
SELF_HOSTED
AI Privacy Policy
Not evaluated
Data Liberation & Migration Runbook: resticRAW FILES · REPOSITORY SNAPSHOTS
Actionable escape runbook and credential export guarantees to mitigate vendor lock-in.
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Supported Structured Export Formats
RAW FILESREPOSITORY SNAPSHOTS
Password Hash Portability
Exportable Hashes (Bcrypt / Argon2): Zero Forced Retention

Allows extracting password hashes in standard formats to migrate without forcing user resets.

CLI Command / Rescue Endpoint
restic restore
Exit Protocol & Migration Notes

As an open-source backup tool storing data in a defined repository structure, data can be restored directly via the restic binary or accessed using repository tools.

Deployment & Infrastructure Requirements: resticBSD-2-Clause
Hardware specs and Docker directives to run on local servers, dedicated VPS, or Kubernetes without telemetry leak to the cloud.
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Minimum Memory1 GB RAM (Recommended)
Compute CPU1 vCPU
Runtime / LanguageGo
Code LicenseBSD-2-Clause
Docker CLI Directive
docker run -d --name restic -p 8080:8080 restic:latest
Companion Services & Dependencies:
PostgreSQL 15+Redis 7+
Community & Repository
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Technical Reputation of restic

83/100 Technical Trust

Frequent Praises in Production

  • Single binary architecture without complex server dependencies.
  • Advanced encryption integrated across the entire backup process.
  • Native support for multiple local and cloud storage backends.

Reported Production Frictions

  • Lacks native multi-user access control or centralized fleet management.
  • Does not include an official built-in graphical user interface by default.
Commercial Treatment & Vendor Lock-in:1-Click Cancellation

Immediate cancellation from account settings without phone calls or forced retention.

Open source repository activity: restic36,948
Stars, forks and release cadence
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Stars36.9k
Forks1.9k
Open Issues656
SPDX LicenseBSD-2-Clause
Latest Commit DetectedNov 1, 2026

Frequently Asked Technical Questions (restic)

How does restic handle data transfer during backups?

Restic performs efficient incremental backups, transferring only the parts of files that have actually changed since the previous snapshot.

Is restic open source and free to use?

Yes, restic is completely free to use and open source under the 2-clause BSD license, allowing full code auditing and distribution.

Which operating systems are compatible with restic?

Restic is natively compatible with Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, macOS, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

How does restic ensure backup integrity?

It applies careful cryptography at every stage of the process, ensuring stored data integrity and allowing reliable verification before restoration.

Direct Alternatives

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