Linode Backup Service vs Restic
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Linode Backup Service and Restic.
Quick Verdict
3.3/5
Linode Backup Service
0 reviews
4.3/5
Restic
0 reviews
Restic is rated higher (4.3 vs 3.3). Linode's managed backup service creates automatic daily, weekly, and biweekly backups of your Linode VPS. Stored for 2 or 4 weeks. Simple restore via Linode dashboard. Restic is a modern backup program that uses content-addressable storage, deduplication, and AES-256 encryption. Backs up to S3, B2, Google Cloud, SFTP, and more. No server required.
Linode Backup Service Automatic backups for Linode VPS | Restic Fast, secure, encrypted open source backup | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.3 (0 reviews) | 4.3 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | paid | free |
| Starting price | From $2/mo | Free✓ |
| Best for | Akamai Cloud (Linode) users wanting a zero-maintenance restore safety net for single instances — especially as one layer alongside off-site storage. | Developers and sysadmins who want encrypted, deduplicated off-site backups to any storage backend and are comfortable owning key management and operations. |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ||
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | backups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter | free tieropen source |
| Visit Linode Backup Service → | Visit Restic → | |
Linode Backup Service
Pros
- + Cheap and effortless: from $2/month, one-click enable, no software to install
- + Live full-disk snapshots taken while the instance runs — no downtime
- + Four restore points including a persistent manual snapshot slot
- + Managed via Cloud Manager, Linode CLI, and REST API for fleet scripting
- + Free with Linode Managed ($100/instance/month)
Cons
- - Automated retention capped at 14 days — shallow for compliance or ransomware scenarios
- - Stored in the same data center as the instance — off-host but not off-site
- - Excludes attached Volumes and encrypted disks (unencrypted ext3/ext4 only)
- - Backups are deleted together with the instance; not an archive
- - Not available in distributed compute regions; priced per instance
Restic
Pros
- + Free BSD-2-Clause software with no paid tier or usage caps
- + Client-side AES-256-CTR encryption with Poly1305 authentication is always on
- + Content-addressed deduplication: incremental backups and multi-machine repositories
- + Native support for S3, B2, GCS, Azure Blob, SFTP, and REST backends; rclone for the rest
- + Openly documented repository format — no vendor lock-in, portable repositories
Cons
- - No password recovery: lose the repository key and the data is gone
- - Command-line only — scheduling, monitoring, and alerting are external
- - Community support only; no SLA or paid support option
- - Repository maintenance (prune, check) requires operational discipline
- - Pre-1.0 version numbering; the API surface can still shift between releases
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