What is Backrest used for?

Backrest is a web UI and scheduler for restic backups that lets you create repos, browse snapshots and restore files from a single lightweight binary. It is a good fit for backing up a NAS with a web interface and scheduling restic backups without scripting.

Is Backrest open source?

Yes. Backrest is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at garethgeorge/backrest and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Backrest is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Backrest?

Yes. Backrest can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Backrest an alternative to?

Backrest is an open-source alternative to Backblaze Computer Backup, CrashPlan, Acronis Cyber Protect and Degoo. Other open-source alternatives to Backblaze Computer Backup include Duplicati, Kopia and restic.

Is Backrest actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Backrest was on 21 September 2026, and the latest release is v1.14.1, published on 12 July 2026. The project has 7.4k stars on GitHub.

Backrest: open-source file storage & sharing

About Backrest

Backrest is a backup tool you reach through a web browser, built on restic. Its web interface wraps the restic command-line tool so you can create repositories, browse snapshots and restore files, and it can run in the background to schedule snapshots and orchestrate repository health tasks.

It supports importing existing restic repositories and cron-scheduled backups and maintenance such as prune, check and forget. Notifications can be sent through Discord, Slack, Shoutrrr, Gotify or Healthchecks, and pre and post backup hooks can run shell scripts. All restic storage backends are supported, including S3, B2, Azure, GCS, local and SFTP, along with rclone remotes. The interface can be reached locally or remotely, which suits NAS deployments, and the restic CLI remains available for advanced operations.

Backrest is written in Go with a TypeScript interface, licensed under GPL-3.0 and distributed as a standalone binary whose only dependency is restic, downloaded on first run. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD and Docker.

Key features

Web UI wrapping the restic CLI
Browse snapshots and restore files
Cron-scheduled backups and maintenance
Notifications via Discord, Slack and Gotify
Pre and post backup command hooks
Supports S3, B2, SFTP and rclone remotes

Good fit for

→Backing up a NAS with a web interface
→Scheduling restic backups without scripting

Built with: TypeScript
Tags: backup; restic; web-ui; self-hosted; snapshots; nas; go; rclone

Backrest: questions and answers

What is Backrest used for?: Backrest is a web UI and scheduler for restic backups that lets you create repos, browse snapshots and restore files from a single lightweight binary. It is a good fit for backing up a NAS with a web interface and scheduling restic backups without scripting.
Is Backrest open source?: Yes. Backrest is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at garethgeorge/backrest and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Backrest free?: Yes. Backrest is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Backrest?: Yes. Backrest can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Backrest an alternative to?: Backrest is an open-source alternative to Backblaze Computer Backup, CrashPlan, Acronis Cyber Protect and Degoo. Other open-source alternatives to Backblaze Computer Backup include Duplicati, Kopia and restic.
Is Backrest actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Backrest was on 21 September 2026, and the latest release is v1.14.1, published on 12 July 2026. The project has 7.4k stars on GitHub.