Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Duplicity VS UrBackup

Compare Duplicity VS UrBackup and see what are their differences

Duplicity logo Duplicity

Duplicity backs directories by producing encrypted tar-format volumes and uploading them to a remote or local file server.

UrBackup logo UrBackup

UrBackup is a open source client/server backup system, that through a combination of image and file...
  • Duplicity Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-12
  • UrBackup Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-05

Duplicity features and specs

  • Encrypted Backups
    Duplicity uses GnuPG to encrypt and sign backups, ensuring that data is secure and protected from unauthorized access.
  • Incremental Backups
    Supports incremental backups which only save the changes made since the last backup, reducing storage requirements and speeding up the backup process.
  • Storage Flexibility
    Supports various backends for backup storage including local files, FTP, SCP, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and others, giving users flexible storage options.
  • Bandwidth Efficiency
    Uploads bandwidth-efficient tar-format volumes using rsync or ssh+rsync, optimizing network usage.
  • Open Source
    Duplicity is open source software, meaning it is free to use and the codebase can be reviewed and modified by the community.
  • Cross-Platform
    Available on various operating systems including Unix-like systems (Linux, macOS) and Windows, making it versatile for different user environments.

Possible disadvantages of Duplicity

  • Complex Configuration
    Has a steep learning curve and complex configuration setup which may be challenging for non-technical users or those new to backup management.
  • Dependency on External Libraries
    Relies on several external libraries such as GnuPG and Python, which may complicate installation and maintenance.
  • Command Line Interface
    Lacks a graphical user interface (GUI), requiring users to operate through a command line, potentially limiting its usability for those unfamiliar with command-line operations.
  • Backup Speed
    Incremental backups can still be relatively slow, especially for large datasets or when using certain storage backends.
  • Restoration Time
    Restoring data can be time-consuming, particularly if multiple incremental backups need to be reassembled to recover the most recent version of files.
  • Limited Community Support
    Though it is open source, the community around Duplicity is smaller compared to more mainstream backup solutions, potentially leading to slower support and fewer third-party resources.

UrBackup features and specs

  • Open Source
    UrBackup is open source, which means it is free to use and anyone can contribute to its development. This allows for continuous improvement and transparency.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    UrBackup supports multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS, providing flexibility for diverse environments.
  • Incremental Backups
    The software utilizes both incremental file and image backups, which saves storage space and reduces backup times.
  • Web-Based Management Interface
    UrBackup offers a web-based interface for managing backups, providing a user-friendly and accessible way to monitor and configure the system.
  • Client and Server Versions
    The software provides both client and server versions, which can scale to different use cases, from single-user setups to larger organizational needs.
  • Fast and Efficient
    UrBackup is designed for speed, leveraging efficient algorithms to ensure that backups do not consume unnecessary resources or time.

Possible disadvantages of UrBackup

  • Complex Setup
    Initial setup can be complex for users who are not familiar with backup systems or lack technical expertise.
  • Limited Support
    As an open-source project, UrBackup may not have the robust customer support offered by commercial solutions, leading to potential challenges in troubleshooting.
  • Documentation
    While comprehensive, the documentation might not be as user-friendly or as detailed as that of some commercial backup solutions.
  • Advanced Features
    Lacks some advanced features found in competing commercial backup solutions, such as extensive cloud integration and advanced data deduplication.
  • Backup Performance
    In some cases, the performance may lag behind more optimized proprietary backup solutions, especially in large-scale deployments.

Analysis of Duplicity

Overall verdict

  • Duplicity is considered a highly capable backup software, especially appreciated for its encryption and compatibility with multiple storage solutions. However, its command-line nature might present a learning curve for those unfamiliar with terminal operations. Overall, it is well-regarded in tech communities for its flexibility and security features.

Why this product is good

  • Duplicity is a reliable and versatile backup solution that supports encrypted, versioned, and incremental backups. It utilizes the rsync algorithm and supports a wide range of backends, offering secure and confidential data storage over various protocols like FTP, SSH, and cloud services. Its robust encryption ensures data security during transfer and storage. Additionally, it provides command-line functionality, allowing advanced users to automate and customize their backup operations effectively.

Recommended for

  • Tech-savvy users comfortable with command-line interfaces
  • Individuals or organizations needing encrypted backups
  • Users requiring incremental backups and version control
  • Linux users seeking open-source backup solutions

Duplicity videos

Duplicity Movie Review: Beyond The Trailer

More videos:

  • Review - "Duplicity" (Funny Movie Review)
  • Review - Duplicity Spill Review

UrBackup videos

Best CRASHPLAN alternatives TESTED 2017 (Veeam, Urbackup, Macrium)

More videos:

  • Review - urbackup on Windows 10 & Windows Server 2019
  • Review - Full PC Image Backup with Raspberry pi / UrBackup

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Duplicity and UrBackup)
Cloud Storage
55 55%
45% 45
File Sharing And Backup
32 32%
68% 68
File Sharing
55 55%
45% 45
Backup & Restore
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Duplicity and UrBackup

Duplicity Reviews

25 Outstanding Backup Utilities for Linux Systems in 2020
Duplicity is a free open source, secure and bandwidth-efficient backup tool based on rsync. It creates encrypted backups of directories in tar-format archives and backs them on the local or remote machine over SSH. When launched for the first time, it performs a full backup, and in subsequent backups in the future, it only records parts of files that have changed.
Source: www.tecmint.com

UrBackup Reviews

The Best Free Backup Software and Why it is Difficult to Find One
UrBackup is another example of a client/server backup solution that is free, open-source and has a very narrow scope in terms of what it is capable of performing. In this case, UrBackup is capable of performing both image-level and file backups without interrupting the system. It can also perform incremental backups with an astonishing speed and has multiple different...
Source: www.bacula.org
The Top 17 Free and Open Source Backup Solutions
UrBackup creates file and image backups while systems are running, without interrupting any ongoing processes. The software also watches folders you want backed up continuously in order to find differences to previous backups. Because of this, incremental backups are performed quickly. Files can be restored through the web interface, via the client, or the Windows explorer,...
15 Best Rclone Alternatives 2022
This is a simple open source client and server backup system. UrBackup uses image and file backups to ensure data security and to speed up restore times. In essence, this tool is exclusively for file backups.
11 Best Linux Backup Solutions
UrBackup is an easy to setup free open-source client/server system backup software that is available for multiple platforms including Linux. It allows for image and file backups as well as fast restoration time. You can set up UrBackup to continuously monitor folders in order to identify differences with previous backups allowing for a pretty fast incremental backup process....
25 Outstanding Backup Utilities for Linux Systems in 2020
UrBackup is an open-source easy to setup client/server backup system for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X, that through a mixture of image and file backups carry out both data security and speedy restoration time.
Source: www.tecmint.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Duplicity should be more popular than UrBackup. It has been mentiond 12 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Duplicity mentions (12)

  • Restic: Backups Done Right
    Other popular choices include borg, duplicity, and duplicati. After evaluating these and others mentioned in the comments, I ended up using borg with borgmatic to define homelab backups with yaml files that are version controlled in gitea and deployed using ansible. I also use duplicity to back up my sister in laws storefront website to backblaze. I've been quite happy with both.... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Are small ceph clusters viable?
    Overbuilt and OTT? Sure... But this works fantastically for my use case. I have current backups of everything except my media library because of the size of it; my VM's are all backed up to my Synology nightly using Backy2, my application data gets dumped to that same Synology NAS nightly as well, and all of that also gets synced to Glacier deep storage once a week using Duplicity. I'm going to be adding a new ZFS... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Most used selfhosted services in 2022?
    There are some backup tools in this thread. Duplicati, rsync, restic, Duplicity, Syncthing. Source: over 2 years ago
  • reposting help with bash script
    Here are a couple of projects that implement what you seem to be trying to do: https://duplicity.gitlab.io , https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/index.html# . You could either use them or just look at the scripts for ideas Writing your own script is a great exercise but a robust, historical and conveniently accessible backup system is more complicated. (I personally use rsnapshot to an encrypted drive... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Simple backup tools for Fedora?
    GUI based on https://duplicity.gitlab.io/. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

UrBackup mentions (2)

  • Open Source Backup Application Linux/Raspbian Advice
    I'm currently using Urbackup (urbackup.org) which worked great on my windows server, but I made the switch to linux recently (command line only) and Urbackup seems to crash every few minutes/hours. I'm looking for everyone else's suggestions. I would love if the application created a full image back up for easy restoring, and be compatible with Windows clients at least. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Local data backups on Linux?
    If you want client/server backups, urbackup is the easiest thing I've found. Does image-based backups for Windows, supports several snapshot options for Linux filesystems, and they have a Mac agent in beta. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Duplicity and UrBackup, you can also consider the following products

Duplicati - Free backup software to store backups online with strong encryption. Works with FTP, SSH, WebDAV, OneDrive, Amazon S3, Google Drive and many others.

SpiderOak - SpiderOak makes it possible for you to privately store, sync, share & access your data from everywhere.

Restic - Easy: Doing backups should be a frictionless process, otherwise you are tempted to skip it.

rsync - rsync is a file transfer program for Unix systems. rsync uses the "rsync algorithm" which provides a very fast method for bringing remote files into sync.

Bacula - Bacula is a set of Open Source, enterprise ready, computer programs that permit you (or the system...

Borg Backup - Deduplicating backup program with compression and authenticated encryption