Backrest

Backrest is a free, open source web UI and backup orchestrator built on top of restic, designed for homelab and home server users who want the power of restic's encrypted, deduplicated backups without managing everything through a command line. Restic is widely regarded as one of the best backup tools available, but its CLI-only interface makes scheduling, browsing snapshots, and restoring individual files cumbersome for day-to-day use. Backrest wraps restic in a clean web dashboard that you can access locally or remotely, handles all the orchestration in the background, and ships as a single lightweight Go binary with Docker Compose support, making it one of the fastest backup solutions to get running on any home server.

What makes Backrest particularly compelling in the backup category is the storage flexibility it inherits from restic combined with rclone integration. You can back up to local disks, a NAS share, SFTP targets, AWS S3, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, Wasabi, or any of the 40+ rclone-supported remotes, all from the same interface. Backups are always end-to-end encrypted with AES-256 and content-defined chunking deduplication means only changed blocks are transferred on incremental runs, keeping storage costs and transfer times minimal even for large datasets. You configure backup plans with cron-based scheduling, retention policies for automatic snapshot pruning, and configurable health check operations like restic check and restic forget that run on their own schedule without manual intervention.

The restore workflow is where Backrest makes restic genuinely practical for homelab use. The snapshot browser lets you navigate your backup history, drill into specific snapshots, and restore individual files or directories directly from the web UI without writing a single restic command. Backrest also supports shell command hooks that fire before and after backup operations, making it easy to trigger database dumps, stop containers before backup, or post a notification to Discord, Slack, Gotify, or any Shoutrrr-supported channel when a backup completes or fails.

Key Features

• Web UI for creating repos, browsing snapshots, and restoring individual files and directories
• AES-256 end-to-end encryption with content-defined chunking deduplication (restic)
• Cron-scheduled backup plans with configurable retention and automatic snapshot pruning
• Backup to S3, Backblaze B2, Azure, GCS, SFTP, local storage, and all rclone remotes
• Import and manage existing restic repositories
• Pre/post shell command hooks for database dumps and container stop/start workflows
• Notifications via Discord, Slack, Gotify, and all Shoutrrr-supported channels
• Single binary and Docker Compose deployment with Linux, macOS, and Windows support

Use Cases

Backrest is the go-to restic frontend for homelabbers who want automated, encrypted offsite backups of their home server data to Backblaze B2 or Wasabi without manually writing and maintaining shell scripts, cron jobs, and restic commands for every machine they run. It works especially well for NAS users on Synology or TrueNAS who want to add proper versioned, encrypted backups of their most important data to an S3-compatible target, with a web UI they can access from any browser to verify snapshots and restore individual files when needed. For anyone who has outgrown manual restic commands or basic cron scripts and wants a self-hosted Duplicati or Urbackup alternative with a modern interface, strong encryption, and support for virtually any backup destination, Backrest is the most capable and actively maintained open source option in the backup category.