Tink vs Kopia
Kopia copies snapshots, policies, and GC. That is not a mechanic. Tink installs in one command, watches the Linux host, explains what is wrong, and helps you fix it.
Kopia runs the repo. Tink answers “why is this VPS sick?”
Accidental sysadmins land on Kopia because a snapshot repo looks cheaper than a NAS. Then the host volume fills, nginx dies, and kopia snapshot list still looks complete — no snapshot match for host fill. A filling /var is a Tink warning; it is not a Kopia job unless you scraped kopia server :51515 and watched it.
Tink is the other job: detect the issue on the machine, say why it happened in plain English, propose the command, and run it only after you approve. Keep using Kopia if you already run snapshots. Use Tink if you run Linux servers and want a mechanic.
| Feature | Tink | Kopia |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 30 seconds (one curl | sh command) | Hours — repository, KOPIA_PASSWORD, kopia server :51515, snapshot policies, then a host that still has no mechanic after the last snapshot exits 0 |
| What you get | Working monitoring, diagnosis, and approved fixes | Deduped snapshots, policies, and maintenance GC. Disk fill, nginx, Postgres, and certs stay your problem until you SSH past kopia snapshot list |
| Pricing | Free (Scout) / $9 / $29 per machine per month | Apache-2.0 and free. You still pay the person who owns the VPS after the last snapshot stays listed |
| Hidden costs | None — fully managed | A quiet kopia snapshot at 2am, a healthy repo that is not host fill, and a second tool to tell you the box is sick while kopia snapshot list still looks complete |
| Monitoring approach | Agent on the server — CPU, disk, services, logs, certs, ports | Snapshots, packs, and policies. Kopia does not watch a quiet cert or host auth.log after the last snapshot finished |
| Configuration | None after install — heuristics and AI | KOPIA_PASSWORD, repository storage, kopia server :51515, snapshot policies, and which systemd timer actually pages you |
| Plain-English diagnosis | Yes — AI explains root cause, impact, and fix | You read kopia snapshot list, then SSH into the host to change the Linux box Kopia already sits on |
| Fix execution | Proposes and executes approved commands with an audit trail | systemctl restart kopia and kopia maintenance run — Kopia cannot free host disk, rotate a cert, or stop SSH brute-force unless you wrote that job |
| Alerting | Built-in across 8 channels | Not a Kopia job — log lines plus a separate monitoring tool have to fire |
| Predictive alerts | Yes — disk fills in ~6 days, memory and CPU trends | Not a Kopia job — a snapshot ID does not forecast a quiet host filling up |
| SSH brute-force detection | Built-in — parses auth.log every scan | Never — Kopia does not read host auth.log, journald, or firewall state after the last snapshot landed |
| Machine offline detection | Agent presence monitoring with multi-channel alerts | Silence if kopia dies after the last timer — unless you built a separate uptime check |
| Public status page | Shareable URL with 90-day history | None — Kopia has no customer-facing status page for the Linux host |
| Weekly fleet digest | Automated Monday digest + daily brief when issues are open | None — a snapshot recap is not a plain-English fleet narrative |
| On-call tracking | Built-in /oncall command + incident acknowledgment | Not included — wire failed kopia snapshot into PagerDuty or another incident tool |
| Conversation interface | Telegram, WhatsApp, web dashboard, CLI | kopia snapshot list and SSH. No mechanic you text when /var filled and the last snapshot still showed created |
| Learning curve | None — works after install | Steep — repositories, kopia server, policies, maintenance GC, mount, and which failure is Kopia vs the running host |
| Best for | Freelancers, small teams, accidental sysadmins (1-50 Linux servers) | Teams that already run Kopia for backup snapshots, not a sick-VPS mechanic |
When Kopia is the right choice
Keep using Kopia when you already want that exact job:
- Backup snapshots with a Kopia repository — you need kopia server :51515, snapshot policies, and maintenance GC, not a mechanic.
- An existing backup stack — systemd timers, policies, and object storage matter more than guest nginx, certs, and SSH on a quiet VPS.
- An existing lab or nested setup — Kopia already starts, the repo already ships, and someone owns the Kopia box.
- Hosts that only page on backup or GC death — you already run Kopia logs, not a sick-box SSH loop.
The real cost of “just watch kopia snapshot list”
Kopia runs snapshots and GC. A working ops loop for five Linux boxes is not:
- A healthy snapshot still means you SSH into the host and change the box by hand when it gets sick later
- Host fill, nginx, certs, and SSH brute-force never appear unless a separate tool scraped those signals and a rule fired
- A filling /var is a Tink disk warning on every scan — Kopia will stay quiet until the next timer fails
- A single VPS with a dead agent still needs a mechanic, not another snapshot ID
For a 5-server team, Tink Mechanic at $45/month is cheaper than the engineer who keeps failed-job notifications alive after a free Kopia install, and every scan includes a diagnosis a quiet kopia snapshot list will not type.
No KOPIA_PASSWORD homework. No silent host. One command install.
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