Trying to actually restore is the best way to ensure the backup works. But it’s annoying so I never do it.
I usually trust restic to do it’s job. Validating that files are there and are readable can be done with restic mount, and you’ve mentioned restic check.
The best way to ensure your data is safe is to do a second backup with another tool. And keep your keys safe and accessible. A remote backup has no use of the keys burned down.
To me there’s a major difference depending on the cost of the provided service. I don’t know what features crowdsec provides, but if it’s mostly providing lists and all the blocking etc happens locally, I don’t see how they lose much money on this free service. Gathering the lists is something they’d have to do anyway to service their paying customers.
If Cloudflare stopped making Cloudflare Tunnels free to use, I’d be more understanding since bandwidth costs them relevant amounts of money.
It’s great to see another open source OIDC provider (with more features). I’ve set up Pocket ID which is awesome because of it’s simplicity and it’s great.