BorgBackup
| License | FOSS problems | Maintenance | SSO | Users | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSD-3-ClausePermissive license. Preserve the copyright notice and disclaimer; contributors' names can't be used to endorse derived products without permission. | — | Active | ❌ | Unlimited | ❌ |
Description
BorgBackup is a deduplicating, encrypting backup tool — a CLI, not a service with a UI. Deduplication is content-defined chunking across the whole repository, so backups from different points in time (or even different machines sharing a repo) only ever store a chunk once. Encryption and compression are built in, same as restic.
Features
- Content-defined chunking — deduplication works across the whole repository, not just within a single backup run, so even different machines sharing a repo only ever store a chunk once.
- Built-in encryption and compression — same as restic, not a separate step or a bolted-on option.
borgmatic— a mature, separate wrapper providing YAML-configured scheduling and retention, filling the gap Borg's own CLI leaves.- Hosted repository providers — some built specifically around Borg, an ecosystem restic's own tooling doesn't have to the same extent.
Usage patterns
- Off-site infrastructure recovery — same underlying job as Backrest: client-side-encrypted, deduplicated, off-site backups. Predates restic and has a more mature surrounding ecosystem, but isn't a clearly better option — the other major choice in this space, not an obviously superior one.
- Assembled by hand — no official web UI, unlike restic, which Backrest already wraps into one deployed service here. Running Borg means assembling the same pieces (scheduling, retention, secrets handling) separately instead of getting them bundled.
License and governance
BSD-3-Clause — permissive, no restrictions on self-hosting or modification. Developed by The Borg Collective, actively maintained.
Conclusion
Why you would — a more mature ecosystem than restic's, with borgmatic and hosted-repository providers built specifically around it — worth considering if something Borg specifically does turns out to matter that restic doesn't cover.
Why you wouldn't — Backrest already covers this exact role — client-side-encrypted, deduplicated, off-site backups — bundled into one deployed service with scheduling and retention built in. Adding Borg on top means a second tool doing the same underlying job with less convenience, not a complementary one.