Barman vs BorgBackup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Barman
Backup and recovery manager for PostgreSQL
VS
BorgBackup
Deduplicating archiver with compression and encryption
| Feature | Barman | BorgBackup |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,214 | ★ 13,588 |
| First released | 2012 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Veeam | Carbonite, Backblaze |
Why pick each one
Choose Barman if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Barman or BorgBackup better?
BorgBackup is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Barman if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Barman and BorgBackup free and open-source?
Yes. Barman is licensed under GPL-3.0 and BorgBackup under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Barman and BorgBackup with Docker?
Barman: check the project docs for container support. BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support.