BorgBackup vs borgmatic
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
borgmatic
Simple configuration-driven frontend for BorgBackup
| Feature | BorgBackup | borgmatic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,762 | ★ 2,000 |
| First released | 2015 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | CrashPlan, Backblaze |
What are BorgBackup and borgmatic?
BorgBackup
BorgBackup is a deduplicating backup program with compression and authenticated encryption for efficient, secure archives. It targets technical users backing up to local or remote storage. It is deployed as a binary or package.
- Deduplication and compression
- Authenticated encryption
- Append-only repos for ransomware safety
- Efficient remote backups over SSH
borgmatic
borgmatic is a command-line tool that wraps BorgBackup to make it easy to schedule and configure backups. It adds features like database dumps, monitoring hooks, and consistency checks.
- Declarative YAML configuration
- Database backup integration
- Monitoring service hooks
BorgBackup vs borgmatic: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for BorgBackup versus GPL-3.0 for borgmatic. Borgmatic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for BorgBackup. Borgmatic is the more established project (first released 2013), while BorgBackup arrived in 2015. BorgBackup has the considerably larger community, at 13,762 GitHub stars versus 2,000. Borgmatic lists first-class Docker deployment; BorgBackup does not.
Why pick each one
Choose BorgBackup if…
- Excellent space efficiency
- Strong security
- Battle-tested
Watch out for
- Command-line oriented
- Repo not directly mountable everywhere
Choose borgmatic if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or borgmatic better?
Neither is universally better. BorgBackup has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are BorgBackup and borgmatic free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and borgmatic under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and borgmatic with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. borgmatic: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, BorgBackup or borgmatic?
borgmatic has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for BorgBackup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.