BorgBackup vs Conserve Backup
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | BorgBackup | Conserve Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 58 · Fair |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,762 | ★ 278 |
| First released | 2015 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | Backblaze |
What are BorgBackup and Conserve Backup?
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
Conserve Backup
Conserve is a robust backup program written in Rust that creates deduplicated, versioned archives to local or remote storage. It emphasizes data safety and resumable operations.
- Deduplicated archives
- Versioned backups
- Resumable operations
- Data-safety focus
BorgBackup vs Conserve Backup: key differences
BorgBackup is written in Python, while Conserve Backup is built with Rust. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for BorgBackup versus GPL-2.0 for Conserve Backup. Conserve Backup is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for BorgBackup. BorgBackup has the considerably larger community, at 13,762 GitHub stars versus 278.
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 Conserve Backup if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or Conserve Backup 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 Conserve Backup free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Conserve Backup under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and Conserve Backup with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. Conserve Backup: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, BorgBackup or Conserve Backup?
Conserve Backup 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.