BorgBackup vs Duplicity
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | BorgBackup | Duplicity |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,762 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2015 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | CrashPlan, Backblaze |
What are BorgBackup and Duplicity?
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
Duplicity
Duplicity backs up directories by producing encrypted, signed tar-format volumes and uploading them to a remote or local file server. It uses the rsync algorithm for incremental archives.
- GPG-encrypted archives
- Many remote storage backends
- Incremental rsync deltas
BorgBackup vs Duplicity: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for BorgBackup versus GPL-2.0 for Duplicity. Duplicity is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for BorgBackup. Duplicity is the more established project (first released 2002), while BorgBackup arrived in 2015. BorgBackup has the considerably larger community, at 13,762 GitHub stars versus 300.
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 Duplicity if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or Duplicity 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 Duplicity free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Duplicity under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and Duplicity with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. Duplicity: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, BorgBackup or Duplicity?
Duplicity 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.