BorgBackup vs Kanister
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?
BorgBackup
Deduplicating archiver with compression and encryption
VS
Kanister
Application-level data management for Kubernetes
| Feature | BorgBackup | Kanister |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,588 | ★ 883 |
| First released | 2015 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | Kasten K10 |
Why pick each one
Choose Kanister if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Written in Go
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or Kanister better?
BorgBackup is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Kanister if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are BorgBackup and Kanister free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Kanister under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and Kanister with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. Kanister: check the project docs for container support.