BorgBackup vs Restic Cron
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | BorgBackup | Restic Cron |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 70 · Good |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Python | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,762 | ★ 715 |
| First released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | Backblaze |
What are BorgBackup and Restic Cron?
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
Restic Cron
A containerized scheduler that runs restic backups on a cron schedule and prunes old snapshots. It is designed to be a drop-in backup sidecar for self-hosted stacks.
- Cron-scheduled backups
- Automatic pruning
- restic backend
- Sidecar container
BorgBackup vs Restic Cron: key differences
BorgBackup is written in Python, while Restic Cron is built with Shell. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for BorgBackup versus BSD-2-Clause for Restic Cron. Restic Cron is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for BorgBackup. BorgBackup is the more established project (first released 2015), while Restic Cron arrived in 2019. BorgBackup has the considerably larger community, at 13,762 GitHub stars versus 715. Restic Cron 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 Restic Cron if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Shell
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or Restic Cron better?
Neither is universally better. BorgBackup has the larger community, while Restic Cron is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are BorgBackup and Restic Cron free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Restic Cron under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and Restic Cron with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. Restic Cron: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, BorgBackup or Restic Cron?
Restic Cron has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for BorgBackup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.