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.
Not the right match-up?
BorgBackup
Deduplicating archiver with compression and encryption
VS
Restic Cron
Containerized scheduled restic backup runner
| Feature | BorgBackup | Restic Cron |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ★ 13,588 | ★ 702 |
| First released | 2015 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | Backblaze |
Why pick each one
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.