BorgBackup vs linux-timemachine
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
linux-timemachine
rsync-based Time Machine style backups for Linux and macOS
| Feature | BorgBackup | linux-timemachine |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Python | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,588 | ★ 840 |
| First released | 2015 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | Apple Time Machine |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or linux-timemachine better?
Neither is universally better. BorgBackup has the larger community, while linux-timemachine is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are BorgBackup and linux-timemachine free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and linux-timemachine under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and linux-timemachine with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. linux-timemachine: check the project docs for container support.