BorgBackup vs Magic Wormhole

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureBorgBackupMagic Wormhole
CategoryBackup & RecoveryFile Sync & Storage
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseMIT
LanguagePythonPython
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB32 MB
Deploymentbinary, bare-metalbinary
GitHub stars★ 13,588★ 22,792
First released20152016
ReplacesCarbonite, BackblazeWeTransfer, AirDrop

Why pick each one

Choose BorgBackup if…

  • Excellent space efficiency
  • Strong security
  • Battle-tested
BorgBackup details

Choose Magic Wormhole if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 22.8k GitHub stars
  • Written in Python
Magic Wormhole details

Frequently asked questions

Is BorgBackup or Magic Wormhole better?

Magic Wormhole is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider BorgBackup if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are BorgBackup and Magic Wormhole free and open-source?

Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Magic Wormhole under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run BorgBackup and Magic Wormhole with Docker?

BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. Magic Wormhole: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons