BorgBackup vs Rclone
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Rclone
Sync and copy files to dozens of cloud providers
| Feature | BorgBackup | Rclone |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 100 · Excellent |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,762 | ★ 59,925 |
| First released | 2015 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | Backblaze |
What are BorgBackup and Rclone?
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
Rclone
Rclone is a command-line program to manage, sync, and copy files across more than seventy cloud storage providers. It targets users moving or backing up data between storage systems. It is deployed as a single binary.
- Supports 70+ cloud providers
- Encryption and mount support
- Powerful sync and copy
- Single self-contained binary
BorgBackup vs Rclone: key differences
BorgBackup is written in Python, while Rclone is built with Go. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for BorgBackup versus MIT for Rclone. Rclone is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for BorgBackup. Rclone has the considerably larger community, at 59,925 GitHub stars versus 13,762. Rclone 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 Rclone if…
- Works with almost any cloud
- Extremely versatile
- Reliable
Watch out for
- Not a snapshot backup tool
- Command-line focused
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or Rclone better?
Neither is universally better. Rclone has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are BorgBackup and Rclone free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Rclone under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and Rclone with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. Rclone: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, BorgBackup or Rclone?
Rclone has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for BorgBackup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.