BorgBackup vs Restic Browser
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 Browser
Desktop app to browse and restore Restic snapshots
| Feature | BorgBackup | Restic Browser |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,588 | ★ 1,275 |
| First released | 2015 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | Time Machine |
Why pick each one
Choose Restic Browser if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or Restic Browser better?
Neither is universally better. BorgBackup has the larger community, while Restic Browser is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are BorgBackup and Restic Browser free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Restic Browser under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and Restic Browser with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. Restic Browser: check the project docs for container support.