BorgBackup vs WAL-G
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
WAL-G
Archival and restoration tool for databases
| Feature | BorgBackup | WAL-G |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 13,588 | ★ 4,215 |
| First released | 2015 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Carbonite, Backblaze | pgBackRest |
Why pick each one
Choose WAL-G if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is BorgBackup or WAL-G better?
BorgBackup is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider WAL-G if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are BorgBackup and WAL-G free and open-source?
Yes. BorgBackup is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and WAL-G under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run BorgBackup and WAL-G with Docker?
BorgBackup: check the project docs for container support. WAL-G: yes.