borgmatic vs Bupstash
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
borgmatic
Simple configuration-driven frontend for BorgBackup
VS
Bupstash
Easy and efficient encrypted backups
| Feature | borgmatic | Bupstash |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 924 |
| First released | 2013 | 2020 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are borgmatic and Bupstash?
borgmatic
borgmatic is a command-line tool that wraps BorgBackup to make it easy to schedule and configure backups. It adds features like database dumps, monitoring hooks, and consistency checks.
- Declarative YAML configuration
- Database backup integration
- Monitoring service hooks
Bupstash
Bupstash is a tool for encrypted, deduplicated, and compressed backups. It is designed to be simple, secure, and efficient, storing backups locally or over SSH.
- Encrypted deduplicated backups
- Works over SSH
- Simple command-line interface
borgmatic vs Bupstash: key differences
Borgmatic is written in Python, while Bupstash is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus MIT for Bupstash. Borgmatic is the more established project (first released 2013), while Bupstash arrived in 2020. Borgmatic has the considerably larger community, at 2,000 GitHub stars versus 924. Borgmatic lists first-class Docker deployment; Bupstash does not.
Why pick each one
Choose borgmatic if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Choose Bupstash if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or Bupstash better?
Neither is universally better. borgmatic has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are borgmatic and Bupstash free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Bupstash under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and Bupstash with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. Bupstash: check the project docs for container support.