borgmatic vs Conserve Backup
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
Conserve Backup
Robust, fast, deduplicating backup tool
| Feature | borgmatic | Conserve Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 278 |
| First released | 2013 | 2015 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | Backblaze |
What are borgmatic and Conserve Backup?
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
Conserve Backup
Conserve is a robust backup program written in Rust that creates deduplicated, versioned archives to local or remote storage. It emphasizes data safety and resumable operations.
- Deduplicated archives
- Versioned backups
- Resumable operations
- Data-safety focus
borgmatic vs Conserve Backup: key differences
Borgmatic is written in Python, while Conserve Backup is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus GPL-2.0 for Conserve Backup. Borgmatic is the more established project (first released 2013), while Conserve Backup arrived in 2015. Borgmatic has the considerably larger community, at 2,000 GitHub stars versus 278. Borgmatic lists first-class Docker deployment; Conserve Backup 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 Conserve Backup if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or Conserve Backup 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 Conserve Backup free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Conserve Backup under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and Conserve Backup with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. Conserve Backup: check the project docs for container support.