borgmatic vs Duplicati
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
Duplicati
Free backup software with a friendly web UI
| Feature | borgmatic | Duplicati |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 15,020 |
| First released | 2013 | 2008 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | Backblaze, Carbonite |
What are borgmatic and Duplicati?
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
Duplicati
Duplicati is free backup software that stores encrypted, incremental backups to cloud and local destinations through a web interface. It targets users who want scheduled GUI-driven backups. It is deployed via Docker or installers.
- Web-based backup management
- Encrypted incremental backups
- Many cloud storage targets
- Scheduling built in
borgmatic vs Duplicati: key differences
Borgmatic is written in Python, while Duplicati is built with C#. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus MIT for Duplicati. Borgmatic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Duplicati. Duplicati is the more established project (first released 2008), while borgmatic arrived in 2013. Duplicati has the considerably larger community, at 15,020 GitHub stars versus 2,000.
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 Duplicati if…
- Friendly GUI
- Broad storage support
- Free
Watch out for
- Restores can be slow
- Long beta history
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or Duplicati better?
Duplicati is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider borgmatic if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are borgmatic and Duplicati free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Duplicati under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and Duplicati with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. Duplicati: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, borgmatic or Duplicati?
borgmatic has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Duplicati. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.