borgmatic vs HashBackup
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
HashBackup
Efficient command-line backup with deduplication
| Feature | borgmatic | HashBackup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 1 |
| First released | 2013 | 2009 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | CrashPlan |
What are borgmatic and HashBackup?
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
HashBackup
HashBackup is a command-line backup program for Unix-like systems that performs deduplicated, compressed, and encrypted backups to local or remote destinations. It supports retention policies, selective restore, and many storage targets.
- Deduplication and compression
- Encrypted backups
- Many remote destinations
- Flexible retention
borgmatic vs HashBackup: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus MIT for HashBackup. Borgmatic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for HashBackup. HashBackup is the more established project (first released 2009), while borgmatic arrived in 2013. Borgmatic has the considerably larger community, at 2,000 GitHub stars versus 1. Borgmatic lists first-class Docker deployment; HashBackup 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 HashBackup if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Watch out for
- Command-line only
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or HashBackup 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 HashBackup free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and HashBackup under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and HashBackup with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. HashBackup: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, borgmatic or HashBackup?
borgmatic has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for HashBackup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.