borgmatic vs Kopia
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
Kopia
Fast, encrypted backup with a clean interface
| Feature | borgmatic | Kopia |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 14,188 |
| First released | 2013 | 2019 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | Backblaze, Carbonite |
What are borgmatic and Kopia?
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
Kopia
Kopia is a fast and secure backup tool that creates encrypted, deduplicated snapshots and offers both a CLI and a desktop GUI. It targets users who want modern backups with a clean interface. It is deployed as a binary or via Docker.
- Encrypted deduplicated snapshots
- Both CLI and desktop GUI
- Many storage backends
- Compression and policies
borgmatic vs Kopia: key differences
Borgmatic is written in Python, while Kopia is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus Apache-2.0 for Kopia. Borgmatic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Kopia. Borgmatic is the more established project (first released 2013), while Kopia arrived in 2019. Kopia has the considerably larger community, at 14,188 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 Kopia if…
- GUI and CLI both available
- Fast and efficient
- Modern design
Watch out for
- Younger than Restic
- Advanced options can confuse
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or Kopia better?
Kopia 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 Kopia free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Kopia under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and Kopia with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. Kopia: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, borgmatic or Kopia?
borgmatic has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Kopia. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.