borgmatic vs Restic Cron
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted backup & recovery options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
borgmatic
Simple configuration-driven frontend for BorgBackup
VS
Restic Cron
Containerized scheduled restic backup runner
| Feature | borgmatic | Restic Cron |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Python | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 702 |
| First released | 2013 | 2019 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | Backblaze |
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 Restic Cron if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Shell
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or Restic Cron better?
Neither is universally better. borgmatic has the larger community, while Restic Cron is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are borgmatic and Restic Cron free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Restic Cron under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and Restic Cron with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. Restic Cron: yes.