borgmatic vs Minarca 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
Minarca Backup
Centralized rdiff-backup with self-service restore
| Feature | borgmatic | Minarca Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 263 |
| First released | 2013 | 2016 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | CrashPlan, Veeam |
What are borgmatic and Minarca 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
Minarca Backup
Minarca is a centralized backup solution built on rdiff-backup that lets users back up multiple machines and restore their own files through a web interface. It is designed for organizations protecting many endpoints.
- Centralized endpoint backup
- Self-service restore
- rdiff-backup engine
- Web management
borgmatic vs Minarca Backup: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus AGPL-3.0 for Minarca Backup. Borgmatic is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Minarca Backup. Borgmatic is the more established project (first released 2013), while Minarca Backup arrived in 2016. Borgmatic has the considerably larger community, at 2,000 GitHub stars versus 263.
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 Minarca Backup if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or Minarca 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 Minarca Backup free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Minarca Backup under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and Minarca Backup with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. Minarca Backup: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, borgmatic or Minarca Backup?
borgmatic has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Minarca Backup. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.