borgmatic vs Obnam2
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
Obnam2
Simple, secure chunk-based backup program
| Feature | borgmatic | Obnam2 |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2013 | 2020 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | Backblaze |
What are borgmatic and Obnam2?
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
Obnam2
Obnam2 is a backup program that splits files into chunks for deduplicated, encrypted storage to a backup server. It is built with a focus on simplicity and verifiable correctness.
- Chunk-based deduplication
- Encrypted storage
- Backup server model
- Simplicity focused
borgmatic vs Obnam2: key differences
Borgmatic is written in Python, while Obnam2 is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus AGPL-3.0 for Obnam2. Borgmatic is the more established project (first released 2013), while Obnam2 arrived in 2020. Borgmatic has the considerably larger community, at 2,000 GitHub stars versus 200. Borgmatic lists first-class Docker deployment; Obnam2 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 Obnam2 if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or Obnam2 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 Obnam2 free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Obnam2 under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and Obnam2 with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. Obnam2: check the project docs for container support.