borgmatic vs Rustic
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
Rustic
Fast encrypted deduplicated backup compatible with Restic
| Feature | borgmatic | Rustic |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Category | Backup & Recovery | Backup & Recovery |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,000 | ★ 3,273 |
| First released | 2013 | 2022 |
| Replaces | CrashPlan, Backblaze | Backblaze, CrashPlan |
What are borgmatic and Rustic?
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
Rustic
Rustic is a backup tool written in Rust that creates fast, encrypted, and deduplicated backups. It is fully compatible with Restic repositories while offering lower memory usage.
- Restic-compatible repositories
- Low memory footprint
- Cold storage support
borgmatic vs Rustic: key differences
Borgmatic is written in Python, while Rustic is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus Apache-2.0 for Rustic. Borgmatic is the more established project (first released 2013), while Rustic arrived in 2022. Borgmatic lists first-class Docker deployment; Rustic 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 Rustic if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Active community (3.3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is borgmatic or Rustic better?
Neither is universally better. Rustic has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are borgmatic and Rustic free and open-source?
Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Rustic under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run borgmatic and Rustic with Docker?
borgmatic: yes. Rustic: check the project docs for container support.