SHSelfHostIndex

borgmatic vs Tarsnap GUI

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 TA Tarsnap GUI Cross-platform desktop front end for Tarsnap backups
FeatureborgmaticTarsnap GUI
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupRead-the-docs project
CategoryBackup & RecoveryBackup & Recovery
LicenseGPL-3.0BSD-2-Clause
LanguagePythonC++
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binarybinary, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 2,000★ 251
First released20132016
ReplacesCrashPlan, BackblazeBackblaze

What are borgmatic and Tarsnap GUI?

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

Tarsnap GUI

Tarsnap GUI is a cross-platform graphical client for the Tarsnap secure online backup service, making encrypted deduplicated backups accessible without the command line. It manages archives, scheduling, and restores through a desktop interface.

  • Tarsnap archive management
  • Scheduling support
  • Encrypted deduplicated backups
  • Cross-platform UI

borgmatic vs Tarsnap GUI: key differences

Borgmatic is written in Python, while Tarsnap GUI is built with C++. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for borgmatic versus BSD-2-Clause for Tarsnap GUI. Borgmatic is the more established project (first released 2013), while Tarsnap GUI arrived in 2016. Borgmatic has the considerably larger community, at 2,000 GitHub stars versus 251. Borgmatic lists first-class Docker deployment; Tarsnap GUI 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
borgmatic details

Choose Tarsnap GUI if…

  • Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in C++
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM

Watch out for

  • Tarsnap service is paid
  • Requires Tarsnap CLI
Tarsnap GUI details

Frequently asked questions

Is borgmatic or Tarsnap GUI better?

Neither is universally better. borgmatic has the larger community, while Tarsnap GUI is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are borgmatic and Tarsnap GUI free and open-source?

Yes. borgmatic is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Tarsnap GUI under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run borgmatic and Tarsnap GUI with Docker?

borgmatic: yes. Tarsnap GUI: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons