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Backup · head to head

Borg Backup vs Longhorn

Borg Backup logo

Borg Backup

Backup

Deduplicating archiver with compression and encryption

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Longhorn logo

Longhorn

Cloud

Open source distributed block storage for Kubernetes, incubating at the CNCF

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Borg Backup linux, macOS and BSD only; Windows is not a supported platform; Longhorn there is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • They diverge on capability: Borg Backup covers Content-defined chunking, Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Borg Backup and Longhorn actually diverge.

Attributes where Borg Backup and Longhorn differ
AttributeBorg BackupLonghorn
Pricing modelfreeOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, MacLinux, Kubernetes
CategoryBackupCloud
Founded2015Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Borg Backup

  • Content-defined chunking
  • Deduplication
  • Compression
  • Authenticated encryption
  • Pruning
  • Mount archives
  • SSH
  • BorgBase

Only in Longhorn

  • Per-volume controllers
  • Synchronous replication
  • Snapshots and backups
  • Volume expansion
  • Disaster recovery volumes
  • Web interface

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Borg Backup

  • Deduplicated backups where daily full snapshots would otherwise be expensivenot Longhorn
  • Encrypted backup to a server you do not fully trust, since the server never sees plaintextnot Longhorn
  • Browsing previous versions by mounting an archive over FUSEnot Longhorn
  • Scripted server backups with no agent or daemon to runnot Longhorn

Longhorn

  • An on-premises Kubernetes cluster with local disks and no SAN that needs replicated persistent volumesnot Borg Backup
  • Edge sites where shipping a storage array is impractical and three nodes is the whole clusternot Borg Backup
  • A K3s deployment where the storage layer must be light enough to run alongside the workloadsnot Borg Backup
  • A team that wants snapshots and S3 backups of persistent volumes without paying per-node storage licencesnot Borg Backup

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Borg Backup

  • Linux, macOS and BSD only; Windows is not a supported platform
  • Command-line only, with no graphical interface in the project itself
  • Version 2.0 is still in beta, so production use means staying on the 1.4 line
  • Restoring requires the Borg tooling, since archives are a deduplicated chunk store rather than plain files

Longhorn

  • There is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • Synchronous replication across nodes means write latency depends on the slowest replica and the network between nodes, which makes it a poor fit for latency-sensitive databases.
  • Every replica is a full copy, so three-way replication consumes three times the raw capacity, unlike erasure-coded systems that are far more space efficient.
  • It is designed for block storage on modest clusters and does not scale to the node counts or throughput that Ceph or a commercial array handles, so growth eventually forces a migration.
  • Recovery from certain degraded states, such as a volume stuck detaching or replicas failing to rebuild, requires manual intervention and knowledge of Longhorn internals that is not widely held.

Pricing, plan by plan

Borg Backup

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Deduplication
    • Compression
    • Encryption

Longhorn

Free
  • LonghornFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed, no licence fee
    • Community support via GitHub and Slack only
    • No vendor SLA or escalation path

Which should you pick?

Choose Borg Backup if

  • You need content-defined chunking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac.
  • You also want deduplication.
Borg Backup review

Choose Longhorn if

  • You need per-volume controllers.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Kubernetes.
  • You also want synchronous replication.
Longhorn review

Questions people ask

Is Borg Backup or Longhorn better?
Neither clearly leads. Borg Backup starts at Free and Longhorn at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Borg Backup or Longhorn?
Borg Backup starts at Free and Longhorn at Free.
Does Borg Backup or Longhorn run on more platforms?
Borg Backup runs on Linux, Mac. Longhorn runs on Linux, Kubernetes.
Can I use Borg Backup for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Borg Backup best used for?
Borg Backup is most often used for deduplicated backups where daily full snapshots would otherwise be expensive, encrypted backup to a server you do not fully trust, since the server never sees plaintext, browsing previous versions by mounting an archive over fuse, scripted server backups with no agent or daemon to run. Of those, deduplicated backups where daily full snapshots would otherwise be expensive and encrypted backup to a server you do not fully trust, since the server never sees plaintext are not what Longhorn is typically brought in for.
What can Borg Backup do that Longhorn cannot?
Borg Backup covers Content-defined chunking, Deduplication, Compression, Authenticated encryption. Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers, Synchronous replication, Snapshots and backups, Volume expansion.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Borg Backup: What is the cost of BorgBackup?

BorgBackup is completely free and open source under the BSD license with no mandatory costs for the core software.

Source
Longhorn: Who do we call when it breaks?

Nobody, unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime, which includes commercial support for Longhorn. This is the decisive question for production use.

Borg Backup: Are there paid services available for BorgBackup?

Yes, optional third-party services are available: BorgBase for specialized Borg repository hosting, Hetzner Storage Box with Borg support, and rsync.net cloud storage integration.

Source
Longhorn: How much capacity does replication cost?

Full copies, so three replicas means three times the raw capacity. Budget accordingly rather than assuming erasure coding efficiency.

Borg Backup: How can I support the BorgBackup project?

BorgBackup accepts voluntary contributions through Open Collective, GitHub Sponsors, Liberapay, and PayPal, though donations are optional.

Source
Longhorn: Is it suitable for production databases?

For modest workloads yes, but synchronous replication adds write latency and high-transaction databases usually want something faster.

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