Borg Backup vs Macrium Reflect

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.

What people use each for

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

Where each one falls short

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

Pricing, plan by plan

Which should you pick?

Questions people ask

Is Borg Backup or Macrium Reflect better?

Neither clearly leads. Borg Backup starts at Free and Macrium Reflect at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Borg Backup or Macrium Reflect?

Borg Backup starts at Free and Macrium Reflect at Free.

Does Borg Backup or Macrium Reflect run on more platforms?

Borg Backup runs on Linux, Mac. Macrium Reflect runs on Windows.

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 Macrium Reflect is typically brought in for.

What can Borg Backup do that Macrium Reflect cannot?

Borg Backup covers Content-defined chunking, Deduplication, Compression, Authenticated encryption. Macrium Reflect covers Disk imaging, Rapid delta cloning, Rescue Media, Incremental backup.