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Backup & Disaster Recovery · head to head

Restic vs Borg Backup

Restic logo

Restic

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Fast, secure, and efficient backup program

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Borg Backup logo

Borg Backup

Backup & Disaster Recovery

Deduplicating archiver with compression and encryption

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Restic cold storage is not natively supported; restoring from S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive is only available as an experimental feature behind a feature flag; Borg Backup linux, macOS and BSD only; Windows is not a supported platform
  • They diverge on capability: Restic covers Cryptographic verification, Borg Backup covers Compression.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Restic and Borg Backup differ
AttributeResticBorg Backup
PlatformsWindows, Mac, LinuxLinux, Mac
Founded20142015

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Backup & Disaster Recovery).

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 Restic

  • Cryptographic verification
  • Encryption
  • Multiple backends
  • Snapshot management
  • AWS S3
  • Azure
  • Google Cloud
  • Backblaze B2

Only in Borg Backup

  • Compression
  • Authenticated encryption
  • Pruning
  • Mount archives
  • SSH
  • BorgBase
  • rsync.net
  • Hetzner Storage Box

Both cover

  • Content-defined chunking
  • Deduplication
  • Mac support
  • Linux support

What people use each for

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

Restic

  • Encrypted deduplicated backups to S3, B2, SFTP and local disk from the command linenot Borg Backup
  • Scripted server backups with snapshot retention policiesnot Borg Backup

Borg Backup

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

Where each one falls short

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

Restic

  • Cold storage is not natively supported; restoring from S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive is only available as an experimental feature behind a feature flag
  • A Windows file whose name contains a character Windows treats as invalid cannot be read by restic and has to be renamed
  • Antivirus real-time protection degrades performance on Windows unless the restic binary is added to an exclusions list
  • On large repositories the built-in five minute stuck-request timeout fires during file listing and has to be raised manually with --stuck-request-timeout

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

Pricing, plan by plan

Restic

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Content-defined chunking
    • Encryption
    • Multiple backends

Borg Backup

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Deduplication
    • Compression
    • Encryption

Which should you pick?

Choose Restic if

  • You need cryptographic verification.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, Mac, Linux.
  • You also want encryption.
Restic review

Choose Borg Backup if

  • You need compression.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac.
  • You also want authenticated encryption.
Borg Backup review

Questions people ask

Is Restic or Borg Backup better?
Neither clearly leads. Restic starts at Free and Borg Backup at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Restic or Borg Backup?
Restic starts at Free and Borg Backup at Free.
Does Restic or Borg Backup run on more platforms?
Restic runs on Windows, Mac, Linux. Borg Backup runs on Linux, Mac.
Can I use Restic for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Restic best used for?
Restic is most often used for encrypted deduplicated backups to s3, b2, sftp and local disk from the command line, scripted server backups with snapshot retention policies. Of those, encrypted deduplicated backups to s3, b2, sftp and local disk from the command line and scripted server backups with snapshot retention policies are not what Borg Backup is typically brought in for.
What can Restic do that Borg Backup cannot?
Restic covers Cryptographic verification, Encryption, Multiple backends, Snapshot management. Borg Backup covers Compression, Authenticated encryption, Pruning, Mount archives. Both handle Content-defined chunking, Deduplication, Mac support, Linux support.
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