Alternatives to BorgBackup

A deduplicating archiver for Linux, macOS and BSD that makes daily backups cost almost nothing beyond the day’s changes. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as BorgBackup.

  • restic

    A single-executable backup program that makes encrypted, deduplicated snapshots and can send them almost anywhere.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    restic is a single BSD-licensed binary with native Windows support and backends including S3, Backblaze B2, Azure and Google Cloud Storage.

  • Kopia

    An encrypted snapshot backup tool with both a command line and a proper desktop app, pointed at whatever storage you choose.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    Kopia adds a desktop app alongside its CLI, runs natively on Windows, and offers per-directory retention policies with encryption and deduplication.

  • rustic

    Create encrypted, deduplicated backups in restic-compatible repositories.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    rustic creates encrypted deduplicated backups in restic-compatible repositories on Windows, macOS and Linux, but is younger than restic.

  • Duplicacy

    A deduplicating cloud backup tool whose lock-free design lets several machines share one storage bucket.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinux

    Duplicacy lets several machines share one deduplicated cloud bucket without a server, but its licence is not open source and the GUI is paid.

  • Duplicati

    A backup client with a web interface that encrypts your files and pushes them to more than twenty cloud services.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Duplicati is MIT-licensed with a web interface and scheduler, encrypting backups to many cloud services, including on Windows.

  • Duplicity

    Encrypted, bandwidth-efficient incremental backup to remote storage.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinuxCommand line

    Duplicity encrypts and signs incremental backups to many remote back ends, but long incremental chains make restores slow and fragile.

  • rdiff-backup

    Reverse incremental backup that keeps the newest copy as a plain mirror.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    rdiff-backup keeps the newest copy as a plain mirror with reverse deltas, but has no client-side encryption or deduplication.

  • rsnapshot

    Filesystem snapshot backups using rsync and hard links.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinuxCommand line

    rsnapshot keeps browsable rsync hard-link snapshots on Linux and macOS, without encryption, compression or deduplication of its own.

Also worth comparing

These listings name BorgBackup as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • Arq

    Encrypted backup software for Mac and Windows that stores backups in your own cloud account or disk.

    PaidProprietaryWindowsmacOS

    BorgBackup is free open source deduplicating command-line backup for Linux and macOS over SSH, without a native Windows build or graphical interface.

  • bup

    Command-line backup system built on the git packfile format with deduplication and fast incremental saves.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinuxCommand line

    BorgBackup adds authenticated AES encryption, a choice of compression levels and FUSE-mounted archives, and it backs up over SSH with no daemon under BSD-2-Clause.

  • Disk ARchive (dar)

    Command-line archiver and backup tool with compression, encryption and differential archives.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    BorgBackup replaces differential archives with deduplicated, encrypted repositories reached over SSH, runs on Linux, macOS and BSD, and archives can be mounted with FUSE.

  • Pika Backup

    A GNOME front end for BorgBackup: plug in a USB drive, pick folders, and it handles the rest.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    BorgBackup is the engine Pika uses, run directly from the command line with full retention and pruning options but no graphical interface or scheduler.

  • Plakar

    An open-source encrypted, deduplicating backup tool with snapshots and a web interface for browsing restores.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxSelf-hostedCommand line

    BorgBackup is a more established deduplicating archiver working over SSH, with FUSE-mountable archives, but it is command line only and primarily a Unix tool.

  • Synology Hyper Backup

    Backup app for Synology NAS systems with scheduling, versioning and many local and cloud destinations.

    FreeProprietarySelf-hosted

    BorgBackup is free and open source, making encrypted deduplicated archives over SSH on Linux, macOS and BSD, but it is command line only without built-in scheduling.

  • Tarsnap

    A command-line online backup service for Unix-like systems with client-side encryption and block-level deduplication.

    PaidProprietarymacOSLinuxCommand line

    BorgBackup is free and open source under BSD-2-Clause, encrypting deduplicated archives sent over SSH to storage you control rather than to a single hosted service.

  • Vorta

    A desktop front end for BorgBackup, so encrypted deduplicated backups stop being a cron job.

    FreeOpen sourcemacOSLinux

    BorgBackup is the upstream engine Vorta wraps, giving full control through the command line, but you lose the desktop app and must arrange scheduling yourself.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.