Duplicati vs BorgBackup
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Duplicati and BorgBackup.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
Duplicati
0 reviews
4.3/5
BorgBackup
0 reviews
BorgBackup is rated higher (4.3 vs 4.0). Duplicati is a free, open source backup client that stores encrypted, compressed backups to local drives or cloud storage (S3, B2, Google Drive, OneDrive, and more). Web-based UI. BorgBackup is a free, open source, deduplicating backup program for Linux/macOS with compression, encryption, and deduplication. Pairs with BorgBase for managed repository hosting. Our long-standing pick for self-hosters.
Duplicati Free open source backup to any cloud storage | BorgBackup Open source deduplicating backup — free self-hosted | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (0 reviews) | 4.3 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | free |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free |
| Best for | Home users and small businesses wanting free, encrypted, bring-your-own-storage backups with a GUI and a scriptable CLI | Technical users and self-hosters who want deduplicated, encrypted, versioned backups to storage they control, without per-gigabyte vendor fees |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ✓ | |
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ✓ | |
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ||
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen source | free tieropen sourceself hostable |
| Visit Duplicati → | Visit BorgBackup → | |
Duplicati
Pros
- + Client is completely free (MIT core) — you only pay your storage provider
- + Client-side AES-256/GPG encryption with keys that never leave your machine
- + Wide backend coverage: S3, B2, Azure, Google Drive, OneDrive, MEGA, Storj, WebDAV, SFTP, FTP and more
- + Incremental backups, deduplication, compression and scheduling keep storage costs low
- + Cheap tenant backup for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace at $0.50 per user per month
Cons
- - Local metadata database can desync after interrupted runs; repair on large sets is slow
- - Years of 2.x beta left a mixed reliability reputation that newer releases have had to overcome
- - Free-tier support is community-only (forum, GitHub issues); priority support is a paid console feature
- - Open-core split: parts of the repository (console stack) are under the company's license, not MIT
BorgBackup
Pros
- + Deduplication plus per-repo compression makes repeated backups far cheaper in storage than full-image schemes
- + Authenticated encryption with a documented untrusted-server model; append-only mode defends backup history against compromise
- + Free BSD-licensed software with a decade-long public track record and detailed on-disk format documentation
- + Runs against any filesystem or SSH target — no lock-in, no required vendor
- + Mature companion ecosystem: Borgmatic for config-driven runs, Vorta for desktop GUI, BorgBase for hosted repos
Cons
- - Command-line only with no official GUI; keyfile and retention semantics take real learning
- - No native S3/object-storage repository mode in 1.4.x — cloud-object workflows need rclone-style workarounds
- - File-level tool: consistent database or VM backups need hooks or snapshots; no bare-metal restore agents
- - Support is community-based unless you pay for consulting or a hosting provider's SLA
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