NAKIVO vs BorgBackup
A detailed comparison to help you choose between NAKIVO and BorgBackup.
Quick Verdict
3.9/5
NAKIVO
0 reviews
4.3/5
BorgBackup
0 reviews
BorgBackup is rated higher (4.3 vs 3.9). NAKIVO is a cost-effective backup and recovery solution for VMware, Hyper-V, Nutanix, and AWS. Instant VM recovery, site-to-site replication, and direct-to-cloud backups. More affordable than Veeam. 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.
NAKIVO VM and cloud backup for SMBs | BorgBackup Open source deduplicating backup — free self-hosted | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 3.9 (0 reviews) | 4.3 (0 reviews)✓ |
| Pricing model | freemium | free |
| Starting price | Free tier available | Free |
| Best for | Small and midsize virtualized environments that want enterprise-shaped backup — immutability, replication, site recovery — at transparent published prices without a reseller negotiation. | 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 tierteam features | free tieropen sourceself hostable |
| Visit NAKIVO → | Visit BorgBackup → | |
NAKIVO
Pros
- + Published list pricing — subscription from $1.95 per workload per month, perpetual from $229 per socket
- + Free Edition: 10 workloads plus 5 Microsoft 365 users free for one year with Pro-level features
- + Wide platform coverage including Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, EC2, physical machines, NAS, and Microsoft 365
- + Immutable storage and encryption in the core editions, not a top-tier add-on
- + Data stays in storage you control; NAKIVO itself holds no customer data
Cons
- - Free Edition expires after one year and limits backup targets to local folders or CIFS/NFS shares
- - Dense license matrix: replication, monitoring, M365, NAS, and Oracle priced as separate lines
- - Essentials editions cap at 6 sockets or 50 workloads per organization
- - Perpetual licenses include only one year of business-hours support; renewals add ongoing cost
- - Self-managed: you run the backup server, monitor jobs, and own the recovery process
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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