Restic vs BorgBase
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Restic and BorgBase.
Quick Verdict
4.3/5
Restic
0 reviews
4.1/5
BorgBase
0 reviews
Restic is rated higher (4.3 vs 4.1). Restic is a modern backup program that uses content-addressable storage, deduplication, and AES-256 encryption. Backs up to S3, B2, Google Cloud, SFTP, and more. No server required. BorgBase provides managed backup repositories specifically designed for BorgBackup and Restic. Append-only repos, alerting for missed backups, and EU/US storage options.
Restic Fast, secure, encrypted open source backup | BorgBase Managed backup repositories for BorgBackup and Restic | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.3 (0 reviews)✓ | 4.1 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | free | freemium |
| Starting price | Free | Free tier available |
| Best for | Developers and sysadmins who want encrypted, deduplicated off-site backups to any storage backend and are comfortable owning key management and operations. | Sysadmins, freelancers, and homelabbers running BorgBackup or Restic who want append-only offsite repositories with missed-backup alerting and honest per-GB billing. |
| 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 tiereu datacenterus datacenter |
| Visit Restic → | Visit BorgBase → | |
Restic
Pros
- + Free BSD-2-Clause software with no paid tier or usage caps
- + Client-side AES-256-CTR encryption with Poly1305 authentication is always on
- + Content-addressed deduplication: incremental backups and multi-machine repositories
- + Native support for S3, B2, GCS, Azure Blob, SFTP, and REST backends; rclone for the rest
- + Openly documented repository format — no vendor lock-in, portable repositories
Cons
- - No password recovery: lose the repository key and the data is gone
- - Command-line only — scheduling, monitoring, and alerting are external
- - Community support only; no SLA or paid support option
- - Repository maintenance (prune, check) requires operational discipline
- - Pre-1.0 version numbering; the API surface can still shift between releases
BorgBase
Pros
- + Purpose-built for BorgBackup and Restic with append-only mode and end-to-end encryption
- + Free forever tier: 10 GB across 2 repositories with no card and no transfer charges
- + Billed after compression and deduplication; restores and API calls are free
- + Stale-backup alerting (email, Pushover, webhook), quotas, and a full automation API
- + EU and US regions mixable per repository; supports Borg, Borgmatic, and its own Vorta GUI
Cons
- - Only supports Borg and Restic — no image backups, Windows agents, or S3-compatible access
- - No geographic redundancy by design (no backup of your backup) and no published SLA
- - Email-only support from a small company; large custom volumes are an email conversation
- - Requires comfort with command-line backup tooling and manual restore verification
- - Third-party price listings disagree with vendor pages — confirm at checkout
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