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Should I Use BorgBackup?

borgbackup.org·Analyzed 1 week ago··Based on 8 sources

Deduplicating backup program with compression and authenticated encryption. Free software, BSD licensed.

Verdict

Depends

A buy for Linux sysadmins and self-hosters who want free, deduplicated, encrypted backups and are comfortable in a terminal.

Confidence: Medium

Not for non-technical users or anyone needing vendor support, hosting, or a polished GUI.

Free, powerful CLI backup with dedup and encryption — great for Linux sysadmins; skip if you want point-and-click.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 8

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free and BSD-licensed, no paid tiers
  • Ease of use. No direct usability evidence reviewed
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Dedup, compression, authenticated encryption built in
  • Support quality: 3/5. Community-backed only, donation-funded project
  • Security posture: 4/5. Authenticated encryption; no issues in sources
  • $0 Starting price Free, BSD-licensed open source
  • Yes Free tier Entire product is free software
  • 872 Homebrew installs Dec 2020 snapshot
  • awesome-sysadmin Featured in Curated FOSS sysadmin catalog

Pricing

BorgBackup

$0

  • Deduplicating archiver
  • Compression
  • Authenticated encryption
Best for and not for

Best for

  • Linux sysadmins
  • Self-hosters and homelabbers
  • Encrypted NAS and offsite backups
  • Cost-conscious teams okay with CLI

Not for

  • Non-technical users wanting one-click backups
  • Windows-first small offices
  • Teams needing vendor support contracts or SLAs
  • Buyers wanting a hosted, managed backup service

Biggest gotcha

  • mediumDIY support: no vendor, only community docs and forums.¹
  • mediumYou must provision and manage your own backup destination.⁴
  • mediumAutomation needs your own scripting and scheduling setup.⁵
  • lowNo security page found at monitor GitHub advisories yourself.²

Pros

  • Completely free, BSD-licensed software¹
  • Deduplication plus compression cuts storage costs¹
  • Authenticated encryption protects backups¹
  • Large, active open-source community behind it
  • Featured in curated awesome-sysadmin tool lists³

Cons

  • No commercial support; donation-funded via Open Collective¹
  • CLI-oriented; positioned as a sysadmin tool³
  • Linux-centric; little evidence of Windows-first use

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Recommended across sysadmin lists, Linux forums, and self-hosting podcasts, but the sources contain far more tagline echoes than detailed critiques.

Methodology

Based on ~35 public sources, mostly link aggregations and community mentions; few in-depth reviews or user testimonials found.

Sources

  1. BorgBackup official siteborgbackup.org
    official
  2. BorgBackup security page (none found)borgbackup.org
    security
  3. awesome-sysadmin listgithub.com
    review
  4. 4 Ways To Backup Linux Workstations Onto A Synology NASdanielrosehill.medium.com
    review
  5. My Approach To Ubuntu Desktop Backupsmedium.com
    review
  6. Self-Hosted podcast mentionsselfhosted.show
    review
  7. BorgBackup is a Feature-Rich and Efficient Data Backup Solutionmedevel.com
    review
  8. Brew Top Dec 2020 package statsgist.github.com
    news

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