BorgBackup (Borg) is a deduplicating backup program. Optionally, it supports compression and authenticated encryption.
The main goal of Borg is to provide an efficient and secure way to backup data. The data deduplication technique used makes Borg suitable for daily backups since only changes are stored. The authenticated encryption technique makes it suitable for backups to not fully trusted targets.
All data can be protected using 256-bit AES encryption, data integrity and authenticity is verified using HMAC-SHA256. Data can be compressed with lz4, zstd, zlib, or lzma.
Borg runs at the command line. But this roundup explores front-ends to Borg which simplify making backups. We include both GUI and CLI software.
Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. The rating only reflects our views on the front-ends, not BorgBackup itself. Only free and open source software is included.
| Front-Ends to Borg Backup | |
|---|---|
| Vorta | Qt-based backup client |
| borgmatic | Simple command-line configuration-driven backup software |
| Pika Backup | GNOME app focused on backups of personal data |
| Emborg | Simple command line utility to orchestrate backups |
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