Restic vs Kopia vs BorgBackup: Best Backup Tool?

Quick Verdict

Restic is the best choice for most people — broad cloud backend support, strong deduplication, and the largest community. BorgBackup wins if storage efficiency is your top priority (best-in-class compression). Kopia is the best pick if you want a web UI or need a centralized repository server.

Overview

All three are open-source, deduplicated, encrypted backup tools. They solve the same core problem — creating reliable, space-efficient backups — but differ in philosophy, features, and ecosystem.

Aspect	Restic	Kopia	BorgBackup
Language	Go	Go	Python + C
First release	2015	2019	2015 (forked from Attic)
License	BSD-2	Apache-2.0	BSD-3
GitHub stars	27,000+	8,500+	11,500+
Approach	Cloud-first, multi-backend	Modern, UI-enabled	Compression-first, SSH-focused

Feature Comparison

Feature	Restic	Kopia	BorgBackup
Deduplication	Content-defined chunking	Content-defined chunking	Content-defined chunking
Compression	zstd (v0.16+)	zstd, gzip, s2	zstd, lz4, zlib, lzma
Encryption	AES-256 in CTR mode + Poly1305	AES-256-GCM or ChaCha20	AES-256-CTR + HMAC-SHA256
Web UI	No	Yes (built-in)	No
Repository server	Via rest-server (separate tool)	Built-in (kopia server)	Via borg serve
Cloud backends	S3, B2, Azure, GCS, SFTP, local, REST	S3, B2, Azure, GCS, SFTP, local, WebDAV	SFTP, local only (natively)
Rclone integration	Yes (40+ cloud providers)	No	Via rclone mount (workaround)
Snapshot browsing	restic mount (FUSE)	Web UI or kopia mount	borg mount (FUSE)
Parallel backup	Yes	Yes	No (single-threaded by default)
Pruning/retention	Time-based policies	Flexible policies	Time + count-based
Lock-free operations	No (uses locks)	Yes (optimistic concurrency)	No (uses locks)
Integrity verification	restic check	kopia snapshot verify	borg check
Docker image	Yes (official)	Yes (official)	Yes (community)

Cloud Storage Support

This is the biggest differentiator. If you want to back up to cloud storage, Restic and Kopia pull far ahead.

Backend	Restic	Kopia	BorgBackup
Local filesystem	Yes	Yes	Yes
SFTP/SSH	Yes	Yes	Yes
Amazon S3	Yes	Yes	No
Backblaze B2	Yes	Yes	No
Google Cloud Storage	Yes	Yes	No
Azure Blob	Yes	Yes	No
MinIO / S3-compatible	Yes	Yes	No
Wasabi	Yes	Yes	No
WebDAV	Via rclone	Yes	No
Rclone (40+ providers)	Yes	No	No (workaround)

BorgBackup limitation: Borg only supports local and SSH-based repositories natively. Backing up to S3 or B2 requires mounting via rclone or using BorgBase (managed hosting). This is by design — Borg optimizes for direct repository access.

Performance Comparison

Performance depends heavily on data characteristics, but general patterns:

Metric	Restic	Kopia	BorgBackup
Initial backup speed	Fast (parallel)	Fastest (parallel + modern chunking)	Medium (single-threaded)
Incremental backup speed	Fast	Fast	Fast
Deduplication ratio	Good (variable chunks)	Good (variable chunks)	Best (variable chunks + compression)
Storage efficiency	Good	Good	Best (superior compression options)
Memory usage	Moderate (100-500 MB)	Moderate (100-500 MB)	Higher (500 MB - 2 GB for large repos)
Repository overhead	~1-3%	~1-2%	~1-2%

Key insight: BorgBackup typically achieves 10-30% smaller repositories than Restic for the same data, thanks to its superior compression. Kopia falls between them, with zstd compression closing the gap against Borg.

Automation and Scheduling

Feature	Restic	Kopia	BorgBackup
Built-in scheduler	No	Yes (via server mode)	No
Recommended scheduler	cron / systemd timer	Built-in or cron	Borgmatic (wrapper)
Docker scheduling	Via cron in container	Via server or cron	Via Borgmatic
Pre/post backup hooks	Via wrapper scripts	Built-in actions	Via Borgmatic
Email notifications	Via wrapper scripts	Built-in (server mode)	Via Borgmatic

Restic and BorgBackup both need external scheduling. Borgmatic wraps BorgBackup with YAML-based configuration, scheduling, and monitoring hooks — making Borg much easier to automate.

Setup Complexity

Restic — Moderate

# Initialize repository
restic init --repo /path/to/backup

# Run backup
restic backup /data --repo /path/to/backup

# S3 example
restic init --repo s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket
restic backup /data --repo s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket

Kopia — Easiest

# Initialize repository (local)
kopia repository create filesystem --path /path/to/backup

# Or use the web UI
kopia server start --insecure --address 0.0.0.0:51515

# Run backup
kopia snapshot create /data

BorgBackup — Moderate (Easy with Borgmatic)

# Initialize repository
borg init --encryption=repokey /path/to/backup

# Run backup
borg create /path/to/backup::backup-{now} /data

# With Borgmatic (recommended)
borgmatic init
borgmatic

Use Cases

Choose Restic If…

• You want to back up to cloud storage (S3, B2, Wasabi)
• You need rclone integration for exotic backends
• You want the largest community and most documentation
• You prefer a simple, well-documented CLI
• You back up from multiple machines to a shared repository

Choose Kopia If…

• You want a web UI for managing backups
• You need a centralized repository server for multiple clients
• You want built-in scheduling without external tools
• You prefer modern, actively-developing software
• Lock-free operation matters (concurrent backups to same repo)

Choose BorgBackup If…

• Storage efficiency is your top priority
• You back up over SSH to a remote server or NAS
• You don’t need cloud storage backends
• You want the most mature, battle-tested deduplication
• You’re comfortable with Borgmatic for automation

Final Verdict

Use Case	Winner	Why
Cloud backup (S3/B2)	Restic	Most backends, rclone integration
NAS/SSH backup	BorgBackup	Best compression, proven reliability
GUI management	Kopia	Only one with built-in web UI
Multi-device backup	Kopia	Built-in repository server
Storage efficiency	BorgBackup	Best-in-class deduplication + compression
Community/ecosystem	Restic	Largest community, most documentation
Beginner-friendly	Kopia	Web UI, built-in scheduling

For a self-hosting setup backing up to Backblaze B2 or S3, Restic is the default recommendation. For local NAS backups where storage cost matters, BorgBackup with Borgmatic. For those who want the easiest experience with a visual interface, Kopia.

Related

• How to Self-Host Restic
• How to Self-Host BorgBackup
• How to Self-Host Kopia
• How to Self-Host Borgmatic
• Restic vs BorgBackup
• Kopia vs Restic
• Duplicati vs Restic
• Best Self-Hosted Backup Solutions
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to CrashPlan
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to Backblaze
• Backup Strategy