Comment by seymon

16 hours ago

Borg vs Restic vs Kopia ?

They are so similar in features. How do they compare? Which to choose?

Restic is the winner. It talks directly to many backends, is a static binary (so you can drop the executable in operating systems which don’t allow package installation like a NAS OS) and has a clean CLI. Kopia is a bit newer and less tested.

All three have a lot of commands to work with repositories. Each one of them is much better than closed source proprietary backup software that I have dealt with, like Synology hyperbackup nonsense.

If you want a better solution, the next level is ZFS.

  • Kopia is VERY similar to Restic, main differences is Kopia getting half decent UI vs Restic being a bit more friendly for scripting

    > If you want a better solution, the next level is ZFS.

    Not a backup. Not a bad choice for storage for backup server tho

  • I am already using zfs on my NAS where I want my backups to be. But I didn't consider it for backups till now

    • You can consider something like syncthing to get the important files onto your NAS, and then use ZFS snapshots and replication via syncoid/sanoid to do the actual backing up.

      2 replies →

I don't know about the other two but restic seems to have a very good author/maintainer. That is to say that he is very active in fixing problems, etc..

I use Borg since eight years and it has never let me down. Including a full 8TB disaster restore. It's super resilient to crashes.

When I tested Restic (eight years ago) it was super slow.

No opinion about Kopia, never heard of it.

  • Same here: my selection boiled down to Borg vs. Restic. I started with Restic because my friends used it and, while it was perfectly satisfactory functionally, found it unbearably slow with large backups. Changed to Borg and I've been happy everafter !

Kopia is awesome. With exception to it’s retention policies, but work like no other backup software that I’ve experienced to date. I don’t know if it’s just my stupidity, being stuck in 20 year thinking or just the fact it’s different. But for me, it feels like a footgun.

The fact that Kopia has a UI is awesome for non-technical users.

I migrated off restic due to memory usage, to Kopia. I am currently debating switching back to restic purely because of how retention works.

I picked Kopia when I needed something that worked on Windows and came with a GUI.

I was setting up PCs for unsophisticated users who needed to be able to do their own restores. Most OSS choices are only appropriate for technical users, and some like Borg are *nix-only.