How does Borg Backup Server
compare to alternatives?
There are several open-source tools built around BorgBackup. Each takes a different approach — here's how Borg Backup Server compares to Vorta, BorgWarehouse, and Borg-UI.
At a glance
Four tools, four different approaches to BorgBackup management.
Borg Backup Server
Agent-based web platform for managing BorgBackup across unlimited servers. Agents pull work over HTTPS, push backups over append-only SSH. Supports Linux, macOS, and Windows clients.
Desktop GUI for BorgBackup on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Manages backups for a single machine with a native system tray application.
Web UI for managing Borg repositories on a single server. Focuses on repo provisioning and monitoring — not scheduling or restoring.
Web interface for running BorgBackup against SSH hosts. The server SSHs into each machine to execute borg commands remotely.
Feature-by-feature comparison
How each tool handles the key requirements of backup infrastructure management.
Borg Backup Server vs. Vorta
Vorta is a great desktop GUI for managing BorgBackup on a single machine. It's ideal for personal laptops and workstations, with a clean native interface and system tray integration.
Vorta runs on one computer and manages backups for that computer only. BBS manages backups across all your servers from a single dashboard.
Vorta backs up files and directories. BBS has native plugins for MySQL and PostgreSQL that handle dump, backup, and cleanup automatically.
Vorta is the right choice for personal desktop backups. BBS is built for managing backup infrastructure across servers, VMs, and containers.
Borg Backup Server vs. BorgWarehouse
BorgWarehouse is a web interface for managing Borg repositories on a single server. It handles repo provisioning and SSH key management, but doesn't schedule backups or perform restores.
BorgWarehouse manages repositories (create, delete, monitor disk usage). BBS does that plus scheduling, executing backups, retention, file restore, database plugins, S3 sync, and more.
BorgWarehouse doesn't schedule or run backups — clients must set up their own cron jobs. There's no file browsing or restore capability. BBS handles all of this from the web UI.
BorgWarehouse has a single admin login with no multi-user support, no role-based permissions, and no two-factor authentication.
Borg Backup Server vs. Borg-UI
Borg-UI is a web-based tool that SSHs into your machines to run borg commands remotely. It's the closest alternative to BBS in terms of scope, but uses a fundamentally different — and riskier — architecture.
Borg-UI requires SSH access to every managed server and stores the private keys in its database. Compromising the Borg-UI server gives an attacker SSH access to your entire infrastructure.
Borg-UI uses StrictHostKeyChecking=no for SSH connections, making it vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. BBS never SSHs into client machines at all.
Borg-UI needs direct SSH access to each machine, which means opening inbound ports or setting up tunnels. BBS agents initiate outbound HTTPS connections, working naturally behind any NAT or firewall.
Borg-UI handles file backups but has no database plugins, no S3 offsite replication, and no file-level restore from the web UI. BBS provides all of these out of the box.
Why choose Borg Backup Server?
The server never SSHs into your machines and holds no client credentials. Agents pull work over HTTPS and push backups over append-only SSH.
Scheduling, execution, retention, file restore, database plugins, S3 sync, email alerts, and remote storage — all managed from one web interface.
Agents work behind NAT, firewalls, and across cloud providers. No inbound ports, no tunnels, no VPN required.
Multi-user RBAC with 2FA, AES-256-GCM credential encryption, append-only repos, rate limiting, and OWASP-compliant web security.
See it for yourself
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