---
id: borgbackup
version: "1.4.5"
license: BSD-3-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# borgbackup — Deduplicated, encrypted, authenticated and compressed backups

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 76.5K/mo

## What it is and what it does

BorgBackup is a deduplicating backup program designed for efficient, secure storage of data. It splits files into variable-length chunks and stores only new chunks, making it suitable for frequent incremental backups even when files change partially. All data can be encrypted client-side with AES-256 and authenticated with HMAC-SHA256; deduplication works across machines, time, and file locations, so moving or modifying files does not break backup efficiency.

The tool is implemented with performance-critical operations in C/Cython and supports multiple compression algorithms (lz4, zstd, zlib, lzma). It can store backups locally or remotely over SSH, and archives can be mounted as user-space file systems for interactive recovery. The project is actively maintained, supports modern Python versions (3.10–3.14), and is licensed under BSD-3-Clause.

Use it for:

- Daily incremental backups of workstations or servers where only changed blocks are stored, reducing storage and bandwidth.
- Secure off-site backups to untrusted remote hosts using SSH with client-side encryption and authentication.
- Backup of virtual machines or raw disks where partial file changes are common and deduplication across versions saves space.
- Interactive backup recovery by mounting archives as file systems to browse and restore specific files without full extraction.
- Multi-machine backup consolidation to a shared repository where deduplication works across different hosts and backup runs.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

BorgBackup is a command-line deduplicating backup tool that stores only changed data using content-defined chunking, with optional compression and AES-256 encryption for secure, space-efficient backups.

Yes, with conditions. BorgBackup is worth installing if you need space-efficient, encrypted backups and can tolerate high install friction (compilation required). The active maintenance, strong security model (client-side encryption, HMAC authentication), and lack of known vulnerabilities make it reliable. However, expect compatibility breaks between major releases; review the changelog before upgrading and test recovery procedures in advance.

## Install

pip install borgbackup
uv add borgbackup
poetry add borgbackup

## Installing borgbackup

Before you install: High install friction: the package requires compilation (C/Cython components). Maintenance is active with recent releases (27 days since last), strong community engagement (13607 GitHub stars), and support for current Python versions (3.10–3.14).

License in practice: Licensed under BSD-3-Clause (permissive), allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; source code can be audited independently for security.

Quickstart:

pip install borgbackup
borg init -e repokey /path/to/repo
borg create /path/to/repo::backup-name ~/Documents

Requires C compiler and development headers for compilation during installation; Python >=3.10 required.

Verify before relying:

- Whether pre-built binaries are available for your platform to avoid compilation.
- Performance characteristics and resource usage for large-scale backup scenarios.
- Compatibility and migration path between major version releases (1.x to 2.x).

## Package facts

- License: BSD-3-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: high
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 76.5K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

deduplicating backup tool, encrypted backup software, incremental backup with deduplication, secure remote backups, command-line backup utility, space-efficient backup system, backup with compression and encryption, backup-and-recovery, encryption, deduplication

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/borgbackup) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/borgbackup/)