Why Backup Tools Matter More Than Ever in 2025

Let’s be real: if you’re running anything online—be it a cloud-hosted app, a Dockerized side project, or a VPS with your precious blog—backups are not optional. Ransomware, accidental rm -rf /, or just a botched update can nuke your data in seconds. And with the explosion of cheap VPSes, self-hosted services, and containerization, the “set it and forget it” backup tool is more important than ever.

But which tool should you trust with your digital life? In 2025, three names keep popping up: Duplicacy, Restic, and Borg. Each has its fanbase, quirks, and magic. Let’s break down how they work, how to get started fast, and which one fits your needs—whether you’re running a single VPS or orchestrating a fleet of Docker containers.

The Big Three: Duplicacy vs Restic vs Borg

All three are open-source, deduplicating, and support encrypted backups. But they have different philosophies and workflows. Here’s what you need to know:

Feature	Duplicacy	Restic	Borg
Deduplication	Global (across all backups)	Per-repository	Per-repository
Encryption	Built-in, strong	Built-in, strong	Built-in, strong
Cloud Storage Support	Excellent (S3, GDrive, Azure, B2, etc.)	Good (S3, B2, Azure, etc.)	Limited (SSH, SFTP, local, some cloud via rclone)
Speed	Fast, especially with many clients	Fast, but can slow with large repos	Very fast for local/SSH
Pruning/Retention	Flexible, simple	Flexible, simple	Flexible, but can be complex
Docker Support	Great (official images)	Great (official images)	Good (community images)
License	Proprietary for GUI, CLI is open source	Open source (BSD-2)	Open source (BSD)
Windows Support	Excellent	Good	Basic (WSL or Cygwin)

How Do They Work? Algorithms & Structure (Geek Mode!)

Deduplication: The Secret Sauce

• Duplicacy: Uses global deduplication—all clients backing up to the same storage share chunks, so you save space if you have similar data across servers. This is a killer feature for fleets of VPSes or Docker hosts.
• Restic & Borg: Deduplicate within each repository. If you back up two servers to the same repo, they’ll deduplicate, but if you use separate repos, no cross-deduplication.

Encryption

• All three encrypt data before it leaves your server. No plaintext in the cloud. Restic and Duplicacy use AES-GCM; Borg uses authenticated encryption (AES-CTR + HMAC).

Storage Backends

• Duplicacy: Swiss army knife—supports S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Azure, Dropbox, SFTP, WebDAV, local, and more.
• Restic: S3, B2, Azure, SFTP, REST server, local, and more.
• Borg: Local, SSH, SFTP. For cloud, you’ll need rclone or similar.

Repository Structure

• Duplicacy: Each backup is a “snapshot” in a global chunk store. Super efficient for many hosts.
• Restic: Each backup is a snapshot in a repo; chunks are shared within the repo.
• Borg: Each backup is an archive in a repo; chunks are shared within the repo.

Getting Started Fast: Practical Setup Examples

1. Duplicacy: Quick Start

Install Duplicacy CLI (free for personal use):

curl -L https://github.com/gilbertchen/duplicacy/releases/latest/download/duplicacy_linux_x64 -o /usr/local/bin/duplicacy
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/duplicacy

Initialize a backup to S3:

duplicacy init my-backup s3://my-bucket/path
duplicacy set -key s3_id -value <YOUR_AWS_KEY>
duplicacy set -key s3_secret -value <YOUR_AWS_SECRET>
duplicacy backup

Restore:

duplicacy restore -r latest

Prune old backups:

duplicacy prune -keep 0:180 -keep 7:30 -keep 1:7

Official docs: https://duplicacy.com/

2. Restic: Quick Start

Install Restic:

curl -L https://github.com/restic/restic/releases/latest/download/restic_1.0.0_linux_amd64.bz2 | bunzip2 > /usr/local/bin/restic
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/restic

Initialize a repo (local or S3):

export RESTIC_PASSWORD="supersecret"
restic -r s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/path init
restic -r s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/path backup /etc /home

Restore:

restic -r s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/path restore latest --target /restore

Prune old backups:

restic -r s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/path forget --prune --keep-daily 7 --keep-weekly 4 --keep-monthly 6

Official docs: https://restic.net/

3. Borg: Quick Start

Install Borg:

apt install borgbackup

Initialize a repo (local or SSH):

borg init --encryption=repokey-blake2 user@backuphost:/path/to/repo
borg create user@backuphost:/path/to/repo::mybackup-2025-06-01 /etc /home

Restore:

borg extract user@backuphost:/path/to/repo::mybackup-2025-06-01

Prune old backups:

borg prune -v --keep-daily=7 --keep-weekly=4 --keep-monthly=6 user@backuphost:/path/to/repo

Official docs: https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/

Docker? No Problem!

• Duplicacy: Official Docker image
• Restic: Official Docker image
• Borg: Community Docker image

Just mount your data and credentials as volumes and you’re good to go.

Real-World Cases: What Works, What Breaks

Positive Cases

• Duplicacy: A SaaS company with 50+ Docker hosts uses Duplicacy to back up all containers to a single S3 bucket. Thanks to global deduplication, their storage costs are 60% lower than with Restic or Borg. Setup is “fire and forget.”
• Restic: A solo developer backs up their VPS and laptop to Backblaze B2. Restic’s simple CLI and cross-platform support make it easy. Restores are fast, and the repo is portable.
• Borg: A small web agency uses Borg to back up client sites to a dedicated server via SSH. They love the speed and the “borg mount” feature to browse backups as a filesystem.

Negative Cases (and Fixes!)

• Duplicacy: Some users are annoyed by the CLI being open source but the GUI being paid. Also, the config syntax can be confusing at first. Tip: Stick to CLI for automation.
• Restic: Large repos (millions of files) can slow down prune/forget operations. Tip: Split into multiple repos if you have huge datasets.
• Borg: Cloud support is clunky (needs rclone or SSHFS). Tip: Use Borg for local or SSH backups; for cloud, consider Restic or Duplicacy.

Beginner Mistakes & Common Myths

• “I don’t need to test restores.” Wrong! Always test your restores. All tools can have silent failures (permissions, missing files, etc.).
• “Deduplication means I can delete source files right away.” Not always. Make sure your backup completed and is restorable before deleting originals.
• “Cloud is always safer.” Not if you misconfigure permissions or lose your encryption key. Store keys offline!
• “Borg is only for Linux.” Not true! Works on macOS, and with WSL/Cygwin on Windows.

Similar Tools & Alternatives

• Kopia: New kid on the block, cross-platform, deduplicating, fast, with a slick GUI.
• Duplicity: Older, supports incremental encrypted backups, but slower and less efficient than the big three.
• rsync: Classic, but no deduplication or encryption by default.

Interesting Facts & Non-Standard Usage

• Borg mount: You can mount any backup as a FUSE filesystem and browse it with your file manager. Super handy for “oops, I just need one file.”
• Restic + Cron: Restic is so script-friendly, you can automate backups and prunes with dead-simple cron jobs. Example:

0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/restic -r s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/path backup /home
0 4 * * * /usr/local/bin/restic -r s3:s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/path forget --prune --keep-daily 7

• Duplicacy’s copy command: Copy snapshots between storage backends (e.g., S3 to local disk) for extra redundancy.
• All three: Can be used for bare-metal restores if you script it right—great for disaster recovery automation.

Automation & Scripting: New Opportunities in 2025

• All three tools are scriptable and play well with CI/CD, Ansible, or your favorite automation stack.
• Combine with rclone for even more cloud backend options.
• Integrate with monitoring (e.g., Prometheus, Zabbix) by parsing backup logs and alerting on failures.
• Use in Kubernetes with sidecar containers for per-pod backups (Restic and Duplicacy are especially good here).

Stats & Performance: Real Numbers

• Duplicacy: With global deduplication, storage savings of 30-60% are common for fleets with similar data.
• Restic: Backup speeds of 100-300MB/s are typical on modern hardware; prune can be slow on huge repos.
• Borg: Local/SSH backups can saturate gigabit links; restores are fast, especially for single files.

Which Should You Use? Recommendations for 2025

• For fleets of servers, Docker hosts, or multi-tenant setups: Duplicacy wins for global deduplication and cloud support. Set it up once, save money, sleep well.
• For solo VPS, laptops, or cross-platform needs: Restic is simple, reliable, and easy to automate. Great community, fast development.
• For local/SSH backups, or if you want FUSE mounts: Borg is a beast. Super fast, great for on-prem or dedicated servers.

Still undecided? Try all three! They’re easy to install, and you’ll quickly see which workflow clicks for you.

Get Started: Where to Host Your Backups

• Need a reliable VPS? Order one here.
• Need a beefy dedicated server for your backup repo? Get a dedicated server.

And remember: the best backup is the one you actually test and automate. Don’t wait for disaster—pick a tool, set it up, and sleep better tonight.

Links to Official Projects

• Duplicacy
• Restic
• Borg

Happy backing up! 🚀

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