# rsync.net vs BorgBase

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/rsync-net-vs-borgbase/

Every value below is read from rsync.net's and BorgBase's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | rsync.net | BorgBase |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Entry paid plan | No plan fee. The floor is an 800 GB minimum order at 1.5 cents per GB per month; the page states the minimum and the rate separately and does not multiply them out. | $2 a month, sold as $24 a year billed annually for the Small plan, which includes 250 GB and 10 repositories. |
| Pricing model | Per gigabyte held, per month, tiered by total volume with no contract. The same features are offered at every tier and at every location — what a larger commitment buys is a lower rate, longer snapshot retention, physical media shipment and integration engineering, not a different product. | Per gigabyte stored AFTER compression and deduplication, which is the distinction from every other per-GB vendor here: Borg deduplicates client-side, so the billed quantity is smaller than the data protected and there is no separate charge for the transfer that produced it. |
| Egress over allowance | None. Restoring is not charged for, which is the difference that matters in this category: a backup you cannot afford to read is not a backup. | None. Neither API calls nor data transfer are charged for, so a restore costs only the time. |
| Storage price | 1.5 cents per GB per month up to 9 TB, falling to 1.25 cents from 10 TB and 0.75 cents from 100 TB. Priced in cents rather than dollars, which is the unit the page uses throughout. | $0.01 per GB per month beyond the 250 GB included on Small, falling to $7 per TB per month on Medium — the same unit quoted two ways, which works out cheaper per gigabyte on the larger plan. |

## Where they differ

### Entry paid plan

- rsync.net: No plan fee. The floor is an 800 GB minimum order at 1.5 cents per GB per month; the page states the minimum and the rate separately and does not multiply them out. ([source](https://www.rsync.net/pricing.html))
- BorgBase: $2 a month, sold as $24 a year billed annually for the Small plan, which includes 250 GB and 10 repositories. ([source](https://www.borgbase.com/))

### Pricing model

- rsync.net: Per gigabyte held, per month, tiered by total volume with no contract. The same features are offered at every tier and at every location — what a larger commitment buys is a lower rate, longer snapshot retention, physical media shipment and integration engineering, not a different product. ([source](https://www.rsync.net/pricing.html))
- BorgBase: Per gigabyte stored AFTER compression and deduplication, which is the distinction from every other per-GB vendor here: Borg deduplicates client-side, so the billed quantity is smaller than the data protected and there is no separate charge for the transfer that produced it. ([source](https://www.borgbase.com/))

### Egress over allowance

- rsync.net: None. Restoring is not charged for, which is the difference that matters in this category: a backup you cannot afford to read is not a backup. ([source](https://www.rsync.net/pricing.html))
- BorgBase: None. Neither API calls nor data transfer are charged for, so a restore costs only the time. ([source](https://www.borgbase.com/))

### Storage price

- rsync.net: 1.5 cents per GB per month up to 9 TB, falling to 1.25 cents from 10 TB and 0.75 cents from 100 TB. Priced in cents rather than dollars, which is the unit the page uses throughout. ([source](https://www.rsync.net/pricing.html))
- BorgBase: $0.01 per GB per month beyond the 250 GB included on Small, falling to $7 per TB per month on Medium — the same unit quoted two ways, which works out cheaper per gigabyte on the larger plan. ([source](https://www.borgbase.com/))

## Which should you choose?

Pick rsync.net if Holding a lot of data cheaply and reading it back for nothing: 1.5 cents per GB a month, falling to 0.75 cents above 100 TB, with no egress charge on a restore and unlimited email and phone support at every size.

Pick BorgBase if Paying for what survives compression and deduplication rather than for what you sent. Borg deduplicates client-side under a key BorgBase never holds, so the bill and the blast radius of a breach are both smaller than the data being protected.

Consider something else: rsync.net — You have less than 800 GB to protect. The minimum order is a floor rather than a discount threshold, so a small estate pays for capacity it is not using — BorgBase starts at $2 a month and gives 10 GB away.

Consider something else: BorgBase — You are not running Borg or Restic. The product is hosting for those two tools, so anything that speaks neither — a managed database, a SaaS export, an S3 bucket — needs a service that connects to it directly rather than a repository to push into.

## Documented by only one

- Free tier: BorgBase: Yes
- What the free plan includes: BorgBase: 10 GB across 2 repositories, free forever rather than a trial, with no API or data transfer charges on top.
- Regions: BorgBase: EU and US, and a single account can hold repositories in both at once rather than choosing one at signup.
- Backup retention: rsync.net: 7 daily snapshots below 10 TB, and 7 days plus 4 weeks above it. Snapshots are taken and held by rsync.net rather than scheduled by the customer, though the page says every account can set a custom schedule.
- Multi-factor authentication: BorgBase: Supported
- Support on entry paid plan: rsync.net: Unlimited email and phone support on every tier, with a 24/7 hotline added above 100 TB. Support is not a paid add-on at any volume.
- SOC 2: rsync.net: Not SOC 2. Both US locations — San Diego and Denver — are SSAE16 certified with zero exceptions as of May 2015, SSAE16 being the older attestation standard SOC 1 reports are issued under. The company says the certification is not relevant outside the US and holds its Hong Kong and Zurich sites to the same standards without it. Full compliance reports are available, as are in-person datacentre visits.
- HIPAA: rsync.net: Yes, and they will sign a Business Associate Agreement — the thing that actually matters, since HIPAA obligations flow to the vendor only through a BAA. They also document a Massachusetts 201 CMR 17 data security plan, and publish a separate full HIPAA Compliance Statement.
- GDPR / data residency: rsync.net: Absolute by location: data never leaves the geographic location chosen at signup, and the page names Zurich specifically — choose it and not one bit of data leaves Switzerland. Account contact and payment details are held only by full-time employees and shared with nobody, the company having no partners, affiliates or parent.
- PCI DSS: rsync.net: Updated quarterly, with overall and site-specific documentation supplied on request. The page is unusually blunt about it — it dismisses the standard as worthless before confirming they maintain it anyway, on the grounds that customers still have reporting requirements to meet.
- Customer-managed keys: BorgBase: Yes, and not optionally: Borg encrypts client-side with a key BorgBase never holds, so the provider cannot read a repository it stores.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: rsync.net or BorgBase?**

rsync.net: No plan fee. The floor is an 800 GB minimum order at 1.5 cents per GB per month; the page states the minimum and the rate separately and does not multiply them out.
BorgBase: $2 a month, sold as $24 a year billed annually for the Small plan, which includes 250 GB and 10 repositories.

**Egress over allowance: rsync.net or BorgBase?**

rsync.net: None. Restoring is not charged for, which is the difference that matters in this category: a backup you cannot afford to read is not a backup.
BorgBase: None. Neither API calls nor data transfer are charged for, so a restore costs only the time.

**Should I choose rsync.net or BorgBase?**

Pick rsync.net if Holding a lot of data cheaply and reading it back for nothing: 1.5 cents per GB a month, falling to 0.75 cents above 100 TB, with no egress charge on a restore and unlimited email and phone support at every size.
Pick BorgBase if Paying for what survives compression and deduplication rather than for what you sent. Borg deduplicates client-side under a key BorgBase never holds, so the bill and the blast radius of a breach are both smaller than the data being protected.