# Alternatives to Arq

Personal backup to your own cloud storage.

Arq ranks #5 of 12 in Backup software, with an Alt Score of 91. It is proprietary, sold as a one-time purchase from $49.99 one-time (per computer) and available on Windows and macOS. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/arq/
Category: Backup software

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Mac and Windows users (individuals and small organizations) who want full control over where their backups live and how they're encrypted, rather than using a vendor-managed backup service.
- **What you get**: Arq creates encrypted, versioned backups of your files to storage you choose and control, such as S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, SFTP servers, NAS devices, or external drives, including multiple destinations at once. It uses compression, deduplication, and block-level incremental backups to minimize storage and transfer costs, and keeps prior file versions so you can recover from accidental deletion, corruption, or ransomware. Data is encrypted end-to-end before it leaves your machine, and Arq's backup format is documented and open rather than proprietary.
- **How it works**: You install Arq, add one or more destinations (your own cloud storage or a local/network drive), and choose which folders to back up and on what schedule (e.g., hourly or daily). Arq then runs backups in the background and lets you browse and restore any file from any previous backup directly within the app.

## Profile

- **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Pricing model**: One-time (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Starts at**: $49.99 one-time (per computer) (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-11)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Duplicati](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/duplicati.md) | 100 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 2 | [Kopia](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/kopia.md) | 100 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [Duplicacy](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/duplicacy.md) | 96 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 4 | [Restic](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/restic.md) | 96 | BSD-2-Clause | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 5 | [Vorta](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/vorta.md) | 86 | GPL-3.0 | macOS, Linux |
| 6 | [IDrive](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/idrive.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 7 | [SpiderOak](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/spideroak.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 8 | [UrBackup](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/urbackup.md) | 82 | AGPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 9 | [Backblaze](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/backblaze.md) | 64 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS |
| 10 | [Carbonite](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/carbonite.md) | 42 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS |
| 11 | [Acronis](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/acronis.md) | 37 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Backup software checklist | Arq | Duplicati | Kopia | Duplicacy | Restic | Vorta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One-time | OSS + paid hosting | Free | Subscription | Free | Free |
| Starts at | $49.99 one-time (per computer) | $2/machine/month | ? | $20/year | ? | ? |
| License | Proprietary | MIT | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | macOS, Linux |
| Incremental backups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| E2E encryption | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deduplication | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud targets supported | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Local / NAS targets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Versioning & retention policies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Restore granularity | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Compression | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Arq. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Pricing model**: One-time — <https://www.arqbackup.com/pricing/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “App only — use your own cloud storage”
- **Starts at**: $49.99 one-time (per computer) — <https://www.arqbackup.com/pricing/> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “$49.99”
- **License**: Proprietary — <https://www.arqbackup.com/documentation/arq7/English.lproj/license.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “the Company grants to you an exclusive, non-transferable, revocable, fee-bearing, limited license (without the right to sublicense) to install, execute and use the Client Software solely: (i) in objec”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Arq® is backup software for your Mac or Windows PC.”
- **Status**: active — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Released 22 Jun 2026”
- **Incremental backups**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Efficient — compression, de-duplication, block-level incremental backup”
- **E2E encryption**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Arq backs up your files to a cloud account you already have, or attached disk, or both, with strong, end-to-end encryption so your data are only readable by you.”
- **Deduplication**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/documentation/arq7/English.lproj/dataFormat.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Arq 7 stores your backup data in de-duplicated, compressed, (optionally) encrypted, content-addressable form.”
- **Cloud targets supported**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Arq Backup integrates with many different cloud providers.”
- **Local / NAS targets**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “You can also back up to an SFTP server or an external drive or a NAS.”
- **Scheduling**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “back up hourly or daily”
- **Versioning & retention policies**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Versioned file backup — keeps multiple versions of your files; if you discover a file is corrupted, go back in time to get an earlier version”
- **Restore granularity**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/documentation/arq7/English.lproj/restore.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Select a file or folder on the right; then click the Restore button and choose the destination.”
- **Open source**: No — <https://www.arqbackup.com/documentation/arq7/English.lproj/license.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “the Company grants to you an exclusive, non-transferable, revocable, fee-bearing, limited license (without the right to sublicense) to install, execute and use the Client Software solely: (i) in objec”
- **Compression**: Yes — <https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Efficient — compression, de-duplication, block-level incremental backup”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/