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.
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.
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.
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.
Why people leave Arq
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Backup software checklist (14 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Backup software checklist | Arq | Duplicati | Kopia | Duplicacy | Restic | Vorta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Incremental backups | ||||||
| E2E encryption | ||||||
| Deduplication | ||||||
| Cloud targets supported | ||||||
| Local / NAS targets | ||||||
| Scheduling | ||||||
| Versioning & retention policies | ||||||
| Restore granularity | ||||||
| Open source | ||||||
| Compression |
Every fact and feature listed for Arq is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Pricing model One-time verified 2026-07-11
App only — use your own cloud storage
https://www.arqbackup.com/pricing/ -
Starts at $49.99 one-time (per computer) verified 2026-07-11
$49.99
https://www.arqbackup.com/pricing/ -
License Proprietary verified 2026-07-11
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
https://www.arqbackup.com/documentation/arq7/English.lproj/license.html -
Platforms Windows, macOS verified 2026-07-11
Arq® is backup software for your Mac or Windows PC.
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html -
Status active verified 2026-07-11
Released 22 Jun 2026
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html -
Incremental backups Yes verified 2026-07-11
Efficient — compression, de-duplication, block-level incremental backup
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html -
E2E encryption Yes verified 2026-07-11
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.
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html -
Deduplication Yes verified 2026-07-11
Arq 7 stores your backup data in de-duplicated, compressed, (optionally) encrypted, content-addressable form.
https://www.arqbackup.com/documentation/arq7/English.lproj/dataFormat.html -
Cloud targets supported Yes verified 2026-07-11
Arq Backup integrates with many different cloud providers.
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html -
Local / NAS targets Yes verified 2026-07-11
You can also back up to an SFTP server or an external drive or a NAS.
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html -
Scheduling Yes verified 2026-07-11
back up hourly or daily
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html -
Versioning & retention policies Yes verified 2026-07-11
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
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html -
Restore granularity Yes verified 2026-07-11
Select a file or folder on the right; then click the Restore button and choose the destination.
https://www.arqbackup.com/documentation/arq7/English.lproj/restore.html -
Open source No verified 2026-07-11
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
https://www.arqbackup.com/documentation/arq7/English.lproj/license.html -
Compression Yes verified 2026-07-11
Efficient — compression, de-duplication, block-level incremental backup
https://www.arqbackup.com/index.html
FAQ
Yes. Kopia, Restic and Vorta have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Duplicati, Kopia and Restic — every license claim links its source.