# Alternatives to UrBackup

Self-hosted image and file backup server.

UrBackup ranks #8 of 12 in Backup software, with an Alt Score of 82. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0, free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

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

## Where UrBackup stands out

- **Open source** — 5 of 12 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: IT admins and small-to-medium organizations that need centralized, unattended backup of multiple Windows and Linux machines from one server, as well as individuals who want free open-source network backup for a home lab.
- **What you get**: Combined file and full disk image backups with automatic incremental updates after the first run, plus cross-client deduplication so identical files are only stored once. A browser-based web interface handles server configuration, client monitoring, and file/folder restores. A bootable restore CD/USB enables bare-metal recovery of a full disk image without a working OS.
- **How it works**: Install the UrBackup server, then install the lightweight client on each machine to be protected; clients on the local network are auto-discovered and register with the server. The server pulls scheduled (or continuous, change-triggered) file and image backups from each client over the network, and restores are done either through the web UI for files or by booting the restore CD/USB for a full image recovery.

## Profile

- **License**: AGPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-11)
- **Starts at**: ?
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux
- **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 | [Arq](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/arq.md) | 91 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS |
| 6 | [Vorta](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/vorta.md) | 86 | GPL-3.0 | macOS, Linux |
| 7 | [IDrive](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/idrive.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 8 | [SpiderOak](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/spideroak.md) | 82 | Proprietary | 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 | UrBackup | Duplicati | Kopia | Duplicacy | Restic | Arq |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | OSS + paid hosting | Free | Subscription | Free | One-time |
| Starts at | ? | $2/machine/month | ? | $20/year | ? | $49.99 one-time (per computer) |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary | BSD-2-Clause | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS |
| Incremental backups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| E2E encryption | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deduplication | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud targets supported | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
| Compression | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

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

- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — <https://www.urbackup.org/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “UrBackup server currently runs on Windows, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and several Linux based NAS operating systems. The UrBackup client runs on Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux.”
- **Status**: active — <https://github.com/uroni/urbackup_backend/releases/tag/2.5.37> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Release 2.5.37”
- **License**: AGPL-3.0 — <https://github.com/uroni/urbackup_backend/blob/dev/COPYING> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE”
- **Pricing model**: Free — <https://www.urbackup.org/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “UrBackup is Free Open Source software licensed under the OSI certified AGPLv3+”
- **Incremental backups**: Yes — <https://www.urbackup.org/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “UrBackup also continuously watches folders you want backed up in order to quickly find differences to previous backups. Because of that, incremental file backups are really fast.”
- **E2E encryption**: No — <https://www.urbackup.org/administration_manual.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “The transfer of data from client to server is unencrypted on the local network allowing eavesdropping attacks to recover contents of the data that is backed up.”
- **Deduplication**: Yes — <https://www.urbackup.org/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “If multiple clients have the same files the UrBackup server saves them only once, leading to reduced storage requirements.”
- **Cloud targets supported**: No — <https://www.urbackup.org/administration_manual.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “It should be easily extendable, which can be done by using a hardware raid, the volume manager LVM or the next generation file systems btrfs and ZFS.”
- **Local / NAS targets**: Yes — <https://www.urbackup.org/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “UrBackup server currently runs on Windows, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD and several Linux based NAS operating systems.”
- **Scheduling**: Yes — <https://www.urbackup.org/administration_manual.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “The server will only start backing up clients within the backup windows.”
- **Versioning & retention policies**: Yes — <https://www.urbackup.org/administration_manual.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Maximal number of incremental file backups for this client. If the number of incremental file backups exceeds this number the server will start deleting old incremental file backups.”
- **Restore granularity**: Yes — <https://www.urbackup.org/administration_manual.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “allows the user to browse all backups of the client(s) via the UrBackup web interface and download individual files or whole directories as ZIP”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://www.urbackup.org/index.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “UrBackup is Free Open Source software licensed under the OSI certified AGPLv3+”
- **Compression**: Yes — <https://www.urbackup.org/administration_manual.html> (verified 2026-07-11)
  - Quote: “Since UrBackup Server 1.4 the VHD-files are compressed by default.”

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