dockpicks

Backup

Drive clones and offsite cloud backups to go beyond Time Machine.

5 apps, listed best first · prices checked October 2026

  1. Carbon Copy Cloner

    $49.99

    Flexible, scheduled backups and clones of your Mac's drives

    Backup and copying software for macOS that makes scheduled, incremental copies of your drives and folders to local or network disks. One license covers every Mac in your household for personal use.

    Our take The most capable local backup tool for people who want more control than Time Machine, such as backing up specific folders on a schedule. Overkill if Time Machine already does what you need.

    $49.99 one-time as of Oct 2026by Bombich Software

    Website

  2. Backblaze

    $9/mo

    Unlimited, set-and-forget cloud backup for one computer

    A cloud backup service with a native Mac app that continuously backs up your files to Backblaze's servers, with no storage limit.

    Our take The easiest way to add an offsite copy alongside Time Machine. You pay a flat fee per computer and do not have to choose what to back up.

    $9/month, or $189 for 2 years as of Oct 2026by Backblaze

    Website

  3. Arq

    $59.99

    Encrypted, versioned backups to the cloud storage you choose

    Backup software for Mac and Windows that makes encrypted, versioned backups to your own cloud account, an SFTP server, a NAS or an external drive. Arq Premium adds managed cloud storage.

    Our take A good fit for people who want offsite backups with end-to-end encryption and control over where data is stored. Setup takes more thought than Backblaze.

    $59.99 one-time; Premium $69.99/year as of Oct 2026by Haystack Software

    Website

  4. SuperDuper!

    Free tier

    Simple drive copies, free for full erase backups

    A backup tool that copies your whole drive to another disk. Full erase-and-copy backups are free; a license adds scheduling, Smart Update and unattended copies.

    Our take A straightforward way to keep a full copy of your drive with very few settings to understand. Less flexible than Carbon Copy Cloner.

    Free; license $43.95 one-time as of Oct 2026by Shirt Pocket

    Website

  5. ChronoSync

    $49.99

    Sync, backup and drive cloning in one toolkit

    A macOS toolkit for one-way and two-way folder sync, incremental backups to drives, network volumes and cloud services, and bootable clones of your startup drive.

    Our take Best for people who need to keep folders in sync between Macs or drives as well as back up. It has many options, so it takes longer to learn than the other tools here.

    $49.99 one-time as of Oct 2026by Econ Technologies

    Website
Compare all 5 side by side
AppPriceModelOpen sourceApp Store
Carbon Copy Cloner $49.99 Paid – –
Backblaze $9/mo Subscription – –
Arq $59.99 Paid – –
SuperDuper! Free tier Free tier – –
ChronoSync $49.99 Paid – –

Not sure which backup app to pick?

Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any AI assistant that can open links. It reads the list, asks about your Mac and budget, and suggests a short list.

Help me choose the right backup app for my Mac. Read https://dockpicks.com/backup/ and its plain-text version, https://dockpicks.com/backup.md. Ask me which Mac I have, what I use it for and my budget, then recommend a short list from that page with the free and paid trade-offs, and say if the tool built into macOS is enough.

Or open it in ChatGPTPerplexity