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Backup · head to head

Clonezilla vs Longhorn

Clonezilla logo

Clonezilla

Backup

Free disk cloning and imaging solution

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Longhorn logo

Longhorn

Cloud

Open source distributed block storage for Kubernetes, incubating at the CNCF

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Clonezilla the destination partition must be equal to or larger than the source partition; Longhorn there is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • They diverge on capability: Clonezilla covers Disk/partition imaging, Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Clonezilla and Longhorn actually diverge.

Attributes where Clonezilla and Longhorn differ
AttributeClonezillaLonghorn
Pricing modelfreeOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, WindowsLinux, Kubernetes
CategoryBackupCloud
Founded2004Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Clonezilla

  • Disk/partition imaging
  • Disk cloning
  • Multicast deployment
  • Multiple file systems
  • Encryption support
  • Unattended mode
  • PXE boot
  • DRBL

Only in Longhorn

  • Per-volume controllers
  • Synchronous replication
  • Snapshots and backups
  • Volume expansion
  • Disaster recovery volumes
  • Web interface

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Clonezilla

  • System backup and cloningnot Longhorn
  • Disk imaging and restorationnot Longhorn
  • Mass deployment scenariosnot Longhorn
  • Enterprise-scale cloning operationsnot Longhorn

Longhorn

  • An on-premises Kubernetes cluster with local disks and no SAN that needs replicated persistent volumesnot Clonezilla
  • Edge sites where shipping a storage array is impractical and three nodes is the whole clusternot Clonezilla
  • A K3s deployment where the storage layer must be light enough to run alongside the workloadsnot Clonezilla
  • A team that wants snapshots and S3 backups of persistent volumes without paying per-node storage licencesnot Clonezilla

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Clonezilla

  • The destination partition must be equal to or larger than the source partition
  • Differential and incremental backup is not implemented
  • Online imaging and cloning is not implemented; the partition being imaged or cloned has to be unmounted first
  • The image format cannot be explored or mounted, so a single file cannot be recovered from an image
  • Recovery media spanning multiple CDs or DVDs is not implemented; the recovery ISO must fit on one disc
  • Clonezilla SE requires a DRBL server to be prepared in advance and the target machine to boot from the network
  • Runs only on x86 or x86-64 processors and needs at least 196 MB of RAM

Longhorn

  • There is no vendor and no SLA, so a production incident at three in the morning is your own problem unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime support separately.
  • Synchronous replication across nodes means write latency depends on the slowest replica and the network between nodes, which makes it a poor fit for latency-sensitive databases.
  • Every replica is a full copy, so three-way replication consumes three times the raw capacity, unlike erasure-coded systems that are far more space efficient.
  • It is designed for block storage on modest clusters and does not scale to the node counts or throughput that Ceph or a commercial array handles, so growth eventually forces a migration.
  • Recovery from certain degraded states, such as a volume stuck detaching or replicas failing to rebuild, requires manual intervention and knowledge of Longhorn internals that is not widely held.

Pricing, plan by plan

Clonezilla

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Disk cloning
    • Multicast
    • Multiple file systems

Longhorn

Free
  • LonghornFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed, no licence fee
    • Community support via GitHub and Slack only
    • No vendor SLA or escalation path

Which should you pick?

Choose Clonezilla if

  • You need disk/partition imaging.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows.
  • You also want disk cloning.
Clonezilla review

Choose Longhorn if

  • You need per-volume controllers.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Kubernetes.
  • You also want synchronous replication.
Longhorn review

Questions people ask

Is Clonezilla or Longhorn better?
Neither clearly leads. Clonezilla starts at Free and Longhorn at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Clonezilla or Longhorn?
Clonezilla starts at Free and Longhorn at Free.
Does Clonezilla or Longhorn run on more platforms?
Clonezilla runs on Linux, Windows. Longhorn runs on Linux, Kubernetes.
Can I use Clonezilla for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Clonezilla best used for?
Clonezilla is most often used for system backup and cloning, disk imaging and restoration, mass deployment scenarios, enterprise-scale cloning operations. Of those, system backup and cloning and disk imaging and restoration are not what Longhorn is typically brought in for.
What can Clonezilla do that Longhorn cannot?
Clonezilla covers Disk/partition imaging, Disk cloning, Multicast deployment, Multiple file systems. Longhorn covers Per-volume controllers, Synchronous replication, Snapshots and backups, Volume expansion.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Clonezilla: Is Clonezilla free?

Yes, Clonezilla is completely free and open-source software licensed under GNU General Public License version 2. There are no paid versions, premium features, or subscription costs.

Source
Longhorn: Who do we call when it breaks?

Nobody, unless you buy SUSE Rancher Prime, which includes commercial support for Longhorn. This is the decisive question for production use.

Clonezilla: What Clonezilla editions are available at no cost?

All three editions are free: Clonezilla Live for individual machine backups, Clonezilla Lite Server for mass deployment, and Clonezilla SE for large-scale enterprise cloning operations.

Source
Longhorn: How much capacity does replication cost?

Full copies, so three replicas means three times the raw capacity. Budget accordingly rather than assuming erasure coding efficiency.

Clonezilla: Can I use Clonezilla commercially?

Yes, Clonezilla's GPL v2 license allows free commercial use. The software is open-source and requires no licensing fees for any deployment scenario.

Longhorn: Is it suitable for production databases?

For modest workloads yes, but synchronous replication adds write latency and high-transaction databases usually want something faster.

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