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Backup · head to head

Clumio vs Restic

Clumio logo

Clumio

Backup

Serverless AWS backup with published per-gigabyte rates and explicit restore charges

From
$0.01/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Restic logo

Restic

Backup

Fast, secure, and efficient backup program

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Restic has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Clumio restore is charged at $0.040 per GiB plus data transfer out, so recovering a hundred terabytes in an incident costs thousands of dollars on top of the storage fee, a bill nobody budgets for.; Restic cold storage is not natively supported; restoring from S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive is only available as an experimental feature behind a feature flag
  • They diverge on capability: Clumio covers Air-gapped backups, Restic covers Content-defined chunking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Clumio and Restic actually diverge.

Attributes where Clumio and Restic differ
AttributeClumioRestic
Starting price$0.01/monthFree
Pricing modelPer GiB-month protectedfree
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APIWindows, Mac, Linux
FoundedUnknown2014

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Backup).

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 Clumio

  • Air-gapped backups
  • Fifteen-minute recovery points
  • S3 SecureVault
  • Backtrack
  • Terraform provider
  • Compliance attestations

Only in Restic

  • Content-defined chunking
  • Cryptographic verification
  • Deduplication
  • Encryption
  • Multiple backends
  • Snapshot management
  • AWS S3
  • Azure

What people use each for

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

Clumio

  • An AWS-native company needing backups outside its own account so a compromised root credential cannot delete themnot Restic
  • A team that has to model recovery cost before an incident rather than discover it during onenot Restic
  • An organisation protecting billions of S3 objects where per-object charges dominate per-gigabyte chargesnot Restic
  • A regulated business needing SOC 2, HIPAA and PCI-DSS attested backup without running backup serversnot Restic

Restic

  • Encrypted deduplicated backups to S3, B2, SFTP and local disk from the command linenot Clumio
  • Scripted server backups with snapshot retention policiesnot Clumio

Where each one falls short

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

Clumio

  • Restore is charged at $0.040 per GiB plus data transfer out, so recovering a hundred terabytes in an incident costs thousands of dollars on top of the storage fee, a bill nobody budgets for.
  • Per-object charges of $1.50 per million managed objects per month mean estates with billions of small objects pay far more than a per-gigabyte estimate suggests.
  • The archive tier is cheaper to store but restores begin only after 24 to 48 hours, which is incompatible with most recovery time objectives, and early deletion inside six months incurs a fee.
  • It is an AWS product; Azure workloads are on the roadmap rather than shipping, so multi-cloud organisations still need a second backup platform.
  • The Commvault acquisition means Clumio now overlaps with Commvault own cloud protection, and buyers should ask directly how the two portfolios converge before signing multi-year terms.

Restic

  • Cold storage is not natively supported; restoring from S3 Glacier and S3 Glacier Deep Archive is only available as an experimental feature behind a feature flag
  • A Windows file whose name contains a character Windows treats as invalid cannot be read by restic and has to be renamed
  • Antivirus real-time protection degrades performance on Windows unless the restic binary is added to an exclusions list
  • On large repositories the built-in five minute stuck-request timeout fires during file listing and has to be raised manually with --stuck-request-timeout

Pricing, plan by plan

Clumio

$0.01/month
  • S3 SecureVault Standard$0.025/month
    • $0.025 per GiB-month plus $1.50 per million managed objects per month
    • Restores $0.040 per GiB instant access and $0.09 per GiB retrieved
    • $0.025 per 1,000 API requests, data transfer out charged separately
  • S3 SecureVault Archive$0.01/month
    • $0.010 per GiB-month plus $1.50 per million managed objects per month
    • Restores begin after 24 to 48 hours
    • $0.040 per GiB restored plus data transfer out
  • Backtrack$undefined/month
    • $1.50 per million managed objects-month, included free with SecureVault
    • $0.50 per million objects processed on restore
    • Metadata change tracking rather than full backup

Restic

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Content-defined chunking
    • Encryption
    • Multiple backends

Which should you pick?

Choose Clumio if

  • You need air-gapped backups.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want fifteen-minute recovery points.
Clumio review

Choose Restic if

  • You need content-defined chunking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, Mac, Linux.
  • You also want cryptographic verification.
Restic review

Questions people ask

Is Clumio or Restic better?
Neither clearly leads. Clumio starts at $0.01/month and Restic at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Clumio or Restic?
Restic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $0.01/month for Clumio and Free for Restic.
Does Clumio or Restic run on more platforms?
Clumio runs on Web, API. Restic runs on Windows, Mac, Linux.
Can I use Restic for free?
Yes. Restic has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Clumio starts at $0.01/month.
What is Clumio best used for?
Clumio is most often used for an aws-native company needing backups outside its own account so a compromised root credential cannot delete them, a team that has to model recovery cost before an incident rather than discover it during one, an organisation protecting billions of s3 objects where per-object charges dominate per-gigabyte charges, a regulated business needing soc 2, hipaa and pci-dss attested backup without running backup servers. Of those, an aws-native company needing backups outside its own account so a compromised root credential cannot delete them and a team that has to model recovery cost before an incident rather than discover it during one are not what Restic is typically brought in for.
What can Clumio do that Restic cannot?
Clumio covers Air-gapped backups, Fifteen-minute recovery points, S3 SecureVault, Backtrack. Restic covers Content-defined chunking, Cryptographic verification, Deduplication, Encryption.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Clumio: What does a restore cost?

$0.040 per GiB for instant access, $0.09 per GiB retrieved from archive, $0.025 per 1,000 API requests, plus AWS data transfer out. Model this before an incident.

Restic: How much does restic cost?

Restic is entirely free to use and completely open source. There are no subscription tiers, paid plans, or licensing costs.

Source
Clumio: Does it support Azure?

Not yet. Azure workloads are listed as on the roadmap. Today it is AWS, with some Google Cloud Storage coverage.

Clumio: Is it still Clumio after the Commvault acquisition?

Yes, sold as Clumio by Commvault with its own pricing page and product line, but ask about portfolio convergence on a multi-year deal.

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