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File Storage · head to head

Duplicati vs DVC

Duplicati logo

Duplicati

File Storage

Free open-source backup with encryption

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
DVC logo

DVC

Machine Learning

Git-style versioning for data sets and models, with the files kept in object storage

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Duplicati no managed service or commercial support; DVC dVC knows only about files that were added through DVC, so one person copying data in by hand leaves a pipeline that reproduces to a different answer with no error and nothing to indicate which result is the real one.
  • They diverge on capability: Duplicati covers AES-256 encryption, DVC covers Pointer-file versioning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Duplicati and DVC actually diverge.

Attributes where Duplicati and DVC differ
AttributeDuplicatiDVC
Pricing modelUnknownopen-source
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxLinux, Mac, Windows
CategoryFile StorageMachine Learning
Founded20082018

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 Duplicati

  • AES-256 encryption
  • Incremental backup
  • Deduplication
  • Multiple cloud backends
  • Compression
  • Web interface
  • AWS S3
  • Azure

Only in DVC

  • Pointer-file versioning
  • Remote storage backends
  • Pipeline definitions
  • Stage caching
  • Experiment tracking
  • Metrics and plots comparison
  • Data registry pattern
  • Content-addressed cache

What people use each for

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

Duplicati

  • Data protectionnot DVC
  • Disaster recoverynot DVC
  • Business continuitynot DVC
  • Ransomware protectionnot DVC
  • Compliancenot DVC

DVC

  • Making a model reproducible by tying the exact data set version, code commit and parameters together in one Git historynot Duplicati
  • Keeping large training data out of Git while still having a repository that describes it preciselynot Duplicati
  • Skipping expensive preprocessing stages that have not changed, when iterating on a later stage of a pipelinenot Duplicati
  • Teams that need reproducibility but cannot get approval or budget to stand up a platform for itnot Duplicati

Where each one falls short

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

Duplicati

  • No managed service or commercial support
  • Relies on community support
  • No enterprise features

DVC

  • DVC knows only about files that were added through DVC, so one person copying data in by hand leaves a pipeline that reproduces to a different answer with no error and nothing to indicate which result is the real one.
  • Every tracked revision writes a new pointer into Git and a new copy into the remote cache, so a data set revised daily accumulates full copies in object storage and the storage bill grows with the length of the history rather than the size of the data.
  • Merge conflicts in dvc.lock and dvc.yaml are routine on parallel branches and are unreadable to anyone who has not learned the format, which in practice means the person who introduced DVC resolves all of them.
  • Checking out a large data set materialises it in the working directory, so a laptop working against a repository with several hundred gigabytes tracked needs disk for the workspace and the cache together, and the reflink or hardlink optimisations that avoid doubling that are filesystem-dependent.
  • It has no access control of its own and inherits whatever the remote grants, so a repository everyone can read plus a bucket everyone can read means everyone can reconstruct every historical version of every data set, which is frequently not what was intended.

Pricing, plan by plan

Duplicati

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Duplicati review.

DVC

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Data versioning
    • Pipeline management
    • Experiment tracking
  • DVC StudioFree
    • Web UI
    • Team collaboration
    • Visualizations

Which should you pick?

Choose Duplicati if

  • You need aes-256 encryption.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want incremental backup.
Duplicati review

Choose DVC if

  • You need pointer-file versioning.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Mac, Windows.
  • You also want remote storage backends.
DVC review

Questions people ask

Is Duplicati or DVC better?
Neither clearly leads. Duplicati starts at Free and DVC at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Duplicati or DVC?
Duplicati starts at Free and DVC at Free.
Does Duplicati or DVC run on more platforms?
Duplicati runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. DVC runs on Linux, Mac, Windows.
Can I use Duplicati for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Duplicati best used for?
Duplicati is most often used for data protection, disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware protection. Of those, data protection and disaster recovery are not what DVC is typically brought in for.
What can Duplicati do that DVC cannot?
Duplicati covers AES-256 encryption, Incremental backup, Deduplication, Multiple cloud backends. DVC covers Pointer-file versioning, Remote storage backends, Pipeline definitions, Stage caching.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Duplicati: Is Duplicati free?

Yes. Duplicati is completely free and open-source under the LGPL license. There are no premium tiers, trials, or limitations.

Source
DVC: Does DVC put my data in Git?

No. Git gets a small pointer file containing a hash. The data goes to a cache on disk and to a remote you configure, such as an S3 bucket.

Duplicati: What does Duplicati support?

Duplicati supports zero-trust, fully encrypted backups to local storage, network drives, and cloud services. It includes deduplication and incremental backups.

Source
DVC: Do I need to run a server?

No, and that is most of its appeal. It is a command line tool plus storage you already have. DVC Studio, the hosted web interface, is optional and separately paid.

Duplicati: What are the platforms?

Duplicati runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It can back up data to local storage, network drives, or cloud providers.

Source
DVC: How is it different from Git LFS?

Git LFS versions large files and stops there. DVC also defines pipelines, tracks which stage produced which output, records metrics and lets you compare experiments, and it works with ordinary object storage rather than an LFS server.

DVC: Is it free?

The tool is Apache 2.0 and free. You pay for the object storage that holds the data, and optionally for DVC Studio.

DVC: Can several people work on the same data set?

Yes, through the shared remote, but only if all of them use DVC for every change. The tool cannot enforce a discipline it does not own, and a single manual copy silently breaks the guarantee.

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