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File Storage · head to head

Duplicati vs LucidLink

Duplicati logo

Duplicati

File Storage

Free open-source backup with encryption

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
LucidLink logo

LucidLink

File Storage

Cloud filesystem that streams large media files on demand instead of syncing them

From
$7/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Duplicati has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Duplicati no managed service or commercial support; LucidLink additional storage at $7 to $8 per 100GB per month is roughly three to four times raw S3 pricing, so teams with large cold archives pay a heavy premium for data they rarely touch.
  • They diverge on capability: Duplicati covers AES-256 encryption, LucidLink covers Filespaces.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Duplicati and LucidLink actually diverge.

Attributes where Duplicati and LucidLink differ
AttributeDuplicatiLucidLink
Starting priceFree$7/month
Pricing modelUnknownPer member per month plus storage
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWindows, macOS, LinuxmacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS
Founded2008Unknown

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

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 LucidLink

  • Filespaces
  • On-demand streaming
  • Client-side encryption
  • Customer-managed keys
  • Bring your own storage
  • Snapshots

What people use each for

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

Duplicati

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

LucidLink

  • A post house with editors in three countries cutting from one shared 4K rush library without shipping drivesnot Duplicati
  • A broadcaster giving freelancers access to a project for a fortnight without provisioning VPN and a NAS mountnot Duplicati
  • A game studio sharing multi-gigabyte asset builds where syncing every file to every workstation is impracticalnot Duplicati
  • An architecture practice opening large point cloud and BIM files from a laptop on a hotel connectionnot 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

LucidLink

  • Additional storage at $7 to $8 per 100GB per month is roughly three to four times raw S3 pricing, so teams with large cold archives pay a heavy premium for data they rarely touch.
  • Included storage is pooled per member, so adding a seat is also how you buy capacity, and teams with a few heavy users and many light ones buy seats purely for the gigabytes.
  • Performance is bounded by the network link and local cache size, so a workstation with a small cache on a poor connection performs far worse than the demonstrations suggest.
  • Small-file and metadata-heavy workloads such as code repositories, node modules trees or build outputs perform badly, so it is not a general-purpose file server replacement.
  • Customer-managed keys and bring your own storage are Enterprise-tier options, so organisations that cannot let a vendor hold their keys cannot use the published pricing at all.

Pricing, plan by plan

Duplicati

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Duplicati review.

LucidLink

$7/month
  • Starter$7/month
    • 100GB included per member, pooled across the team
    • Additional storage $7 per 100GB per month
    • Client-side encryption
  • Business$32/month
    • $27 per member per month billed annually
    • 400GB included per member, pooled across the team
    • Additional storage $8 per 100GB per month
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom pricing and storage terms
    • Customer-managed encryption keys
    • Bring your own object storage bucket

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 LucidLink if

  • You need filespaces.
  • You work on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS.
  • You also want on-demand streaming.
LucidLink review

Questions people ask

Is Duplicati or LucidLink better?
Neither clearly leads. Duplicati starts at Free and LucidLink at $7/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Duplicati or LucidLink?
Duplicati has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Duplicati and $7/month for LucidLink.
Does Duplicati or LucidLink run on more platforms?
Duplicati runs on Windows, macOS, Linux. LucidLink runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS.
Can I use Duplicati for free?
Yes. Duplicati has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. LucidLink starts at $7/month.
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 LucidLink is typically brought in for.
What can Duplicati do that LucidLink cannot?
Duplicati covers AES-256 encryption, Incremental backup, Deduplication, Multiple cloud backends. LucidLink covers Filespaces, On-demand streaming, Client-side encryption, Customer-managed keys.

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
LucidLink: What does storage actually cost?

$7 per 100GB per month on Starter and $8 per 100GB per month on Business, above the pooled allowance. Model this separately from the seat cost.

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
LucidLink: Can we hold our own encryption keys?

On the Enterprise tier, yes, along with pointing the filespace at your own S3 or Azure bucket. Not on Starter or Business.

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
LucidLink: Does it work for source code?

Not well. It is built for large sequential reads. Many small files is the workload it handles worst.

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