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Backup · head to head

Macrium Reflect vs Trilio

Macrium Reflect logo

Macrium Reflect

Backup

Award-winning disk imaging and cloning

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Trilio logo

Trilio

Backup

Backup and recovery for OpenStack, Kubernetes and Red Hat Virtualization

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Macrium Reflect business editions (Workstation, Site Backup) publish named tiers but no self-serve figure on their own product pages; only a free trial of the management console is offered directly; Trilio coverage is deliberately narrow, so a mixed estate with VMware and physical servers needs a second backup product and two sets of restore procedures.
  • They diverge on capability: Macrium Reflect covers Disk imaging, Trilio covers OpenStack backup.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Macrium Reflect and Trilio actually diverge.

Attributes where Macrium Reflect and Trilio differ
AttributeMacrium ReflectTrilio
Pricing modelfreemiumPer node per year
PlatformsWindowsLinux, Web
Founded2006Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Macrium Reflect

  • Disk imaging
  • Rapid delta cloning
  • Rescue Media
  • Incremental backup
  • Scheduling
  • Email notifications
  • Windows PE
  • Hyper-V

Only in Trilio

  • OpenStack backup
  • Kubernetes backup
  • OpenShift Virtualization
  • Open format backups
  • Incremental forever
  • Self-service restore
  • Free basic edition

What people use each for

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

Macrium Reflect

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

Trilio

  • A telco running an OpenStack cloud whose incumbent backup vendor supports it only through generic agentsnot Macrium Reflect
  • An organisation migrating virtual machines from VMware to OpenShift Virtualization and needing protection on the new platform from day onenot Macrium Reflect
  • A research institution protecting tenant workloads where each tenant should restore its own data without a ticketnot Macrium Reflect
  • A platform team wanting to evaluate Kubernetes backup properly on ten nodes before committing budgetnot Macrium Reflect

Where each one falls short

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

Macrium Reflect

  • Business editions (Workstation, Site Backup) publish named tiers but no self-serve figure on their own product pages; only a free trial of the management console is offered directly

Trilio

  • Coverage is deliberately narrow, so a mixed estate with VMware and physical servers needs a second backup product and two sets of restore procedures.
  • Trilio is a small vendor next to the backup incumbents, and buyers with ten year retention obligations should assess the risk of the company being acquired or wound down.
  • Enterprise pricing is per node or per virtual machine and is not published, which makes it hard to compare against per-terabyte competitors without going through sales.
  • The free basic edition stops at ten nodes with community support only, so the step from evaluation to production is a full commercial negotiation rather than a tier upgrade.
  • Restore performance depends on the object storage or NFS target you supply, and egress charges from a cloud object store during a large recovery sit outside the vendor quote entirely.

Pricing, plan by plan

Macrium Reflect

Free
  • Home$70/year
    • Disk imaging
    • Rescue Media
    • Rapid delta

Trilio

Free
  • Basic EditionFree
    • Up to ten nodes
    • No time limit
    • Community support only
  • Enterprise Edition$undefined/year
    • Priced per node or per virtual machine annually
    • No scale limits
    • OpenStack, Kubernetes, OpenShift and Red Hat Virtualization

Which should you pick?

Choose Macrium Reflect if

  • You need disk imaging.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want rapid delta cloning.
Macrium Reflect review

Choose Trilio if

  • You need openstack backup.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Web.
  • You also want kubernetes backup.
Trilio review

Questions people ask

Is Macrium Reflect or Trilio better?
Neither clearly leads. Macrium Reflect starts at Free and Trilio at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Macrium Reflect or Trilio?
Macrium Reflect starts at Free and Trilio at Free.
Does Macrium Reflect or Trilio run on more platforms?
Macrium Reflect runs on Windows. Trilio runs on Linux, Web.
Can I use Macrium Reflect for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Macrium Reflect best used for?
Macrium Reflect is most often used for data protection, disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware protection. Of those, data protection and disaster recovery are not what Trilio is typically brought in for.
What can Macrium Reflect do that Trilio cannot?
Macrium Reflect covers Disk imaging, Rapid delta cloning, Rescue Media, Incremental backup. Trilio covers OpenStack backup, Kubernetes backup, OpenShift Virtualization, Open format backups.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Trilio: Is the free edition production usable?

It is functionally complete up to ten nodes with community support only. Use it to evaluate, but understand that production incidents have no vendor behind them at that tier.

Trilio: Does it support OpenShift Virtualization?

Yes, which is the main reason it appears on shortlists for organisations moving virtual machines off VMware.

Trilio: Where are backups stored?

On NFS or S3-compatible object storage you provide, in an open format rather than a proprietary vendor container.

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