Software · head to head
Paragon Backup & Recovery vs Altaro VM Backup
Paragon Backup & Recovery
Software
Professional-grade backup for Windows
- From
- $50/year
- Rated
- -
Altaro VM Backup
Software
Simple and powerful VM backup for SMBs
- From
- $595/perpetual
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Paragon Backup & Recovery the free Community Edition is licensed for non-commercial use only; Altaro VM Backup limited to small and medium-market businesses with up to 50 host servers
- They diverge on capability: Paragon Backup & Recovery covers Full disk backup, Altaro VM Backup covers Augmented inline dedup.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Paragon Backup & Recovery and Altaro VM Backup actually diverge.
| Attribute | Paragon Backup & Recovery | Altaro VM Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $50/year | $595/perpetual |
| Pricing model | subscription | Unknown |
| Platforms | Windows | Windows Server |
| Founded | 1994 | 2009 |
Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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 Paragon Backup & Recovery
- Full disk backup
- File-level backup
- Incremental/differential
- Recovery media
- Virtual disk mount
- UEFI support
- Windows
- Network shares
Only in Altaro VM Backup
- Augmented inline dedup
- WAN-optimized replication
- Boot from backup
- Granular restore
- Cloud management
- Continuous CDP
- VMware
- Hyper-V
Both cover
- Windows support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Paragon Backup & Recovery
- Full disk and partition backup on Windowsnot Altaro VM Backup
- Bare metal recovery from an imagenot Altaro VM Backup
- Scheduled incremental backups for a home machinenot Altaro VM Backup
- Migrating an installation to a new drive on the paid editionsnot Altaro VM Backup
Altaro VM Backup
- Data protectionnot Paragon Backup & Recovery
- Disaster recoverynot Paragon Backup & Recovery
- Business continuitynot Paragon Backup & Recovery
- Ransomware protectionnot Paragon Backup & Recovery
- Compliancenot Paragon Backup & Recovery
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Paragon Backup & Recovery
- The free Community Edition is licensed for non-commercial use only
- Windows only, and specifically Windows 10 x64 from 1809, Windows 11 x64 and Windows 11 Arm64
- Volume and OS copying, partition management and email notifications need the Advanced edition
- Windows Server support requires the Business edition
- Paid edition prices are not shown on the product page
Altaro VM Backup
- Limited to small and medium-market businesses with up to 50 host servers
- Perpetual license model outdated compared to modern cloud-based backup solutions
- Lacks enterprise-grade features for large-scale deployments
- Offsite backup to cloud requires additional setup and configuration
Pricing, plan by plan
Paragon Backup & Recovery
$50/year- Community Edition$50/year
- Full disk backup
- File-level backup
- Recovery media
Altaro VM Backup
$595/perpetualNo published plan breakdown. See the Altaro VM Backup review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Paragon Backup & Recovery if
- You need full disk backup.
- You work on Windows.
- You also want file-level backup.
Choose Altaro VM Backup if
- You need augmented inline dedup.
- You work on Windows Server.
- You also want wan-optimized replication.
Questions people ask
- Is Paragon Backup & Recovery or Altaro VM Backup better?
- Neither clearly leads. Paragon Backup & Recovery starts at $50/year and Altaro VM Backup at $595/perpetual, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Paragon Backup & Recovery or Altaro VM Backup?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery starts at $50/year and Altaro VM Backup at $595/perpetual.
- Does Paragon Backup & Recovery or Altaro VM Backup run on more platforms?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery runs on Windows. Altaro VM Backup runs on Windows Server.
- What is Paragon Backup & Recovery best used for?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery is most often used for full disk and partition backup on windows, bare metal recovery from an image, scheduled incremental backups for a home machine, migrating an installation to a new drive on the paid editions. Of those, full disk and partition backup on windows and bare metal recovery from an image are not what Altaro VM Backup is typically brought in for.
- What can Paragon Backup & Recovery do that Altaro VM Backup cannot?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery covers Full disk backup, File-level backup, Incremental/differential, Recovery media. Altaro VM Backup covers Augmented inline dedup, WAN-optimized replication, Boot from backup, Granular restore. Both handle Windows support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Altaro VM Backup: What is the price per host for Altaro VM Backup?
Altaro VM Backup pricing starts at $595 per host for the Standard Edition, with the Unlimited Edition at $695 per host and Unlimited Plus at $875 per host. Pricing includes the first year of priority support and updates.
Source