Backup & Disaster Recovery · head to head
Paragon Backup & Recovery vs Arcserve UDP
Paragon Backup & Recovery
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Professional-grade backup for Windows
- From
- $50/year
- Rated
- -
Arcserve UDP
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Unified data protection for all workloads
- From
- $25/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Paragon Backup & Recovery the free Community Edition is licensed for non-commercial use only; Arcserve UDP multiple security vulnerabilities documented in 2025-2026 including authentication bypass and buffer overflow issues
- They diverge on capability: Paragon Backup & Recovery covers Full disk backup, Arcserve UDP covers Assured recovery testing.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Paragon Backup & Recovery and Arcserve UDP actually diverge.
| Attribute | Paragon Backup & Recovery | Arcserve UDP |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $50/year | $25/month |
| Platforms | Windows | Windows, Linux |
| Founded | 1994 | 1983 |
Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Backup & Disaster Recovery).
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 Arcserve UDP
- Assured recovery testing
- Instant VM recovery
- Deep application support
- Ransomware protection
- Tape backup
- Hardware snapshots
- 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 Arcserve UDP
- Bare metal recovery from an imagenot Arcserve UDP
- Scheduled incremental backups for a home machinenot Arcserve UDP
- Migrating an installation to a new drive on the paid editionsnot Arcserve UDP
Arcserve UDP
- 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
Arcserve UDP
- Multiple security vulnerabilities documented in 2025-2026 including authentication bypass and buffer overflow issues
- Slow restore speeds for large backup tasks and recovery operations
- Requires full backup when changing drive sizes, causing extended backup windows
Pricing, plan by plan
Paragon Backup & Recovery
$50/year- Community Edition$50/year
- Full disk backup
- File-level backup
- Recovery media
Arcserve UDP
$25/month- UDP Premium$25/month
- Assured recovery
- Instant VM
- Tape support
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 Arcserve UDP if
- You need assured recovery testing.
- You work on Windows, Linux.
- You also want instant vm recovery.
Questions people ask
- Is Paragon Backup & Recovery or Arcserve UDP better?
- Neither clearly leads. Paragon Backup & Recovery starts at $50/year and Arcserve UDP at $25/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Paragon Backup & Recovery or Arcserve UDP?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery starts at $50/year and Arcserve UDP at $25/month.
- Does Paragon Backup & Recovery or Arcserve UDP run on more platforms?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery runs on Windows. Arcserve UDP runs on Windows, Linux.
- 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 Arcserve UDP is typically brought in for.
- What can Paragon Backup & Recovery do that Arcserve UDP cannot?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery covers Full disk backup, File-level backup, Incremental/differential, Recovery media. Arcserve UDP covers Assured recovery testing, Instant VM recovery, Deep application support, Ransomware protection. Both handle Windows support.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Arcserve UDP: What licensing model does Arcserve UDP use?
Arcserve UDP uses a capacity-based subscription model (Managed Capacity Program) where you license based on total front-end terabytes of protected data rather than per-device. Available in Standard, Advanced, and Premium editions.
SourceArcserve UDP: Does Arcserve UDP support cloud backup?
Yes. Arcserve UDP integrates with multiple cloud providers including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Wasabi for offsite backup and disaster recovery storage.
SourceArcserve UDP: What hypervisors does Arcserve UDP support?
Arcserve UDP supports multiple hypervisors including VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM, and others, allowing granular recovery at the VM level with instant boot capabilities.
Source