Backup & Disaster Recovery · head to head
Paragon Backup & Recovery vs Clonezilla
Paragon Backup & Recovery
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Professional-grade backup for Windows
- From
- $50/year
- Rated
- -
Clonezilla
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Free disk cloning and imaging solution
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Clonezilla has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Paragon Backup & Recovery the free Community Edition is licensed for non-commercial use only; Clonezilla the destination partition must be equal to or larger than the source partition
- They diverge on capability: Paragon Backup & Recovery covers Full disk backup, Clonezilla covers Disk/partition imaging.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Paragon Backup & Recovery and Clonezilla actually diverge.
| Attribute | Paragon Backup & Recovery | Clonezilla |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $50/year | Free |
| Pricing model | subscription | free |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Windows | Linux, Windows |
| Founded | 1994 | 2004 |
Identical on both: 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 Clonezilla
- Disk/partition imaging
- Disk cloning
- Multicast deployment
- Multiple file systems
- Encryption support
- Unattended mode
- PXE boot
- DRBL
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 Clonezilla
- Bare metal recovery from an imagenot Clonezilla
- Scheduled incremental backups for a home machinenot Clonezilla
- Migrating an installation to a new drive on the paid editionsnot Clonezilla
Clonezilla
- Bare metal backup and restore of a whole disk or partitionnot Paragon Backup & Recovery
- Mass deployment of a disk image to many PCs over the networknot 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
Clonezilla
- The destination partition must be equal to or larger than the source partition
- Differential and incremental backup is not implemented
- Online imaging and cloning is not implemented; the partition being imaged or cloned has to be unmounted first
- The image format cannot be explored or mounted, so a single file cannot be recovered from an image
- Recovery media spanning multiple CDs or DVDs is not implemented; the recovery ISO must fit on one disc
- Clonezilla SE requires a DRBL server to be prepared in advance and the target machine to boot from the network
- Runs only on x86 or x86-64 processors and needs at least 196 MB of RAM
Pricing, plan by plan
Paragon Backup & Recovery
$50/year- Community Edition$50/year
- Full disk backup
- File-level backup
- Recovery media
Clonezilla
Free- FreeFree
- Disk cloning
- Multicast
- Multiple file systems
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 Clonezilla if
- You need disk/partition imaging.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows.
- You also want disk cloning.
Questions people ask
- Is Paragon Backup & Recovery or Clonezilla better?
- Neither clearly leads. Paragon Backup & Recovery starts at $50/year and Clonezilla at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Paragon Backup & Recovery or Clonezilla?
- Clonezilla has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $50/year for Paragon Backup & Recovery and Free for Clonezilla.
- Does Paragon Backup & Recovery or Clonezilla run on more platforms?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery runs on Windows. Clonezilla runs on Linux, Windows.
- Can I use Clonezilla for free?
- Yes. Clonezilla has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Paragon Backup & Recovery starts at $50/year.
- 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 Clonezilla is typically brought in for.
- What can Paragon Backup & Recovery do that Clonezilla cannot?
- Paragon Backup & Recovery covers Full disk backup, File-level backup, Incremental/differential, Recovery media. Clonezilla covers Disk/partition imaging, Disk cloning, Multicast deployment, Multiple file systems. Both handle Windows support.