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Backup · head to head

Paragon Backup & Recovery vs rustic

Paragon Backup & Recovery logo

Paragon Backup & Recovery

Backup

Professional-grade backup for Windows

From
$50/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
rustic logo

rustic

Backup

Rust reimplementation of restic that reads and writes the same repository format

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only rustic 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; rustic the project is small with a short list of active maintainers, so bus factor is a genuine consideration for software whose job is to still work in five years.
  • They diverge on capability: Paragon Backup & Recovery covers Full disk backup, rustic covers restic format compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Paragon Backup & Recovery and rustic actually diverge.

Attributes where Paragon Backup & Recovery and rustic differ
AttributeParagon Backup & Recoveryrustic
Starting price$50/yearFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindowsLinux, macOS, Windows
Founded1994Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Paragon Backup & Recovery

  • Full disk backup
  • File-level backup
  • Incremental/differential
  • Recovery media
  • Virtual disk mount
  • UEFI support
  • Windows
  • Network shares

Only in rustic

  • restic format compatibility
  • Configuration profiles
  • Deduplicated encrypted backups
  • Cold and append only storage support
  • Multiple back ends
  • Library crates

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 rustic
  • Bare metal recovery from an imagenot rustic
  • Scheduled incremental backups for a home machinenot rustic
  • Migrating an installation to a new drive on the paid editionsnot rustic

rustic

  • An existing restic user who wants configuration files rather than long command lines in cronnot Paragon Backup & Recovery
  • Backing up a memory constrained machine where the reference implementation is uncomfortably heavynot Paragon Backup & Recovery
  • Writing to append only or cold object storage where the default tooling assumes rewritable bucketsnot Paragon Backup & Recovery
  • Keeping a second implementation available so a long lived archive does not depend on one codebasenot 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

rustic

  • The project is small with a short list of active maintainers, so bus factor is a genuine consideration for software whose job is to still work in five years.
  • It inherits the restic repository format, so design limits in that format, including the cost of pruning large repositories, are inherited rather than fixed.
  • Command names, flags and behaviour do not map one to one onto restic, so scripts and runbooks need rewriting rather than a binary swap.
  • Far fewer people have performed a real restore from it under pressure, and backup software is one of the few categories where being second most used is itself a risk.
  • Alternating between rustic and restic against one repository works but doubles the surface for a version incompatibility to corrupt state, so most operators should pick one and stay with it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Paragon Backup & Recovery

$50/year
  • Community Edition$50/year
    • Full disk backup
    • File-level backup
    • Recovery media

rustic

Free
  • rusticFree
    • Full functionality, no data limit
    • All supported storage back ends
    • Community support via GitHub

Which should you pick?

Choose Paragon Backup & Recovery if

  • You need full disk backup.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want file-level backup.
Paragon Backup & Recovery review

Choose rustic if

  • You need restic format compatibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want configuration profiles.
rustic review

Questions people ask

Is Paragon Backup & Recovery or rustic better?
Neither clearly leads. Paragon Backup & Recovery starts at $50/year and rustic at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Paragon Backup & Recovery or rustic?
rustic has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $50/year for Paragon Backup & Recovery and Free for rustic.
Does Paragon Backup & Recovery or rustic run on more platforms?
Paragon Backup & Recovery runs on Windows. rustic runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use rustic for free?
Yes. rustic 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 rustic is typically brought in for.
What can Paragon Backup & Recovery do that rustic cannot?
Paragon Backup & Recovery covers Full disk backup, File-level backup, Incremental/differential, Recovery media. rustic covers restic format compatibility, Configuration profiles, Deduplicated encrypted backups, Cold and append only storage support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Paragon Backup & Recovery: Is Paragon Backup & Recovery still available?

No, Paragon Backup & Recovery has been unavailable since October 8, 2025, and is marked as a legacy product. Business customers are directed to explore alternative products for business use.

Source
rustic: Can it read my existing restic repository?

Yes, that is the point of the project. Take a copy and verify before you rely on it, as with any change to backup tooling.

Paragon Backup & Recovery: How much does Paragon Backup & Recovery cost?

No pricing information is published. The product is restricted to home use only and customers must contact Paragon's sales team directly for any inquiries.

Source
rustic: Should I switch from restic?

Only for a specific reason such as configuration profiles, memory use or cold storage handling. Compatibility means there is no cost to trying and no cost to going back.

Paragon Backup & Recovery: What should business users do if they used Paragon Backup & Recovery?

Business customers are recommended to explore the company's other products designed for business use and contact the sales team for alternative solutions.

Source
rustic: Is it production ready?

It is used in production by a small community, but it is younger and less exercised than the implementation it is compatible with. Test restores accordingly.

rustic: Does it support the same back ends?

The common ones, including local, SFTP, S3 compatible storage and rclone. Check the current list before committing to an unusual target.

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