Backup · pricing
Apple Time Machine pricing
Apple Time Machine publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the backup tools listed alongside it.
As of 30 August 2026, Apple Time Machine pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Free
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
Apple Time Machine plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built-in | Free | 3 | Entry tier |
Where Apple Time Machine stops being free
Built-in, Free
- Automatic backup
- Visual restore
- Network backup
No paid tier on record
Apple Time Machine lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full Apple Time Machine feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Automatic backup
- Hourly snapshots
- Visual restore interface
- Network backup
- Encryption
- System restore
Integrations
- macOS
- AirPort Time Capsule
- NAS devices
Platform
- Mac support
People bring Apple Time Machine in for automatic versioned local backups of a mac to an external drive, restoring a mac or migrating to a new one from a local backup history. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Apple Time Machine are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Backup
Too few backup tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Time Machine (this page) | Free | free | - | |
| Velero | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Apple Time Machine |
| Clumio | $0.01/month | Per GiB-month protected | - | vs Apple Time Machine |
| Portworx Backup | Free, then $0.2/node hour | Per node hour | - | vs Apple Time Machine |
| Trilio | Free | Per node per year | - | vs Apple Time Machine |
| AvePoint Cloud Backup | On request | quote | - | vs Apple Time Machine |
| HYCU | On request | quote | - | vs Apple Time Machine |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Apple Time Machine badges page.
Before you pay for Apple Time Machine
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
Apple Time Machine runs on mac, and is published by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. The full record is on the Apple Time Machine review, and the rest of the category is under best backup tools.
Apple Time Machine pricing questions
- How much does Apple Time Machine cost?
- Apple Time Machine publishes a single tier, Built-in, at Free.
- Does Apple Time Machine have a free plan?
- Yes. The Built-in tier costs nothing and covers automatic backup, visual restore, network backup.
- Which backup tools can I use without paying?
- 4 of the 8 backup tools listed alongside Apple Time Machine have a free tier: Velero, Portworx Backup, Trilio, Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes.
- What am I actually paying for with Apple Time Machine?
- The record lists 10 features across 3 areas: other, integrations, platform. In practice it is brought in for automatic versioned local backups of a mac to an external drive, restoring a mac or migrating to a new one from a local backup history.
- Does Apple Time Machine charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Apple Time Machine prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Apple Time Machine against before paying?
- The closest backup tools in this directory are Velero, Clumio, Portworx Backup, Trilio. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Apple Time Machine covering price, platforms and features.