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UrBackup
Open source client server backup doing both file and whole disk image backups of Windows machines
As of 31 August 2026, UrBackup is free to use. A backup server with a web interface that takes scheduled file backups and full disk images from Windows clients, plus file backups from Linux and macOS. Softwr lists it under Backup. UrBackup is available on Linux, Windows, macOS, FreeBSD.
Overview
What UrBackup does
UrBackup is an open source client server backup system. A server holds the backup storage and a web interface, and clients installed on each machine take scheduled incremental file backups and, on Windows, full and incremental disk images using volume shadow copies. Restores can be done through the web interface for files, or by booting a restore environment for a whole image, and an internet mode lets clients back up from outside the local network. What distinguishes it is the image backup path on Windows, which few free tools do well. Being able to restore a failed workstation to new hardware from a bare metal image, rather than reinstalling and then restoring files, is the difference between an hour and a day, and getting that without a licence per machine is why it is common in small offices and schools. Buyers are small organisations and homelabs with mostly Windows endpoints and someone technical enough to run a Linux server. The trade-off is that the storage design is delegated to the filesystem: deduplication is achieved with hard links or with btrfs and ZFS features, so the integrity of your backups depends on choices made when the server was built, and by default the data sits on that server unencrypted, which means the backup server becomes the most sensitive machine you own.
What people use it for
- A small office with Windows workstations that needs bare metal restore without per seat licensing
- Schools and labs where machines are re-imaged often and a known good image must be recoverable
- Backing up a mixed fleet to one server on premises with a web interface non specialists can use
- Replacing an expiring commercial endpoint backup licence where the budget is the constraint
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about UrBackup.
- Backups are stored on the server without encryption at rest by default, so the backup server holds a readable copy of every machine it protects and becomes the highest value target on the network.
- Deduplication relies on filesystem features such as hard links, btrfs or ZFS, so a server built on the wrong filesystem silently consumes far more space and the fix is a rebuild rather than a setting.
- There is no native object storage target, so offsite copies mean replicating the server storage with another tool rather than backing up to a bucket directly.
- Restoring a full Windows image requires booting a restore environment, which is a manual, on site procedure that needs to be rehearsed before the day it is needed.
- A single server holds everything and there is no built in clustering, so its own failure removes every recovery point at once unless you have separately solved replication.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of UrBackup
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- UrBackupvsDuplicati
Duplicati: If you want backups written directly to cloud object storage with client side encryption and no server to run
- UrBackupvsBacula
Bacula: For a larger fleet with tape, catalogue and retention policy requirements that a small server model does not cover
Pricing
What UrBackup costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
UrBackup
Free
- Full functionality, unlimited clients
- File and image backups
- Web administration interface
- Community support via forum
Capabilities
Features
Windows image backups
Full and incremental disk images using volume shadow copy for bare metal restore
File backups
Scheduled incremental file backups from Windows, Linux and macOS clients
Web interface
Server side administration, status monitoring and file level restore from a browser
Client discovery
Finds and enrols clients on the local network without per machine configuration
Internet mode
Backs up clients from outside the local network over an encrypted connection
Filesystem deduplication
Uses hard links, or btrfs and ZFS snapshots, to store unchanged data once across backups
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Does it back up Linux servers as well?
File backups yes, image backups no. The image path is Windows only through volume shadow copy.
Is the data encrypted?
Transport can be encrypted, and there is optional client side file encryption, but the default server storage is not encrypted at rest. Use full disk encryption on the server.
Can I back up to Amazon S3?
Not directly. The server writes to local or mounted storage, so cloud copies are made by replicating that storage separately.
How many clients can one server handle?
Dozens is routine on decent hardware. The limit is usually storage input and output during overlapping backup windows rather than client count.
Keep looking
Where to go from UrBackup
- UrBackup alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- UrBackup pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- UrBackup badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Backup softwareThe full category
- Best Backup softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Backup software for
Compare UrBackup with
- Bacula
- Velero
- Kopia
- Proxmox Backup Server
- Clonezilla
- Amanda Enterprise
- rustic
- BDRShield
- Acronis Cyber Protect
- Borg Backup
- Restic
- Clumio
- Cohesity
- Dell EMC NetWorker
- Bacula Enterprise
- Clonezilla
- BDRShield
- Bacula Enterprise
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for UrBackup, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on UrBackup
UrBackup alternatives
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UrBackup pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare UrBackup
Put it head to head with anything we hold
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Best Backup software alternatives
Microsoft 365, Dynamics and Salesforce backup from a long-standing Microsoft partner
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Per GiB-month protected
