Afi.ai vs Duplicati

Afi.ai is a cloud-native backup and recovery service for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Kubernetes. It protects mailboxes, drives, shared drives, calendars and contacts as well as Teams and SharePoint data, and it was built from scratch as a SaaS product rather than adapted from on-premises backup software, which shows in its quick setup and modern interface.

Backups run automatically on a schedule, with unlimited storage and unlimited retention included in a per-user price. Restores can be granular (a single email, file or folder) or cover a full account at a chosen point in time. AI-driven monitoring flags unusual activity such as mass deletions or encryption patterns that suggest ransomware, and a multi-tenant console lets managed service providers run backups for many client organizations from one place. Kubernetes cluster backup is priced separately on a custom basis.

Afi fits IT teams and MSPs that want SaaS backup without managing storage or legacy agents, especially organizations on Google Workspace, where fewer strong options exist. It is a younger and less known vendor than Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Backupify or Spanning, and it does not cover Salesforce or other SaaS apps, so companies that want one vendor for every cloud application may prefer broader suites such as Druva or Own. For pure Workspace and 365 protection, transparent pricing and fast restores are its strongest arguments.

Duplicati is a free, open-source backup client for Windows, macOS and Linux, started by developer Kenneth Skovhede and maintained with a community and, more recently, a company that sells central management. It creates encrypted, compressed and deduplicated backups and uploads them to almost any storage target, so you can keep an offsite copy without trusting the storage provider with readable data.

Backups are encrypted with AES-256 before upload, split into blocks and stored incrementally, so only changed data is sent after the first run. Supported destinations include S3-compatible storage, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, SFTP, WebDAV, local disks and network shares. Scheduling, versioned retention rules and a browser-based interface come in the free client, and the paid Duplicati Console adds centralized monitoring and management across many machines.

It suits home users, homelab owners and small offices that want encrypted cloud backups for the cost of storage only. It requires technical comfort: restoring large backup sets can be slow, the local database occasionally needs repair, and support is community-based unless you pay. Restic and Kopia are faster command-line alternatives, Arq is a polished paid option for Mac and Windows, and Backblaze Personal Backup is simpler for people who just want unlimited backup of one computer. Whatever you choose, test restores regularly.