Carbonite vs Restic
Carbonite and Restic are both backup & SaaS data protection tools. Carbonite is aimed at small businesses and freelancers, while Restic is aimed at developers. Only Restic has a free plan.
Set-and-forget cloud backup for home PCs, small offices and servers
Fast, secure command-line backup
| Pricing | Paid · $6 | Open source |
| Starting price | $6.40/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | 15 days | — |
| Built for | Small businesses, Freelancers | Developers |
| Platforms | web, windows, macos, ios, android | macos, windows, linux |
| Country | US · 2005 | DE · 2014 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Carbonite if
Households and small offices that want automatic, unlimited-storage cloud backup for a single PC or up to 25 business computers.
- Very little setup: install once and backups run in the background
- Unlimited storage for a single computer on personal plans
- Business plans cover up to 25 computers on one subscription
Look elsewhere if: Tech-savvy users who want cheap multi-device or developer-grade storage (Backblaze, IDrive, Acronis).
Choose Restic if
Sysadmins and developers comfortable with CLI.
- Fast and reliable
- Strong security design
- Free
Look elsewhere if: Non-technical users.
Carbonite vs Restic pricing
Carbonite
- Basic$76.79/yrFirst-year price (list $95.99); 1 computer, unlimited storage
- Plus$85.79/yrFirst year (list $131.99); adds 1 external drive, video backup
- Prime$105.29/yrFirst year (list $161.99); adds courier recovery options
- Core (business)$230.39/yrUp to 25 computers, external drives and NAS; 250 GB
- Power (business)$639.99/yr1 server plus 25 computers, 500 GB, bare metal restore
Restic
- Open source$0BSD 2-Clause license
Carbonite · Key features
- Continuous, automatic backup of documents, photos, music and videos
- Unlimited cloud storage on Basic, Plus and Prime personal plans
- External hard drive and automatic video backup on Plus and Prime
- Business Core covers up to 25 computers, external drives and NAS
- Server backup with bare metal image restore on Power and Ultimate
- 256-bit encryption at rest and in transit with private key option
Cons
- Annual billing only, and promotional first-year prices renew higher
- Personal plans cover just one computer per subscription
- Business storage starts at 250 GB and extra space costs $99 per 100 GB
Restic · Key features
- Encrypted, deduplicated snapshots
- Many backends via rclone
- Fast incremental backups
- Snapshot browsing and restore
- Verification checks
- Cross-platform CLI
Cons
- CLI only
- Requires scripting for scheduling
- No GUI
Carbonite vs Restic: FAQ
Do Carbonite and Restic have a free plan?
Carbonite has no free plan, a 15-day free trial. Restic has a free plan.
Which is better for small businesses, Carbonite or Restic?
Carbonite lists small businesses as a core audience, while Restic is aimed more at developers.