Back That Data Up
Compare
How it stacks up
Mac backup is crowded. Here's the honest version of where Back That Data Up fits.
| Back That Data Up | Time Machine | Carbon Copy Cloner | Arq | Backblaze | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $29.99 one-time | Free | ~$49.99 one-time | ~$49.99 one-time | ~$99/yr |
| No subscription | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✕ |
| Point-in-time snapshots | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Ransomware detection | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ~ |
| Encrypted, key held by you | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cloud backup to your storage | ✓ | ✕ | ~ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Cross-version file search | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multiple backup jobs | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Custom / per-job schedules | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Exclude files, folders & types | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Continuous / on-change cloud | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ~ | ✓ |
| Hardware-key (FIDO) encryption | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Friendly for non-experts | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✓ |
Competitor prices & features are approximate and may change, check each vendor before deciding. ✓ yes · ~ partial · ✕ no.
The honest answer
“But my Mac backs up for free.”
It does and Time Machine is genuinely good. Keep it on. But it was built for one job: a spare copy on a drive next to your Mac. Here's where that leaves you exposed.
It's all in one place
Time Machine: Backs up to a drive sitting right next to your Mac. One fire, theft, or flood takes both at once.
Back That Data Up: Adds an encrypted copy in your own cloud — offsite and safe even if the Mac and the drive are both gone.
It can't spot an attack
Time Machine: Faithfully copies files that ransomware just encrypted, quietly burying the good versions you'd restore from.
Back That Data Up: Watches each backup for the signs of an attack and pauses before it can overwrite your clean snapshots.
It can fail quietly
Time Machine: Backups can stall or corrupt with no fanfare — and you tend to find out the day you actually need them.
Back That Data Up: Verifies what it writes and tells you your backup is healthy, so there's no nasty surprise waiting.
It's one-size-fits-all
Time Machine: One whole-disk job on a fixed hourly schedule with a basic exclude list — and that's about the extent of it.
Back That Data Up: Run multiple jobs on their own schedules, exclude by file type, and lock your cloud vault with a hardware key.
Deep dives
One competitor at a time
The table above is the quick view. Each of these pages goes deep on a single competitor: where they are genuinely good, and where BTDU covers gaps they do not.
Back That Data Up vs Time Machine
Time Machine is the best free Mac backup Apple has ever shipped. Where its 2007 design leaves gaps — ransomware, cloud, hardware keys — and what BTDU does instead.
Read the comparison →Back That Data Up vs Arq
Arq is a strong cloud-first Mac backup. Where BTDU adds post-quantum encryption, FIDO2 vault unlock, anomaly detection, and self-healing cloud that Arq does not.
Read the comparison →Back That Data Up vs Backblaze
Backblaze is dead-simple unlimited cloud backup at $99/year forever. Where BTDU adds local snapshots, FIDO2 unlock, post-quantum encryption, and one-time pricing.
Read the comparison →Back That Data Up vs Carbon Copy Cloner
Carbon Copy Cloner is the reference Mac cloning tool. Where BTDU adds cloud vault, FIDO2 unlock, ransomware anomaly detection, and no annual renewal.
Read the comparison →More than Time Machine. Friendlier than the pro tools. No subscription like the cloud services.
Time Machine is great until you want ransomware protection or your files in the cloud. Carbon Copy Cloner and Arq are powerful but built for pros. Backblaze is simple, but it's a monthly bill, forever. Back That Data Up gives you the protection, keeps it friendly, and asks you to pay exactly once.