Arq Backup
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 8 backup software by recommenders
People recommend Arq as a quiet, reliable backup tool that lets you bring your own storage and encrypts backups. Critics say it's less polished, especially on Windows.
People recommend Arq as a quiet, reliable backup tool that lets you bring your own storage and encrypts backups. Critics say it's less polished, especially on Windows.
32 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 30
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 94%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 30 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 15 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable, quiet, set-and-forget backups
“Very happy user of Arq - been running a daily scheduled dual backup of my HDD to an external NAS and Backblaze B2 for years with zero issues.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data” “It has always been the least problematic, least intrusive, most reliable backup and restore option for me.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data” “I've been extremely happy with Arq for several years as a quiet backup solution, bring your own storage.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data” - Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data”
- Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data”
- Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data”
Bring your own storage
“I've been extremely happy with Arq for several years as a quiet backup solution, bring your own storage.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data” “Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want with a GUI”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data” “Arq is a pretty decent backup solution for macOS (and Windows) that lets you bring your own storage.”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “A brief history of Time Machine (2024)” - Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data”
- Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data”
Encrypted backups to any storage
“I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “How do I permanently disable Google Photos pop-up prompt to backup my photos?” “It does incremental encrypted backups and supports a lot of storage providers.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data” “They just see a bunch of encrypted files with random GUID filenames.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data” Smart Mac-specific backup options
“Arq Backup works great on Mac. It has a lot of smart features like only backing up on certain networks”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “A brief history of Time Machine (2024)” “Arq has an option to "materialize" dataless files, basically forcing them to be locally available.”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help” “simply gives you an option in backup plans for what to do with cloud only files”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Backblaze has stopped backing up your data” - Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Creating backup storage sucks”
Other backup software people recommend
The four most recommended other backup software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time Machine | 70 | 95 | 42% | 13 | 6 yrs13 owners | — |
| Arq BackupThis page | 30 | 2 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Kopia | 16 | 2 | 89% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Carbon Copy Cloner | 15 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
| BorgBackup | 12 | 1 | 92% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
37 of the 44 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“which I still use on some of my systems”
“specialized cloud services (currently Arq going to B2) does the job better”
“small indie stuff like Arq for backups”
“Arq on macOS has great support for object locks BTW.”
“I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS”
“Arq (and a safety deposit box) saves me if my house burns down.”
“I've been happy with Arq + TimeMachine”
“some of its bugs and implementation decisions just scream "hobby grade" to me”
“There's Backblaze and Arq and Tarsnap, amongst others.”
“It's an excellent reliable no frills service.”
“Most people have recommended Arq to me.”
“Arq saved me a few hours of work recently when VS Code's GitHub Copilot looped out”
“the same "it just works" backup solution on all my computers”
“It has always been the least problematic, least intrusive, most reliable backup and restore option for me.”
“Arq has been my backup solution. It's amazing and I advise it to everyone I know.”
“I've been extremely happy with Arq for several years as a quiet backup solution, bring your own storage.”
“Not as polished, especially on Windows, but works and is actually cheaper.”
“Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want with a GUI”
“Very happy user of Arq - been running a daily scheduled dual backup of my HDD to an external NAS and Backblaze B2 for years with zero issues.”
“Can recommend all three highly; the latter two are FOSS.”
“They just see a bunch of encrypted files with random GUID filenames.”
“i really like the way arq separates the backup utility from the backup location”
“simply gives you an option in backup plans for what to do with cloud only files”
“For me it takes Arq over an hour just to scan my files for changes.”
“It does incremental encrypted backups and supports a lot of storage providers.”
“there's something like 1-10 million little chunk files in that directory so it's probably that”
“least-hassle mac backup storage solution by far”
“I use Arq for daily backups”
“arq didn't run there yet or required a newer version that was incompatible with the old”
“Pay for Arq backups/whatever if you're on a Mac to get some peace of mind”
“Pay for Arq and don't look back!”
“Arq has an option to "materialize" dataless files, basically forcing them to be locally available.”
“Works great! It is not hard to configure once, with the proper folders and settings.”
“pay someone like Acronis or Arq to deal with it for you”
“please invest in Arq or Acronis or anything to have actual backups”
“Arq is a pretty decent backup solution for macOS (and Windows) that lets you bring your own storage.”
“Arq Backup works great on Mac. It has a lot of smart features like only backing up on certain networks”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.