SuperDuper
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 5 of 8 backup software by recommenders
Reliable Mac backup app that makes bootable clones and runs quietly across many macOS updates. Critics mainly point to a website and docs they suspect were LLM-generated.
Reliable Mac backup app that makes bootable clones and runs quietly across many macOS updates. Critics mainly point to a website and docs they suspect were LLM-generated.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 71%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 12 years
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 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 across many macOS versions
“it's just been working for countless updates and across many Mac devices and OS versions”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer” “It works. It does its job. It doesn't pester me with popups.”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer” “SuperDuper which has also been solid for even longer”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “A brief history of Time Machine (2024)” Makes clones and device backups
“back up the computer with the device backups with SuperDuper! (free)”
Comment from 2 May 2026 in “Apple Is Holding My Pictures Hostage Until I Accept Their New Terms of Service” “clone it onto another machine with SuperDuper”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Tell HN: In the old days, computers used to get constantly faster and cheaper” Worth paying to upgrade
“one of those gems which I will happily pay to upgrade every release without a second thought”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer” “While I agree that SuperDuper! is worth buying”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “TIL: Apple Broke Time Machine Again on Tahoe” Part of trusted backup strategies
“SuperDuper is part of John Siracusa's backup strategy”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer” “I'm a big fan of SuperDuper”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “TIL: Apple Broke Time Machine Again on Tahoe”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Website and docs look LLM-generated
“the website is broken and appears to have been generated with an LLM”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer” “The site looks like every other Claudesite, the docs are Claudemade”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer” Broke on macOS internals and AppleScript
“probably more to come if the super-smart LLM took shortcuts around arcane MacOS esoterica in the name of "optimization"”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer” “it stopped working, and upon investigating, I discovered it used AppleScript under the covers”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “SupererDuperer”
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 Backup | 30 | 2 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Kopia | 16 | 2 | 89% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Carbon Copy Cloner | 15 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
| SuperDuperThis page | 12 | 5 | 71% | 5 | 12 yrs3 owners | Approved |
What people said
17 of the 18 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“They both have decades of experience providing astounding support.”
“SuperDuper is part of John Siracusa's backup strategy”
“the website is broken and appears to have been generated with an LLM”
“It works. It does its job. It doesn't pester me with popups.”
“probably more to come if the super-smart LLM took shortcuts around arcane MacOS esoterica in the name of "optimization"”
“The header isn’t responsive to small screens.”
“it stopped working, and upon investigating, I discovered it used AppleScript under the covers”
“one of those gems which I will happily pay to upgrade every release without a second thought”
“The site looks like every other Claudesite, the docs are Claudemade”
“it's just been working for countless updates and across many Mac devices and OS versions”
“shifted to Carbon Copy Cloner as a paid user since the latter was advancing and keeping up much faster”
“Dave has kept the great things about SuperDuper”
“clone it onto another machine with SuperDuper”
“back up the computer with the device backups with SuperDuper! (free)”
“While I agree that SuperDuper! is worth buying”
“I'm a big fan of SuperDuper”
“SuperDuper which has also been solid for even longer”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.