{"slug": "arq", "name": "Arq", "category": "files", "category_name": "Files, sync and backup", "description": "Backup app for macOS and Windows that sends encrypted backups to storage you choose.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 7, "warners": 0, "score": 5.796, "rising": 2.02, "first": "2026-02-01", "latest": "2026-09-26", "why": "Recommended for encrypted backups to storage you choose, such as Backblaze or a VPS, and often run alongside Time Machine as an offsite safety net.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Storage choice", "Encryption"], "caveat": "Cross-platform setups", "short_quote": "Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.arqbackup.com", "pricing": "paid", "aliases": ["Arq"], "verdict": [{"text": "Recommended for encrypted backups to storage you choose, such as Backblaze or a VPS,", "cites": [{"id": 764260832, "item_id": 47766302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47766302", "by": "decadefade", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is why I use Arq with Backblaze. They just see a bunch of encrypted files", "excerpt": "This is why I use Arq with Backblaze. They just see a bunch of encrypted files with random GUID filenames. They don't need to know what I'm backing up, just that I am backing it up.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}, {"id": 789675328, "item_id": 49354708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354708", "by": "noduerme", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS", "excerpt": "Fair enough, I guess if you want access to your entire lifetime photo collection through your phone that makes sense. As far as backups - I mean, that's just a general question of keeping your laptop backed up. I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS, along with Time Machine to an external SSD.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted remote backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "How do I permanently disable Google Photos pop-up prompt to backup my photos?"}, {"id": 764282704, "item_id": 47767669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47767669", "by": "devnulled", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want", "excerpt": "I highly recommend switching to something more like Arq and then using whatever backend storage that you want. There are probably some other open source ways to do it, etc, but Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want with a GUI to easily configure/keep track of what is going on. Maybe there's something newer/better now (and I bought lifetime licenses of it long ago),", "context": "", "use_case": "backups with chosen storage backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}]}, {"text": " and often run alongside Time Machine as an offsite safety net.", "cites": [{"id": 749587104, "item_id": 46849194, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46849194", "by": "hughw", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq for daily backups, but T.M. for hourly. When T.M. eventually craters its storage, I have robust dailies in the cloud", "excerpt": "The bigger question is why does Time Machine continue use a network file system for backups? It's so fragile you can't rely on it. It's gotten better in recent years, possibly due to APFS, but that just means somewhat longer intervals between disasters (wipe out and reinitialize, losing all your backups). A T.M. using a custom protocol to save and restore blocks would fail sometimes too, but not ruin all your existin", "context": "", "use_case": "daily cloud backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "TIL: Apple Broke Time Machine Again on Tahoe"}, {"id": 789675328, "item_id": 49354708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354708", "by": "noduerme", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS", "excerpt": "Fair enough, I guess if you want access to your entire lifetime photo collection through your phone that makes sense. As far as backups - I mean, that's just a general question of keeping your laptop backed up. I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS, along with Time Machine to an external SSD.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted remote backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "How do I permanently disable Google Photos pop-up prompt to backup my photos?"}]}, {"text": " It suits Mac users who want control over where their backups live,", "cites": [{"id": 795835777, "item_id": 49739736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49739736", "by": "mrngld", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have a Mac, so not just an iPhone, so I use Arq there", "excerpt": "That's tedious. Can't believe nobody mentioned Parachute Backup yet. It had a moment in the sun earlier this year or last year when it first started getting traction. I have a Mac, so not just an iPhone, so I use Arq there, it materializes the iCloud stuff as necessary for backup. But if all you have is an iPhone or iPad along with an external disk, NAS or whatever, Parachute Backup will do backups to a variety of de", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "Mac and iCloud backup", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backups Aren't Simple"}, {"id": 795457600, "item_id": 49716100, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716100", "by": "microtonal", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "macOS has much better quality applications, from small indie stuff like Arq for backups to Affinity Suite, PDF Expert, etc.", "excerpt": "I mean every OS breaks I love Linux (first used it when I was 12yo in 1994), but I also had a Mac since 2007 and macOS never broke for me? The other thing is that even basic stuff like calendars, address books, etc. work many times better on macOS than the Linux desktop. For instance, last time I set up calendar sync in KOrganizer (Evolution-based CalDAV never worked well for me) about a year ago, it started triggeri", "context": "", "use_case": "backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}, {"id": 764282704, "item_id": 47767669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47767669", "by": "devnulled", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want", "excerpt": "I highly recommend switching to something more like Arq and then using whatever backend storage that you want. There are probably some other open source ways to do it, etc, but Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want with a GUI to easily configure/keep track of what is going on. Maybe there's something newer/better now (and I bought lifetime licenses of it long ago),", "context": "", "use_case": "backups with chosen storage backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}]}, {"text": " though one commenter later moved to Vorta to use the same tool as on Linux.", "cites": [{"id": 797744849, "item_id": 49859053, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49859053", "by": "setopt", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used Arq then based on online recommendations", "excerpt": "Good examples. When I switched to Mac in ~2020, the Mac users I knew all told me to avoid Time Machine \u2013 at least two had issues where they needed their backups, only to find that the entirety of their backups had been silently corrupted. (I used Arq then based on online recommendations, now I use Vorta on my Mac just because that\u2019s what I use on Linux.) Spotlight was near-unusable when I switched as well. Often 5+ s", "context": "", "use_case": "macOS backups", "switched_from": "Time Machine", "story": "The Mafia may be keeping fentanyl out of Italy"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Storage choice", "summary": "Commenters like that they control where backups go, using Backblaze or their own VPS.", "quotes": [{"id": 764282704, "item_id": 47767669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47767669", "by": "devnulled", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want", "excerpt": "I highly recommend switching to something more like Arq and then using whatever backend storage that you want. There are probably some other open source ways to do it, etc, but Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want with a GUI to easily configure/keep track of what is going on. Maybe there's something newer/better now (and I bought lifetime licenses of it long ago),", "context": "", "use_case": "backups with chosen storage backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}, {"id": 764260832, "item_id": 47766302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47766302", "by": "decadefade", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is why I use Arq with Backblaze. They just see a bunch of encrypted files", "excerpt": "This is why I use Arq with Backblaze. They just see a bunch of encrypted files with random GUID filenames. They don't need to know what I'm backing up, just that I am backing it up.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}, {"id": 789675328, "item_id": 49354708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354708", "by": "noduerme", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS", "excerpt": "Fair enough, I guess if you want access to your entire lifetime photo collection through your phone that makes sense. As far as backups - I mean, that's just a general question of keeping your laptop backed up. I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS, along with Time Machine to an external SSD.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted remote backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "How do I permanently disable Google Photos pop-up prompt to backup my photos?"}]}, {"label": "Encryption", "summary": "Backups are encrypted, so the storage provider only sees encrypted files with random names.", "quotes": [{"id": 764260832, "item_id": 47766302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47766302", "by": "decadefade", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is why I use Arq with Backblaze. They just see a bunch of encrypted files", "excerpt": "This is why I use Arq with Backblaze. They just see a bunch of encrypted files with random GUID filenames. They don't need to know what I'm backing up, just that I am backing it up.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}, {"id": 789675328, "item_id": 49354708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354708", "by": "noduerme", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS", "excerpt": "Fair enough, I guess if you want access to your entire lifetime photo collection through your phone that makes sense. As far as backups - I mean, that's just a general question of keeping your laptop backed up. I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS, along with Time Machine to an external SSD.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted remote backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "How do I permanently disable Google Photos pop-up prompt to backup my photos?"}]}, {"label": "Time Machine companion", "summary": "Used for daily cloud backups next to Time Machine, as a fallback if Time Machine storage fails.", "quotes": [{"id": 749587104, "item_id": 46849194, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46849194", "by": "hughw", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq for daily backups, but T.M. for hourly. When T.M. eventually craters its storage, I have robust dailies in the cloud", "excerpt": "The bigger question is why does Time Machine continue use a network file system for backups? It's so fragile you can't rely on it. It's gotten better in recent years, possibly due to APFS, but that just means somewhat longer intervals between disasters (wipe out and reinitialize, losing all your backups). A T.M. using a custom protocol to save and restore blocks would fail sometimes too, but not ruin all your existin", "context": "", "use_case": "daily cloud backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "TIL: Apple Broke Time Machine Again on Tahoe"}, {"id": 789675328, "item_id": 49354708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354708", "by": "noduerme", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS", "excerpt": "Fair enough, I guess if you want access to your entire lifetime photo collection through your phone that makes sense. As far as backups - I mean, that's just a general question of keeping your laptop backed up. I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS, along with Time Machine to an external SSD.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted remote backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "How do I permanently disable Google Photos pop-up prompt to backup my photos?"}]}, {"label": "Mac app quality", "summary": "Cited as an example of high-quality indie macOS software, and it handles iCloud files during backup.", "quotes": [{"id": 795457600, "item_id": 49716100, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716100", "by": "microtonal", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "macOS has much better quality applications, from small indie stuff like Arq for backups to Affinity Suite, PDF Expert, etc.", "excerpt": "I mean every OS breaks I love Linux (first used it when I was 12yo in 1994), but I also had a Mac since 2007 and macOS never broke for me? The other thing is that even basic stuff like calendars, address books, etc. work many times better on macOS than the Linux desktop. For instance, last time I set up calendar sync in KOrganizer (Evolution-based CalDAV never worked well for me) about a year ago, it started triggeri", "context": "", "use_case": "backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}, {"id": 795835777, "item_id": 49739736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49739736", "by": "mrngld", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have a Mac, so not just an iPhone, so I use Arq there", "excerpt": "That's tedious. Can't believe nobody mentioned Parachute Backup yet. It had a moment in the sun earlier this year or last year when it first started getting traction. I have a Mac, so not just an iPhone, so I use Arq there, it materializes the iCloud stuff as necessary for backup. But if all you have is an iPhone or iPad along with an external disk, NAS or whatever, Parachute Backup will do backups to a variety of de", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "Mac and iCloud backup", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backups Aren't Simple"}]}, {"label": "Low cost", "summary": "One user reports a lifetime license and a Backblaze bill under $5 a month.", "quotes": [{"id": 764282704, "item_id": 47767669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47767669", "by": "devnulled", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want", "excerpt": "I highly recommend switching to something more like Arq and then using whatever backend storage that you want. There are probably some other open source ways to do it, etc, but Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want with a GUI to easily configure/keep track of what is going on. Maybe there's something newer/better now (and I bought lifetime licenses of it long ago),", "context": "", "use_case": "backups with chosen storage backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Cross-platform setups", "summary": "One commenter switched to Vorta on Mac to match the tool they use on Linux.", "quotes": [{"id": 797744849, "item_id": 49859053, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49859053", "by": "setopt", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used Arq then based on online recommendations", "excerpt": "Good examples. When I switched to Mac in ~2020, the Mac users I knew all told me to avoid Time Machine \u2013 at least two had issues where they needed their backups, only to find that the entirety of their backups had been silently corrupted. (I used Arq then based on online recommendations, now I use Vorta on my Mac just because that\u2019s what I use on Linux.) Spotlight was near-unusable when I switched as well. Often 5+ s", "context": "", "use_case": "macOS backups", "switched_from": "Time Machine", "story": "The Mafia may be keeping fentanyl out of Italy"}]}], "who": [{"by": "mrngld", "context": "Mac user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49739736", "date": "2026-09-17"}], "tags": ["for Mac users", "bring your own storage", "Time Machine companion", "works with Backblaze"], "use_cases": ["macos backups", "mac and icloud backup", "backups", "encrypted remote backups", "backups with chosen storage backend", "encrypted backups"], "compared": [{"slug": "time-machine", "name": "Time Machine", "co": 3, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "backblaze-b2", "name": "Backblaze B2", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47762864", "title": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49842487", "title": "The Mafia may be keeping fentanyl out of Italy", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49732513", "title": "Backups Aren't Simple", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49715463", "title": "Leaving Linux", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49290545", "title": "How do I permanently disable Google Photos pop-up prompt to backup my photos?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848699", "title": "TIL: Apple Broke Time Machine Again on Tahoe", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 797744849, "item_id": 49859053, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49859053", "by": "setopt", "date": "2026-09-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used Arq then based on online recommendations", "excerpt": "Good examples. When I switched to Mac in ~2020, the Mac users I knew all told me to avoid Time Machine \u2013 at least two had issues where they needed their backups, only to find that the entirety of their backups had been silently corrupted. (I used Arq then based on online recommendations, now I use Vorta on my Mac just because that\u2019s what I use on Linux.) Spotlight was near-unusable when I switched as well. Often 5+ s", "context": "", "use_case": "macOS backups", "switched_from": "Time Machine", "story": "The Mafia may be keeping fentanyl out of Italy"}, {"id": 795835777, "item_id": 49739736, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49739736", "by": "mrngld", "date": "2026-09-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have a Mac, so not just an iPhone, so I use Arq there", "excerpt": "That's tedious. Can't believe nobody mentioned Parachute Backup yet. It had a moment in the sun earlier this year or last year when it first started getting traction. I have a Mac, so not just an iPhone, so I use Arq there, it materializes the iCloud stuff as necessary for backup. But if all you have is an iPhone or iPad along with an external disk, NAS or whatever, Parachute Backup will do backups to a variety of de", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "Mac and iCloud backup", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backups Aren't Simple"}, {"id": 795457600, "item_id": 49716100, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716100", "by": "microtonal", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "macOS has much better quality applications, from small indie stuff like Arq for backups to Affinity Suite, PDF Expert, etc.", "excerpt": "I mean every OS breaks I love Linux (first used it when I was 12yo in 1994), but I also had a Mac since 2007 and macOS never broke for me? The other thing is that even basic stuff like calendars, address books, etc. work many times better on macOS than the Linux desktop. For instance, last time I set up calendar sync in KOrganizer (Evolution-based CalDAV never worked well for me) about a year ago, it started triggeri", "context": "", "use_case": "backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Linux"}, {"id": 789675328, "item_id": 49354708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49354708", "by": "noduerme", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS", "excerpt": "Fair enough, I guess if you want access to your entire lifetime photo collection through your phone that makes sense. As far as backups - I mean, that's just a general question of keeping your laptop backed up. I use Arq (highly recommended!) to maintain a remote encrypted backup on a VPS, along with Time Machine to an external SSD.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted remote backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "How do I permanently disable Google Photos pop-up prompt to backup my photos?"}, {"id": 764282704, "item_id": 47767669, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47767669", "by": "devnulled", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want", "excerpt": "I highly recommend switching to something more like Arq and then using whatever backend storage that you want. There are probably some other open source ways to do it, etc, but Arq scratches the itch of having control over your backups and putting them where you want with a GUI to easily configure/keep track of what is going on. Maybe there's something newer/better now (and I bought lifetime licenses of it long ago),", "context": "", "use_case": "backups with chosen storage backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}, {"id": 764260832, "item_id": 47766302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47766302", "by": "decadefade", "date": "2026-04-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is why I use Arq with Backblaze. They just see a bunch of encrypted files", "excerpt": "This is why I use Arq with Backblaze. They just see a bunch of encrypted files with random GUID filenames. They don't need to know what I'm backing up, just that I am backing it up.", "context": "", "use_case": "encrypted backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "Backblaze has stopped backing up your data"}, {"id": 749587104, "item_id": 46849194, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46849194", "by": "hughw", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Arq for daily backups, but T.M. for hourly. When T.M. eventually craters its storage, I have robust dailies in the cloud", "excerpt": "The bigger question is why does Time Machine continue use a network file system for backups? It's so fragile you can't rely on it. It's gotten better in recent years, possibly due to APFS, but that just means somewhat longer intervals between disasters (wipe out and reinitialize, losing all your backups). A T.M. using a custom protocol to save and restore blocks would fail sometimes too, but not ruin all your existin", "context": "", "use_case": "daily cloud backups", "switched_from": "", "story": "TIL: Apple Broke Time Machine Again on Tahoe"}]}