fitgap

Tarsnap

Online backup software
Backup software
Data recovery software
Features
Ease of use
Ease of management
Quality of support
Affordability
Market presence
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Pricing from
Pay-as-you-go
Free Trial unavailable
Free version unavailable
User corporate size
Small
Medium
Large
User industry
  1. Information technology and software
  2. Banking and insurance
  3. Healthcare and life sciences

What is Tarsnap

Tarsnap is a command-line, cloud-based backup service that stores encrypted, deduplicated archives on the vendor’s infrastructure. It targets technical users who want scriptable backups for servers, workstations, and datasets where client-side encryption and integrity verification are priorities. The service uses a pay-for-what-you-use pricing model for storage and bandwidth and is typically integrated into existing automation via cron/systemd and shell scripts.

pros

Strong client-side security model

Tarsnap encrypts data on the client before upload, so the service does not need access to plaintext to store backups. It also includes integrity checking to detect corruption or tampering when reading archives back. This design fits use cases where users want to control keys locally and minimize trust in the storage provider.

Efficient deduplicated backups

The backup format supports deduplication and compression, which can reduce storage consumption for repeated backups of similar data. This is useful for frequent snapshot-style backups of servers and home directories. The approach can lower ongoing storage costs compared with storing full copies each run.

Automation-friendly CLI workflow

Tarsnap is built around a command-line interface that works well with scripts and configuration management. It supports common operational patterns such as scheduled backups, retention policies implemented via scripting, and integration with monitoring/alerting. This makes it suitable for administrators who prefer infrastructure-as-code style operations.

cons

Limited GUI and end-user UX

Tarsnap is primarily CLI-driven and does not provide a full-featured desktop GUI experience typical of many online backup tools. This increases setup and operational effort for non-technical users. Organizations needing self-service restore workflows for broad end-user populations may find it less accessible.

Narrow scope beyond backups

The product focuses on backup/restore rather than broader data management features such as file sync/collaboration, team sharing controls, or content productivity tooling. Users looking for an all-in-one sync-and-backup experience may need additional products. Administrative features like centralized policy management are also more limited than in enterprise backup suites.

Provider lock-in and portability

Backups are stored in Tarsnap’s proprietary archive format and hosted on the vendor’s service, which can make migration to another provider non-trivial. Restores require the Tarsnap tooling and access to the service to retrieve data. This can be a concern for organizations with strict portability or multi-provider requirements.

Plan & Pricing

Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go Pricing details: Storage: 250 picodollars / byte-month of encoded data ($0.25 / GB-month). Bandwidth: 250 picodollars / byte of encoded data ($0.25 / GB). "Encoded data" means the actual bytes stored or transmitted after deduplication, compression, and encryption. No other fees; Tarsnap states there are no fixed costs or minimum monthly fees. Free tier/trial: No permanent free tier or time-limited free trial is advertised on the official site (see notes). Example costs: Example from the Tarsnap FAQ: if encoded (unique compressed) data = 1.7 GB, estimated upload cost ≈ $0.43 and storage ≈ $0.43/month (1.7 * $0.25). Discount options: No discounts or volume/commitment pricing advertised on the official site.

(Notes: All information taken from the official Tarsnap website pages.)

Seller details

Tarsnap Backup Inc.
Private
https://www.tarsnap.com/

Tools by Tarsnap Backup Inc.

Tarsnap
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