Compare
How ThirdCopy compares
Mac backup software ranges from a free built-in tool to twenty-year-old power suites with their own vocabulary. Here's how ThirdCopy — a $19.99, one-time-purchase, one-way mirror tool — stacks up against the names people actually consider.
Updated August 9, 2026.
Every page below is a real, feature-by-feature comparison, including the places where the other tool wins. If you just want the short version: ThirdCopy trades away bidirectional sync, bootable cloning, and scripting for a single job — mirroring folders to a NAS or drive — done in three setup steps, continuously, for well under half the price of most alternatives.
Backup and sync suites
ChronoSync
The 20-year veteran power tool. Does far more than mirror backup — at a Documents/Tasks/Containers learning cost, and $49.99 versus ThirdCopy's $19.99.
Carbon Copy Cloner
Bombich Software's long-running clone tool. Strong SafetyNet versioning and a household license — not sandboxed, not on the App Store.
SuperDuper!
Just rewritten from scratch (SuperDuper 4, August 2026). Free to run forever — but scheduling and NAS destinations are locked behind registration.
GoodSync
A cross-platform power tool for IT admins, with real two-way sync and a huge range of destinations — sold as a yearly subscription.
FreeFileSync
Free, open-source, and literally has a "Mirror" mode — but scheduling on a Mac means writing your own cron job or launchd file.
Arq Backup
A versioned, cloud-first backup tool, not a mirror tool. Good to know about if what you actually want is history, not a mirror.
Apple's own tool
Other lightweight tools worth knowing about
Two smaller, budget-minded tools come up in the same searches as ThirdCopy. We haven't written full comparisons for either — the detail available on them is thin — but it's worth knowing they exist: Buddha Backup is a roughly $10 lifetime-license drag-and-drop backup utility, and Mirror (by Faini Made) is a small, manual, drag-and-drop one-way mirror tool. Neither is positioned around scheduled or continuous NAS backup the way ThirdCopy is, but if price is your only filter, they're part of the honest list.
Looking for a how-to instead?
If you're trying to solve a specific problem — backing up to a particular NAS brand, understanding what "mirror" even means, or figuring out why iCloud files won't back up right — the guides section covers that ground without the vendor-versus-vendor framing.
Try ThirdCopy free for 14 days — no card required.
Then $19.99 once. No subscription.
Trademarks and product names on this page belong to their respective owners. ThirdCopy is made by Embay, LLC and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the products above; comparisons reflect our research as of the "Updated" date above.