ThirdCopy vs. Arq

ThirdCopy vs. Arq: not really the same kind of backup

Arq is a versioned, cloud-first backup tool from Haystack Software — encrypted, deduplicated snapshots you can restore from months later. ThirdCopy is a $19.99 one-time app that keeps a plain, current mirror of your chosen folders on a NAS or drive. One accumulates history; the other reflects right now.

Updated August 9, 2026. Arq's pricing changes September 1, 2026 — always confirm current details on Haystack Software's site before buying.

Quick verdict

Arq and ThirdCopy aren't really competing for the same job. Arq takes versioned snapshot backups — often to cloud storage — and keeps a history you can restore from weeks or months later, managed against a storage budget you set. ThirdCopy takes zero-history, one-way mirror backups of chosen folders to a NAS or drive, so the destination always matches what's on the source right now. If you want "go back in time and recover a deleted file" or backups on cloud storage you already pay for, Arq is the right tool. If you want "my NAS always has an exact, current, browsable copy of my Documents folder," that's ThirdCopy's job, and Arq is more machinery than you need for it. Plenty of people reasonably want both.

	ThirdCopy	Arq
Price model	$19.99 once, that's it	$49.99 once (Arq 7) or $59.99/yr (Arq Premium) — both rising Sept 1, 2026
Free trial	14 days	30 days
What it backs up	Chosen folders, current state only	Versioned snapshots, kept within a storage budget you set
Backup model	One-way mirror — no history	Incremental, versioned snapshot backup
Primary destination type	NAS/SMB share or local/external drive	Cloud storage (S3, B2, Wasabi, Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SFTP…) — NAS/local also supported
Restore method	Open the destination in Finder — plain files	Arq's restore interface, browsing versioned snapshots
Encryption & deduplication	Not offered	Yes, both, built in
Mac App Store / sandboxed	Yes, sandboxed	No Mac App Store listing found; not sandboxed
If you stop paying	Nothing changes — you own it forever	Arq 7: nothing changes. Arq Premium: client goes restore-only
Setup	3 steps: folders, destination, schedule	Destination(s), backup plan, storage budget

What Arq actually is

Arq, made by Haystack Software, is a versioned backup tool built around incremental snapshots: an initial full backup, then automatic hourly or daily backups after that, each one capturing only what changed. It keeps a running history of those snapshots — encrypted, deduplicated, and compressed — until they exceed a storage budget you configure, at which point it starts dropping the oldest ones. Destinations range from Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, and Wasabi to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, any S3-compatible server, SFTP, or a plain local drive or NAS.

Where Arq wins

Cloud-native destinations. Arq talks directly to S3, B2, Wasabi, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and more — genuine offsite backup without needing a NAS or a second physical location at all. ThirdCopy only writes to a NAS share or a local/external drive.
Encryption and deduplication. Backups are encrypted and deduplicated automatically, which matters a lot more once you're paying for cloud storage by the gigabyte. ThirdCopy's destination is a plain, unencrypted copy of your files, by design.
Real version history. Recover a file the way it looked last month, not just the way it looks today, with retention governed by a storage budget you set. A mirror can't do this — that's the whole point of a mirror.
Storage flexibility with no forced subscription. Point Arq at storage you already pay for — your own S3 bucket, your own NAS — and the one-time Arq 7 license has no subscription attached at all.
Built for the offsite leg of backup. If your plan needs one copy somewhere physically distant, Arq's cloud destinations are made for exactly that; ThirdCopy's aren't.

Where ThirdCopy is different

It's a mirror, not an archive. The destination always matches the source's current state — nothing to browse through, nothing to restore from a snapshot, because there isn't one.
Simpler by scope. Three setup steps, no storage-budget math, no retention policy to configure — because there's no history to manage in the first place.
A plain, browsable copy. Open the destination folder in Finder and you're looking at real files, not an encrypted, deduplicated store you can only get into through Arq's own client.
No subscription, ever, in any configuration. ThirdCopy is $19.99 once, full stop. Arq is only subscription-free if you choose the one-time Arq 7 license pointed at your own storage — Arq Premium is a yearly plan.
Continuous by default. An FSEvents watcher mirrors changes within seconds to a couple of minutes, rather than on an hourly or daily incremental schedule.

Mirror vs. versioned backup: what it actually means day to day

The difference between a mirror and a versioned backup sounds abstract until you hit the moment it matters. Say you delete a folder by accident on Tuesday and don't notice until Friday. With ThirdCopy, if a run has already happened in between, that folder is gone from the mirror too — unless you've turned on the optional "keep deleted files for N days" holding period, which exists specifically to cover this kind of gap. With Arq, Tuesday's version of that folder is just still there, sitting in a snapshot from before the deletion, because that's what versioned backup is for.

Now flip it: say you want your NAS to always reflect exactly what's in your Documents folder right now, browsable in Finder, without thinking about snapshots, retention, or a storage budget slowly filling up. That's ThirdCopy's whole job — and arguably more backup tool than you need if all you want is a current, always-fresh copy.

Neither behavior is a bug — they're the intended result of two different designs. A mirror answers "what does my source look like right now, safely duplicated elsewhere." A versioned backup answers "what did my source look like at various points in the past, and can I get back to one of them." Most people's real backup needs include a bit of both.

Two tools, not a tradeoff

It's easy to treat backup software as a single decision — pick the best option and move on. But a mirror and a versioned backup protect against different things, and running both isn't redundant, it's complementary. Arq (or any versioned tool, cloud or local) covers the "I need history, and ideally an offsite copy" half of a real backup plan. ThirdCopy covers the "I need a fast, current, browsable local-network copy I can grab a file from without thinking" half. Together they get closer to genuine 3-2-1 backup — multiple copies, on different media, with different failure modes — than either tool covers alone. See our 3-2-1 backup guide for Mac users for how the pieces fit together.

Questions

Is Arq a mirror tool?

No. Arq takes versioned, incremental snapshot backups — an initial full backup, then automatic hourly or daily incrementals, keeping a history of versions until it hits a storage budget you set, at which point it drops the oldest ones. ThirdCopy is the opposite kind of tool: a one-way mirror that only ever reflects your source's current state, with no version history at all.

Can I use ThirdCopy and Arq together?

Yes, and they cover different ground well. Arq can point at cloud storage (or your own NAS) for encrypted, versioned, offsite-style backups — the offsite leg of a real 3-2-1 setup. ThirdCopy keeps a plain, current, Finder-browsable mirror of your most important folders on a local NAS or drive, with nothing to restore or decrypt to grab a file. Running both isn't redundant — it's two different failure modes covered.

Does Arq require a subscription?

Not necessarily. Arq 7 is a one-time purchase ($49.99, rising to $59.99 on September 1, 2026) with a perpetual license and one year of free app updates — no subscription required if you point it at storage you already own, like your own NAS or S3/B2 account. Arq Premium is the subscription option ($59.99/year, rising to $69.99/year), bundling 1TB of Arq-managed cloud storage across up to 5 computers. Only Premium's client goes restore-only if you cancel — that restriction doesn't apply to the one-time Arq 7 license.

Is ThirdCopy a replacement for Arq's version history?

No. ThirdCopy is a mirror, not a versioned backup tool — deleting a file at the source removes it from the mirror on the next run, subject to an optional holding period for recently deleted files. That's not the same as Arq-style long-term version history. If you need to recover a file as it existed weeks or months ago, or you want backups on cloud storage, Arq is the right tool for that job.

Try ThirdCopy free for 14 days — no card required.

Then $19.99 once. No subscription.

Arq, Arq 7, and Arq Premium are products of Haystack Software. ThirdCopy is made by Embay, LLC and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Haystack Software. Figures above reflect our research as of the "Updated" date; see Haystack Software's site for current pricing.