Arq
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're comfortable picking a storage provider and want cheap, encrypted Mac/PC backups you control.
Comparison
Arq vs IDrive
Arq lands on Worth it, and IDrive lands on Depends.
IDrive
Depends
Confidence: Medium
A strong value pick for individuals and small businesses backing up many devices on a budget.
| Compare | Arq | IDrive |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Depends |
| Best for | Mac/Windows users with existing cloud storage | Budget multi-device personal backup |
| Who it's not for | Anyone wanting one-click, flat-rate unlimited backup | Anyone needing guaranteed fast, painless restores |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.² | Private-key encryption offered, but a pattern of client vulnerabilities . including a critical 2026 privilege escalation . is a real concern. |
| Support quality | No support evidence found | Reddit restoration and support complaints recur. |
| Public sentiment | Forum users report years of reliable backups and built-in encryption, with occasional grumbling about pricing.³ | Reviewers praise the price and feature breadth, but power users repeatedly report restore pain, client bugs, and intro-pricing frustrations.10 |
| Biggest gotcha | Overage billing at $0.0059/GB monthly beyond 1TB; large media libraries add up fast¹ | Patch the Windows client immediately: CVE-2026-1995 enables local privilege escalation. |
Pick Arq when
- Mac/Windows users with existing cloud storage
- Privacy-focused users wanting client-side encryption
- Photographers with large external drives
- Long-term hands-off personal backup
When Arq is not a fit
- Anyone wanting one-click, flat-rate unlimited backup
- Teams needing centralized admin consoles and user management
- People unwilling to choose and manage a storage provider
- Phone- or tablet-only users; Mac/Windows only
Pick IDrive when
- Budget multi-device personal backup
- Small businesses with mixed endpoints
- Bulk storage seekers (5 TB+ tiers)
- NAS/Synology owners
When IDrive is not a fit
- Anyone needing guaranteed fast, painless restores
- Teams that can't tolerate client-side CVE risk
- Buyers averse to first-year-promo renewal pricing
- Guess: users wanting Dropbox-style sync and sharing
Sources
- Arq official sitearqbackup.comofficial
- Arq security page (no content found)arqbackup.comsecurity
review
- MacRumors: How to encrypt your data before cloud backupforums.macrumors.comreview
- Mastodon: 50GB backed up for 50cbne.socialreview
- Stimpunks field guide: Backup and Passwordsstimpunks.orgreview
- MacRumors: Backblaze versus iDrive threadforums.macrumors.comreview
- tldr.nettime: Going with Arq Backup, cheaper than iDrivetldr.nettime.orgreview
- DPReview forum: Backup software threaddpreview.comreview
- IDrive Review . PCMagpcmag.comreview
- IDrive Review . Experte.comexperte.comreview
- IDrive Online Backup Reviews . Trustpilottrustpilot.comreview
review