Backspark

Backup for your Mac

Backs up your Mac. Then gets out of the way.

Encrypted on your Mac. Light on it too. $99 a year.

Download for Mac Free for 15 days, up to 50 GB

macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon

The Backspark panel, open from the menu bar. It says Protected, last backup 12 minutes ago, with Pause, Back up now, Restore, Activity, Skipped and This Mac.

137 MB: Peak memory
178 to 307 MB: Kept on disk
24 to 48 s: A full look, nothing changed
12 ms: Pause to stopped

2.3 million real files, one busy Mac, nothing uploaded. How we measured

On that same Mac, a well-known backup app used 12.9 GB of memory.

Peak memoryOne dot is 10 MB

Backspark 2.3M files137 MB

A well-known backup app 25M files12.9 GB

Kept on diskOne dot is 10 MB

Backspark 2.3M files178 to 307 MB

A well-known backup app 25M files52 GB

Not like for like yet. Theirs was a whole Mac, uploading, with memory as resident size from its logs. Ours was three folders on it, nothing uploaded, with memory as footprint. All the numbers

It shows where every megabyte went.

The This Mac screen, listing everything Backspark keeps on disk by name, with the size of each. — The app's own screens, with sample files.

Most of the time, it does nothing.

macOS tells it what changed, so it doesn't go looking.

One look for changesOne dot is 30 seconds

Backspark everything, at worst48 s

A well-known backup app typically30 min

Pause means pause.

Backing up 18,204,663,120 bytes sent

Go ahead, it's a demo. A real backup stopped within 12 ms, 30 times out of 30. The other app's two cancelled passes took 22 and 28 minutes.

It skips what you can rebuild.

node_modules
Build output
Caches
AI models
Simulators

One of our project foldersOne dot is 10 MB

Selected to back up of 3.78 GB173 MB

my-app

Cargo.toml

targetSkipped

Photos

targetKept

buildKept

.env

The Skipped screen, listing what was left out, such as AI models and JavaScript dependencies, with the size of each. — It says what it left out, and why.

Only you can read it. That includes us.

Your MacFiles and key

UsNoise

24 words, made on your Mac
We can't read your files
We can't reset your words

The setup screen showing 24 numbered words, under the heading These 24 words are your key. — Made-up words. No outside firm has audited Backspark yet, so treat these claims as ours. How it works

The encryption screen, saying End-to-end encryption is on, with the key fingerprint and when the backup was last verified. — Made-up words. No outside firm has audited Backspark yet, so treat these claims as ours. How it works

Getting a file back takes a search.

The Restore screen, listing six saved versions of one file. — It tests your backup every week by decrypting part of it.

The Activity screen, listing recent backups and what each one saved. — It tests your backup every week by decrypting part of it.

$99 a year.

One Mac, everything on its own disk
No limit, nothing metered
Restores included
15 days free, up to 50 GB

Worth knowing

Lose your 24 words and your Mac, and your backup is gone. That's the point.
Files of 1 MB and up go to deep storage after a month unchanged. Restoring those can wait up to 48 hours. Not run for real yet.
Updates are built to install themselves. Not run for real yet either.
External drives aren't backed up for now.

Get it

Download for Mac

Needs macOS 15 or later and Apple silicon. Move it to Applications and open it from there.

It's new, tested on a handful of Macs. Keep the backup you have for now.