Copy Shelter and Backblaze, compared

Where Backblaze is the better answer

• You want a copy in another building with nothing to set up. Install it and your Mac is on its way to Backblaze's cloud. There is no storage to choose or rent.
• You have a lot to back up and want one flat price. Personal Backup is $99 a year per computer, with no limit on file type or size.
• You would like a big restore posted to you. Backblaze will mail your files on a USB drive, free when you send the drive back within 30 days.

Where Copy Shelter is the better answer

• A copy you can hold. A drive on your desk restores at the speed of the drive, with no download first. With Pro, Copy Shelter keeps that copy and a second one in the cloud together.
• Old versions for as long as you decide. Backblaze keeps changed and deleted files for 30 days by default, for a year at no extra storage cost when you turn that on, and for ever at $0.006 per GB per month for files older than a year. Copy Shelter Pro keeps them for as long as you set, or as many as fit in a size you choose.
• Every copy checked. Copy Shelter reads what it wrote back and verifies it, and a copy it has not checked is never counted as a copy.
• Your files back with nothing from us. The backup format is documented, and csctl, a free single file tool, restores from the folder and your passphrase alone.
• A free way to start. Free covers one backup location with no time limit, including encryption, verification and the whole restore. Pro is $39.99 a year, or $79.99 once for this major version.

Encryption

Copy Shelter always encrypts on your Mac, with a key only you hold, before anything is written anywhere. Backblaze offers an option to encrypt your whole backup with a private key of your own. If you choose Backblaze, turning that on is worth the extra step.

Using both

A reasonable setup for anything that matters. Two tools writing to two places fail for different reasons. Copy Shelter can also write straight to Backblaze B2, which is Backblaze's storage service, a separate product billed by how much you store, so one company can hold your offsite copy while Copy Shelter manages and checks it.

The question to ask any backup

Can you get a file back today, from the backup as it is now, on a Mac that has never seen it? Try it with one file before you need it. Copy Shelter's answer is csctl and the published format. Backblaze's answer is its web restore, its app, or a drive in the post.

Common questions

Is Copy Shelter a Backblaze alternative?

For some people. If what you want is a copy in the cloud with nothing to manage, Backblaze does that well. If you want copies you control, on a drive, in storage you rent, or on another Mac, each one encrypted with your key and checked, that is what Copy Shelter is for.

Can Copy Shelter back up to Backblaze?

Yes, to Backblaze B2, the storage service. Add it as a location with your B2 endpoint and keys. Backblaze Personal Backup is a different product with its own app.

What happens to an external drive I leave disconnected with Backblaze?

With the default 30 day history, files that are gone for more than 30 days drop out of the backup, and a drive left disconnected counts. With one year or forever history they are kept, though they no longer show in the current backup view.

Which is cheaper?

It depends on how much you have. Backblaze is $99 a year per computer however much you store. Copy Shelter is free for one location or $39.99 a year for Pro, plus whatever storage you use, which can be a drive you already own.

Backblaze figures are from backblaze.com, its pricing and version history pages, read on 13 September 2026. Prices change, so check them before deciding. Related: Copy Shelter and Arq, Copy Shelter and Time Machine.