Backblaze Personal is $9 a month, forever, for backups that live on their cloud. Syncvault watches your folders, encrypts everything on your machine with AES-256-GCM, and pushes versioned, deduplicated backups to storage you already pay for. $29, once. Your recurring cost is your storage provider's bytes (~$6/TB/mo on B2), not a software subscription stacked on top.
If you've searched for a Backblaze Personal alternative, Syncvault is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Syncvault is $29, one time, and covers the same core job Backblaze Personal charges $9/mo for.
What makes Syncvault the pick for 2026
- Client-side AES-256-GCM — Key is derived from your passphrase with scrypt, never uploaded and never stored in plaintext.
- Content-addressed dedupe — Objects are keyed by SHA-256 of content, so identical or unchanged files upload exactly once.
- Point-in-time versioning — Keep the last N versions of every file and browse the backed-up tree as of any point in time to restore.
- BYO destinations — Any S3-compatible endpoint (AWS, B2, Wasabi, R2, MinIO) or a plain local/network folder, mixed per folder.
- Per-folder scheduling — Manual, continuous, hourly or daily per folder, with deletion tombstones that track removed files without losing history.
Syncvault vs Backblaze Personal, at a glance
| Syncvault | Backblaze Personal | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | $9/mo |
| Cost after 1 year | $29 + ~$7 storage | $108 |
| Client-side encryption | Yes | Opt-in |
| Any S3 provider | Yes | No |
| Point-in-time version browsing | Yes | Yes |
| Works with local/NAS targets | Yes | No |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
A 100 GB backup is $29 once plus ~$7/yr of storage versus $108/yr on Backblaze — it pays for itself in about four months, then it's just bytes.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — Syncvault is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/data-backup-cloud-sync-mvp. The $29 buys the signed Windows installer and 1-click setup; building from source is free.
What happens to my data if I stop using Syncvault?
Nothing is locked up. The SV1 file format is documented, and your data is recoverable with ~20 lines of Node — no vendor lock-in, even from us.
Do you ever see my files or my key?
No. Encryption is client-side, the key never leaves your machine, and the index is a local SQLite file with zero telemetry.
The bottom line
Syncvault won't out-feature Backblaze Personal on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $29 once against $9/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Syncvault is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Syncvault — $29, once
Local backup agent that encrypts client-side and pushes to your own S3-compatible bucket or NAS.