Top 10 Best Deduplication Software of 2026

Borg Backup is a powerful, open-source deduplicating backup tool that stores data efficiently by breaking files into content-defined chunks and only saving unique segments across backups. It supports compression, LZ4/LZMA/Zstandard algorithms, authenticated encryption with AES-256, and remote repositories over SSH. Borg enables fast incremental backups, archive mounting as filesystems, and intelligent pruning to manage retention policies effectively.

Restic is an open-source backup tool designed for efficient data deduplication, encryption, and secure storage across various backends like local disks, SFTP, S3-compatible services, and more. It uses content-defined chunking to eliminate redundant data blocks across multiple snapshots and files, minimizing storage needs while maintaining snapshot integrity. Users benefit from atomic backups, fast incremental operations, and easy verification/mounting of archives as filesystems.

Duplicati is a free, open-source backup software that specializes in deduplication, compression, and encryption to efficiently store data across local drives and numerous cloud providers like Google Drive, OneDrive, and S3-compatible services. It performs client-side block-level deduplication, ensuring minimal storage usage even for incremental backups of large datasets. Cross-platform compatibility (Windows, macOS, Linux) and a web-based interface make it accessible for automated, scheduled backups with strong focus on privacy and security.

Kopia is a fast, secure, open-source backup and restore tool designed for efficient data protection with built-in deduplication, compression, and end-to-end encryption. It supports snapshot-based backups with versioning and works across Windows, macOS, and Linux, storing data on diverse backends like local disks, S3-compatible storage, SFTP, RClone remotes, and cloud providers. Ideal for personal or small-scale enterprise use, it minimizes storage needs through content-defined chunking while maintaining high performance.

Duplicacy is an efficient deduplication backup software that uses content-defined chunking with an averaging filter to achieve superior deduplication ratios across multiple backups and machines. It supports a wide array of storage backends, including local storage, S3-compatible clouds like AWS, Wasabi, and Backblaze B2, with features like incremental backups, pruning, and optional client-side encryption. Designed for reliability, it employs a lock-free architecture allowing concurrent operations without conflicts.

OpenDedup (SDFS) is an open-source deduplication filesystem and backup storage target designed for Linux, providing variable-length block deduplication, inline compression, and optional encryption to maximize storage efficiency. It mounts as a virtual filesystem via FUSE, allowing seamless integration with backup tools like Bacula, Duplicati, or Amanda, while supporting local disks or cloud backends such as S3. The software excels in achieving high deduplication ratios for backup and archival workloads through content-defined chunking.

dupeGuru is a free, open-source cross-platform tool designed to find and remove duplicate files on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It supports four scanning modes—Content, Music, Pictures, and Blanks—using advanced algorithms like perceptual hashing for images and audio fingerprinting for music to detect both exact duplicates and fuzzy matches. Users can preview matches, view similarity scores, and safely delete duplicates with options for hard links or permanent removal.

Duplicate Cleaner is a Windows-exclusive software tool specialized in detecting and removing duplicate files across hard drives, including photos, music, videos, documents, and more. It employs multiple matching criteria such as byte-for-byte comparison, content analysis for images and media, filename similarity, and metadata tags for audio/video. Beyond basic deduplication, it also identifies similar files, empty folders, and supports folder synchronization to optimize storage efficiently.

AllDup is a free, portable duplicate file finder for Windows that scans drives for identical or similar files based on content, byte-by-byte comparison, file size, name, or date. It offers advanced features like hash-based detection (MD5, SHA), filtering with wildcards and regex, and handling of various file types including images, music, and videos. Users can preview, select, and manage duplicates by deleting, moving, copying, or replacing with links, making it effective for reclaiming disk space on large storage systems.

Wise Duplicate Finder is a free Windows utility from WiseCleaner that scans and removes duplicate files to reclaim disk space and organize storage. It detects duplicates by filename, size, date, and content via MD5 hashing, supporting images, videos, music, documents, and more. Users benefit from preview panes, folder protection, and safe deletion options to avoid accidental data loss.