#KopiaLens vs Plakar

Plakar is an open-source backup platform, built in France, that pairs a content-addressed store called Kloset with a fast command line, an API and a web UI. KopiaLens is a backup app on the Kopia engine, built around a desktop workflow and a view inside the backups. Plakar aims at technical teams and very large data sets; KopiaLens aims at a backup you can see into and clean up.

	KopiaLens	Plakar
What it is	A backup app that shows what is inside your backups	An open-source backup platform, CLI-first with a web UI
Works with	Kopia repositories	Plakar stores (Kloset format)
Platforms	Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker and NAS, Home Assistant, browser	Linux and macOS (one Go binary); Windows hosts backed up agentless over SSH
Scheduled backups	Yes, built in, per policy	Scheduler configuration, or cron and systemd
Browse and restore	Yes, in the app	plakar ui web UI or CLI; browse, preview and restore from any snapshot
Deduplication	Yes, Kopia content-based	Yes, content-defined chunking in Kloset
Encryption	Yes, end-to-end; the password never leaves the machine	Yes, with an independent audit of the implementation
Remove files from old snapshots	Pro, guided with previews	Delete snapshots; maintenance then frees the space
Price (November 2026)	Free; Pro $20/year or $50 lifetime at launch pricing	Free, open source (ISC); commercial offerings from the company

#What KopiaLens adds

• A desktop app. Schedules, restore, verify and alerts in one place, with no CLI or config files to assemble.
• Where the space goes. Real folder sizes after deduplication, reclaimable space, churn, search across snapshots and retention simulation, in the app.
• Guided removal (Pro). Preview taking a folder out of every snapshot before anything is deleted.
• A portable standard. Kopia repositories open in KopiaUI and the kopia command line on any machine; a Plakar store is open source, but its own format.
• Every desktop. The same app on Windows, macOS and Linux, plus Docker and NAS for the homelab.

#What Plakar does well

• A new design. Immutable, content-addressed snapshots; parallel uploads; maintenance that runs without blocking backups or restores. Built by a funded team - Gilles Chehade and Julien Mangeard, with a $3M seed round in 2025.
• Fast and efficient. Content-defined chunking with strong deduplication and compression; community benchmarks on its site put million-item restores in minutes.
• Built for code. A CLI, SDK and API, Terraform provider, Ansible support, and a Kubernetes operator, so a backup posture can live in Git.
• Growing integrations. PostgreSQL and Notion sources, agentless Windows VSS and SQL Server backup, a Proxmox integration in testing, and VMware backup now in the free version.
• An active young community. More than 2,100 GitHub stars, an active Discord, regular releases (v1.1.8, October 2026) and a public road map.

#Who should pick which

Pick Plakar for a scriptable backup layer on servers, for very large data sets, or when you want your backup posture defined as code - Terraform, Ansible or Kubernetes.

Pick KopiaLens for computers a person uses: a desktop app on Windows, macOS or Linux that starts with a schedule and ends with a view inside the backups and the junk removed. It is not a Plakar front end.

#Switching

Plakar stores and Kopia repositories are unrelated. Moving means a new Kopia repository in KopiaLens and keeping Plakar for the old stores until you have restored what you need from them. There is no conversion tool.

The backup app is free. Pro, for cleanup, costs $20 a year or $50 lifetime at launch pricing. Download KopiaLens or see the plans.

Prices and product facts checked November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Email support@kopialens.com and we'll fix it.