Carbon Copy Cloner
full-disk copies and versioned local backups you can restore from
This version
Major versions are paid: your CCC 7 licence also unlocks CCC 5 and 6, but the next major release will cost again at a 25-50% discount. Apple no longer guarantees a bootable clone of the system volume on Apple silicon, so treat CCC as a data-restore tool rather than a guaranteed spare boot disk. It copies to drives and network shares you own; no cloud storage is included, and the current version requires macOS Ventura or later.
Cost over five years
$50 once = 6 months of Backblaze Personal Backup. Over five years that is $495 rented against $49.99 owned — $445 kept, and you still have the app.
Backblaze Personal Backup priced at $99 a year — offsite subscription backup — CCC replaces the local half of a backup plan, not the offsite half. Checked 2026-09-22.
Carbon Copy Cloner is the app Mac people reach for when they want a local backup they have actually tested. Point it at an external drive and it writes a full copy of your disk, file for file, then keeps that copy current on a schedule or whenever the drive is plugged in. On APFS it takes snapshots, so you can go back to how a folder looked last Tuesday rather than only to the latest state. The task history is legible in a way Time Machine's is not: you can see what was copied, what was skipped and why.
One payment of $49.99 covers every Mac in your household for personal use, and that licence keeps working on CCC 5, 6 and 7. The boundary is the major version. CCC 8 will be a fresh purchase at a discount, and the app will not stop working if you decline it.
Do not buy it expecting an emergency boot disk. On Apple silicon, Apple no longer promises that a copied system volume will boot, and Bombich is upfront about that. What you get is a complete, mountable copy of your data that restores quickly from a drive on your desk.
If Time Machine has never let you down and you have no external drive routine, start with a drive, not with this.
What it looks like
What it does
- Full disk copies with APFS snapshot support
- Scheduled and event-triggered backup tasks
- SafetyNet keeps files deleted or changed since the last run
- Restores a single file or an entire volume
- One licence covers every Mac in the household
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Also bought outright in files
The facts
- Price
- $49.99
- Licence
- Own this version forever
- What you get
- One payment buys this major version outright. The next major version is a separate purchase, if you want it.
- Details
- $49.99 for the Personal & Household licence, valid on every Mac in your household for non-commercial use, and also valid with CCC 5 and CCC 6. Upgrades from older versions run 25-50% off. Commercial use needs a separate licence from Bombich's corporate store. Prices exclude local taxes and VAT.
- Free trial
- Yes
- On Setapp
- No
- Minimum macOS
- macOS 13
- Developer
- Bombich Software
- Price checked
- 2026-09-22
Check it yourself - Price band
- $30 to $60