Cloud storage · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Backblaze Personal Backup?

KINDA· weekend project

The software half is a weekend at most: restic or Kopia already do encrypted, deduplicated snapshots, and an agent can wrap one in a scheduler, retention rules, a status page and a restore browser. What an agent can't build is the storage. Backblaze sells room for a whole computer at a flat $9, while a DIY copy on its own B2 bucket costs about $7 per TB, so a big photo or video library is cheaper to rent from them. Pick the DIY route when the data is a few hundred gigabytes, you want your own encryption key, or you also need Linux and NAS sources that Backblaze skips.

$9/moprice per seat

$108you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA weekend; the first upload runs for days

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22 and resticInstall restic with Homebrew, winget or your package manager before the first run.
A place to keep the repositoryAn external drive is free; a B2 bucket costs about $7 per TB per month.
Upload bandwidthHome uplinks decide how long the first full backup takes.

Before you buildBackblaze gives a 15-day trial. For a few hundred gigabytes, a free restic or Kopia setup on an external drive may already be enough.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a scheduled computer backup tool to replace Backblaze Personal Backup. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a CLI `bk` (commander) and a background runner. The engine is restic
  (0.17 or newer) on the PATH; shell out to it with `execa` and never reimplement encryption,
  chunking or deduplication.
- Config in ~/.config/bk/config.toml (`smol-toml`): folders to include, exclude globs (default
  node_modules, .cache, Library/Caches, AppData/Local/Temp, *.iso, *.vmdk), the repository
  (a local path, an external drive, or `b2:<bucket>:<path>`), interval (default hourly) and
  retention. Secrets only in .env: RESTIC_PASSWORD_FILE, B2_ACCOUNT_ID, B2_ACCOUNT_KEY.
- Runner: `bk run` backs up on the interval, `bk install-service` registers a launchd agent
  (macOS), a Task Scheduler task (Windows) or a systemd user timer (Linux). If the repository
  is unreachable, retry with backoff and log it; skip a run on battery below 20%.
- Retention: default 30 days of history (`restic forget --prune`, keep 24 hourly and 30 daily),
  with a setting for one year. Weekly `restic check --read-data-subset=5%`.
- Status page: Fastify on http://localhost:4860 with the last successful run, bytes added,
  files skipped because they were locked, repository size, and a snapshot browser with search
  that restores a chosen path into a folder you pick.
- Alerts: no successful backup for 48 hours raises a desktop notification (`node-notifier`)
  and an optional SMTP email from .env.
- Tests with vitest on a temp restic repository: back up, change a file, delete it, restore
  the old version, and confirm the retention policy drops what it should.
- Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first: the only traffic is restic talking to your
  repository.
- Out of scope: NAS or network shares, a mobile app, mailed-drive restores, a multi-computer
  dashboard, and Volume Shadow Copy (locked files are skipped and retried next run).
- README: installing restic, creating a B2 bucket with an application key limited to it, the
  first-upload estimate (1 TB at 20 Mbit/s up takes about five days), and a warning to test a
  restore before trusting it.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Backblaze Personal Backup.

Extend the backup tool in this folder. Requirements:

- Allow a second repository in config.toml (a different drive or bucket) and a command
  `bk copy` that runs `restic copy` from the first into the second after each backup.
- Show both repositories on the status page with their last successful copy time.
- If the copy has not succeeded for seven days, raise the same alert as a missed backup.
- Update the README with a 3-2-1 explanation in plain words.

Add automatic restore tests to the backup tool in this folder. Requirements:

- Once a month, `bk verify` picks 20 random files from the latest snapshot, restores them
  into a temp folder, and compares SHA-256 hashes with the live files that haven't changed.
- Record the result in ./data/verify.json and show it on the status page.
- A failed check sends the alert; clean the temp folder in every case.
- Update the README.

Add an SFTP target to the backup tool in this folder. Requirements:

- Support `sftp:user@host:/path` repositories with key-based login; `bk doctor` checks the
  connection, free space and that restic can open the repository.
- Add bandwidth limits by time of day in config.toml, passed to restic as --limit-upload.
- Document creating a restricted SSH account on the other machine that can only write to one
  folder.
- Update the README.

What you lose

Flat pricing with no storage meter, however much data the computer holds
The restore app, the mobile restore apps and web restores of single files
Mailed USB hard drive restores for when downloading terabytes is too slow
A tested client that copes with open files, drive swaps and OS updates on Mac and Windows
Someone else's data centers, so nothing breaks if your own drive and bucket go together

Why people still pay

It's the install-and-forget option: one app, one price, and every file on the machine goes offsite without choosing folders. Nobody has to run a repository, rotate keys or notice a failed job, and the mailed drive covers the day a full restore matters most.

Moatinfrastructure scale execution polish

Do the math

Backblaze Personal Backup or your own copy?

Seats

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Backblaze Personal Backup, 1 yr$108

Your own copy, 1 yr$92running + build session

You keep$17pays for itself in 4 months

Estimate · Free to an external drive; about $7 a month per terabyte on B2, so two terabytes costs more than Backblaze's $9. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Backblaze Personal Backup

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Backblaze Personal Backup

1Your files are still on your computer: the backup is a copy, so the first thing is to check that nothing lives only in Backblaze.
2To pull data back, sign in to the web console and use View/Restore Files; choose a ZIP download (the product page says up to 500 GB per request), the restore app, or a mailed USB hard drive.
3The mailed drive takes roughly one to two business days per terabyte to prepare and ships by FedEx; return it within 30 days for a refund.
4Version history in Backblaze is not exportable as a set: restore the versions you need as files first.

2 · Cancel Backblaze Personal Backup

1Sign in to the Backblaze web console and open Preferences under Computer Backup.
2Find the backup and click Delete Backup; a confirmation code arrives by email, enter it and click Continue.
3Under Computer Backup, open Overview and click Delete in the Unused License section.
4Repeat for each computer. To remove the account too, deactivate it, then My Settings > Delete Account.

Deleting a backup immediately and irreversibly deletes its data, so finish your new backup and test a restore first.
Download invoices before deleting the account; once it's deleted, the data is out of reach.
An account that belongs to a group, or is its admin, can't be deleted until the group is dissolved.
The cancel steps don't mention refunds: ask support if you've prepaid a year or two.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Backblaze Personal Backup's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

resticOpen sourceCommand-line backup with encrypted, deduplicated snapshots to local disks, SFTP or S3-style buckets including B2.★ 37k · active Oct 2026 · self-host, real ops
mac, Windows, LinuxVisit ↗KopiaOpen sourceEncrypted, deduplicated backups with a desktop UI, scheduled snapshots and a policy per folder; Apache-2.0.★ 14k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
mac, Windows, LinuxVisit ↗BorgBackupOpen sourceDeduplicating archiver with compression and authenticated encryption, aimed at Unix-like systems and SSH targets.★ 14k · active Oct 2026 · self-host, real ops
mac, LinuxVisit ↗

All 5 free alternatives to Backblaze Personal Backup ›

The numbers

Backblaze Personal Backup pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Free trial	$0	—	15 days of Computer Backup, no card required.
Personal Backup	$9	$8.25	Unlimited data from one computer plus its connected external drives, no file-size limit, 30-day version history, one-year history at no extra charge.

Billing: Monthly, yearly or two-year billing; each computer needs its own license. The page shows $9 a month, $99 a year and $189 for two years.
Hidden costs: Forever version history is billed by storage once a version is older than a year. The docs don't print that rate; a 2023 TidBITS report gave $0.005 per GB per month, so check your account. Mailed restore drives cost extra unless you send them back within 30 days.
Source: www.backblaze.com

Also on the list

Box Personal Pro$14/mo · Cloud storageKINDA

Dropbox Plus$11.99/mo · Cloud storageKINDA

Ente Photos$2.99/mo · Cloud storageNOT REALLY

Questions

Backblaze Personal Backup, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

No free plan; a 15-day trial needs no credit card.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: Flat pricing with no storage meter, however much data the computer holds, The restore app, the mobile restore apps and web restores of single files.

About $9 a month on the Personal Backup plan per seat, $108 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Flat pricing with no storage meter, however much data the computer holds; The restore app, the mobile restore apps and web restores of single files; Mailed USB hard drive restores for when downloading terabytes is too slow; A tested client that copes with open files, drive swaps and OS updates on Mac and Windows; Someone else's data centers, so nothing breaks if your own drive and bucket go together. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.