Iperius Backup Free copies files and folders to external disks, NAS boxes and other computers on a schedule, with full, incremental and differential backups and email reports. Unusually for a free tool, it installs on Windows Server as well as on workstations.
It is made by Enter Srl, the current version is 8.8.9 (September 2026), and the vendor states there is no licence limitation and no expiry. There are, however, real functional limits — they are listed below, because they decide whether this tool fits your case.
Iperius Backup Free at a glance
| Latest version | 8.8.9, released 21 September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Licence | Free edition of a commercial product |
| Windows | 11, 10, 8, 7 and Server 2008 through 2025 |
| Support | No technical support for the free edition |
| Installer | One installer for all editions; a licence code unlocks the paid features |
What the free edition does
- Full, incremental and differential file backups.
- Destinations: NAS, external USB disks, RDX drives and other computers on the network.
- Unlimited backup jobs with no expiry.
- Comprehensive scheduling, down to specific days and times.
- Email notifications with several recipients — the same email engine as the paid editions.
- Zip compression with no size limit.
- Network authentication for protected shares.
- Running external scripts before or after a job — the usual way to stop a service, copy its data and start it again.
- Advanced filters and an HTML log for every run.
What the free edition does not do
The vendor lists these plainly, and they are worth reading before you plan around it:
- Cannot run as a Windows service. Somebody has to be logged in for scheduled jobs to run — the most important limitation on a server.
- No file synchronisation: files deleted at the source are not deleted at the destination.
- No drive image or disaster recovery backup.
- No cloud destinations — no OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3 or Azure.
- No FTP to a remote server.
- No tape backup.
- No database backup — SQL Server, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and Oracle are paid features.
- No virtual machine backup (VMware or Hyper-V), no Exchange, no Microsoft 365.
- No copying of open files through shadow copy, and no AES-256 encryption.
Download and set up
- Click the Download button at the top of this page and unpack the archive.
- Run the installer with administrator rights, especially on a server.
- Create a backup job: choose the folders, then the destination, then the type — full, incremental or differential.
- Set the schedule. Remember that the free edition needs an interactive session: on a server that reboots and sits at the login screen, nothing will run.
- Configure email notifications and send a test message before you trust the job.
- Restore a couple of files from the backup yourself. A backup nobody has restored is a hypothesis.
Where it fits, and where it does not
Good fit: a workstation or a small file server where somebody is logged in anyway; copying documents to a NAS on a schedule; a simple second copy alongside your main backup system.
Poor fit: unattended servers, databases, virtual machines, Exchange, cloud destinations, or anything where you need the whole machine restored after a disk failure. Those are exactly the paid features, and there is no way around them in the free edition.
Common questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Why did my scheduled backup not run? | The free edition cannot run as a service — the user must be logged in. |
| Can it back up SQL Server? | No, database backup is a paid feature. A script that dumps the database first, then a file backup, is the workaround. |
| Will it copy a file that is open? | No. Shadow-copy support is a paid feature; open files are skipped. |
| Does it delete files at the destination when I delete them at the source? | No — there is no synchronisation in the free edition. The destination keeps growing. |
| Is there support? | Not for the free edition. |
Iperius vs. alternatives
| Tool | How it compares |
|---|---|
| SyncBackFree | Free including commercial use and does synchronise; but does not support Windows Server |
| Personal Backup | Free, flexible scheduling and encryption, workstation-oriented |
| Veeam Agent Free | Image-level backup and bare-metal restore — the gap Iperius Free leaves open |
| FBackup | Free for personal and commercial use, simpler, cloud destinations included |
FAQ
Is Iperius Backup Free really free?
Yes, the vendor states there is no licence limitation and no expiry. Technical support is not provided for it.
Can I use it on Windows Server?
It installs on Windows Server 2008 through 2025, but it cannot run as a service, so a user must be logged in for scheduled jobs.
Can it back up to the cloud?
No, cloud destinations are a paid feature.
Does it make a full disk image?
No. Drive image and disaster recovery are paid features; the free edition copies files and folders.
What is the difference between incremental and differential here?
Incremental copies what changed since the last backup of any kind; differential copies everything changed since the last full backup. Both are available in the free edition.
Can it back up virtual machines?
No. VMware and Hyper-V backup are paid features.
