BackupKit vs AOMEI Backupper

AOMEI Backupper Standard is one of the most-downloaded free backup tools for Windows. It does disk imaging, partition cloning, system backup, file backup, and a bit of synchronization — all from a single app, all free for personal use.

BackupKit and AOMEI Backupper get compared a lot, but they really solve different problems. AOMEI is about “clone my whole drive” or “image my system partition.” BackupKit is about “keep my files backed up to the cloud on a schedule.”

Honestly? A lot of users want both. Here's how to think about it.

What each one actually does well

AOMEI Backupper: making a full-system image, restoring a system after a disk failure, cloning a drive to a new SSD, partition operations. The free tier handles all of this competently.

BackupKit: continuous, scheduled backup of specific folders to cloud or remote storage, with encryption, retention policies, and automated notifications. Not a system imager, not a disk cloner.

Cloud support

AOMEI Backupper's free tier can write to local and network drives, but cloud destinations (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive) require the paid Pro tier ($49.95/yr or $69.95 one-time lifetime). And even on Pro, the cloud support is essentially “treat the cloud sync folder on your disk as a destination” rather than direct API integration.

BackupKit treats cloud as native: S3, GCS, Azure, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, pCloud, Box, MEGA, plus FTP/SFTP/WebDAV. The cloud destination is the cloud account itself, not a folder synced via another tool.

Encryption

AOMEI Pro supports AES-256 encryption for backup archives. The free tier does not.

BackupKit encrypts with AES-256 on every backup, on every tier. There's no “encrypted backups require a paid upgrade” situation.

Scheduling and automation

AOMEI supports daily/weekly/monthly schedules plus event triggers (system startup, USB plug-in). It's solid.

BackupKit supports daily/weekly/custom interval/manual schedules, plus a missed-run policy (skip / run immediately / wait for next), plus a global Integrations panel for routing notifications across email, Telegram, webhooks, scripts, and tray popups.

When to use both

A common setup: AOMEI for occasional full-system images (weekly, to a local USB drive) — these get you back to a working system after a disaster. BackupKit for continuous file backups (daily, to cloud) — these preserve your actual data even if the local AOMEI image is also lost.

The two tools answer different questions and don't overlap much in practice.

Bottom line

Pick AOMEI Backupper if your priority is full-disk imaging, partition cloning, or one-time disk-to-disk migrations. Its free tier covers a lot of ground.

Pick BackupKit if your priority is automated, encrypted file backups to cloud or remote storage on a schedule. The two can absolutely coexist.