Best Data Recovery software

The free download scans your drive and previews recoverable files before you pay, so you know your odds of recovery before buying a license

One vendor covers Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android, plus repair tools for corrupt videos, photos, PDFs, and Office files, so you don't have to switch brands for related problems

The free version only scans and previews — actually saving recovered files requires a paid license, so there's no fully free recovery path

Recovery, email repair, SQL repair, and erasure are separate products with separate licenses and tiers, so buyers needing multiple capabilities face a confusing catalog and multiple purchases

Unlimited data recovery on every paid tier, with no caps on file count or volume

Full file preview lets you verify files are intact before paying to restore them

Subscription tiers auto-renew, so keeping the Monthly Plan for multiple years costs more than the one-time perpetual license

No recovery software can guarantee results for physically damaged drives, so success rates vary by failure type

Supports more than 6,000 device models across iOS and Android, so one tool covers transfers between nearly any two phones.

Handles cross-platform WhatsApp migration, including restoring Google Drive backups to an iPhone — something WhatsApp's official tooling doesn't do directly.

Each license covers a single PC, so anyone with both a desktop and a laptop — or who replaces their computer — may need to purchase again.

Subscriptions auto-renew by default, and the monthly plan (US$ 29.99/mo) costs nearly as much as the entire discounted yearly plan (US$ 39.99/yr), making it easy to pick a poor-value term.

Runs entirely from one cloud-native console with no hardware to install or maintain — one city IT team reported managing backups in 10 minutes a day versus hours with Commvault

Customers report unusually fast recovery outcomes, including a full VM restore in 2 hours and a complete ransomware recovery in 24 hours

Druva publishes no dollar figures, license limits, or renewal terms on its pricing page, so budget comparisons require a sales conversation before you can evaluate cost

There is no self-serve trial — evaluation is limited to a 5-minute interactive demo or a sales-led live demo, which slows hands-on testing

The free plan and trial let you run a real scan and verify your files are recoverable before spending any money

File preview before recovery means you can confirm photos and documents are intact instead of restoring blind

The free tier limits how much data you can actually recover, so larger recovery jobs require a paid license

Each license covers a single computer, which makes multi-machine households or small offices pay for separate licenses

Scans for up to 31 file types — including photos, messages, and notes — so one tool can check for everything that vanished, per the vendor.

Free to download on Windows and Mac, letting you run a scan and preview found files before spending anything.

iOS and Android recovery are sold as separate editions, so buying the wrong one for your device means an extra purchase.

Requires a Windows or Mac computer — there is no phone-only option, which is inconvenient if your computer isn't nearby.