Peer-to-peer · End-to-end encrypted

Back up to people you trust.
Not to a cloud you rent.

Tango Backup encrypts your files on your own computer, then stores them on the computers of family, friends or a second office, and keeps theirs on yours. There's no monthly storage bill, and no provider that can read, lose or lock away your data.

Download free How it works

Free up to 50 GB
No account needed
Windows, macOS & Linux

Why not just use the cloud?

Cloud backup charges you every month and asks you to trust a stranger with your data.

Tango Backup fixes both problems by cutting out the middleman.

Pay for a disk once, not for storage forever

Cloud storage is a subscription that grows with your data and never ends. Tango Backup stores your backups on spare disk space that you and your partners already own.

No per-terabyte monthly fees. A hard disk is a one-time purchase that lasts for years.
No download fees. Restoring your own files never costs extra, however much you restore.
Free up to 50 GB per computer, with every feature included.
Never held hostage. Restore always works, even if your license has lapsed.

Estimate your savings

Nobody can read your backups, including us

Your files are encrypted on your computer before anything leaves it. Partners store sealed packs of random-looking bytes, and only your 24-word recovery phrase can unlock them.

Zero-knowledge. Partners can't see file names, folders, contents or individual file sizes.
No central honeypot. There's no data center holding millions of customers' files for an attacker to breach.
Only you hold the key. We never see it, so we can never lose it, leak it or be forced to hand it over.
Modern cryptography. XChaCha20-Poly1305, Ed25519 and TLS 1.3 with pinned keys.

Read the security model

Side by side

Tango Backup vs typical cloud backup

Aspect	Typical cloud backup	Tango Backup
Storage cost	Billed per terabyte, every month	Spare disk you already own
As your data grows	Your bill grows too, for good	Add a disk once, when you need it
Restoring your files	Download (egress) fees with many providers	Always free, never behind a paywall
Who holds the encryption key	Usually the provider	Only you
File names visible to the storage operator	Often	Never
Attack surface	One provider holding millions of customers' data	Encrypted packs spread over people you chose
Where your data lives	A data center you'll never see	Homes and offices you know, off-site and spread out
Account required	Yes, with your personal details	No, the free tier needs no registration

Do the math

What would you pay over the years?

Cloud backup is cheap in month one. Tango Backup is cheap in every month after that.

Cloud backup–

Tango Backup–

–

Tango figure: the disk space you give your partners in return (your data × copies, bought once) plus the license. Restores are free. The cloud figure covers storage only; many providers also charge for downloads when you restore. Change any assumption to match your situation.

How it works

Up and running in four steps

1
Install

One small program for Windows, macOS or Linux. It runs quietly in the background and you manage it from a clean web interface in your browser.
2
Choose what matters

Pick folders, set a schedule and decide how long to keep old versions. Tango writes down a 24-word recovery phrase for you to keep safe.
3
Pair with a partner

Send an invite code to someone you trust. Each of you decides how much disk space the other may use. Pair with several partners for more copies.
4
Relax

Backups run on schedule, are encrypted and copied to your partners, and checked every day. If anything goes wrong, Tango tells you.

Built for real life

Everything a serious backup needs

Multiple copies

Every backup is stored on as many partners as you choose. If one partner disappears, Tango re-creates the missing copies on another.

Proof of storage

Partners must answer daily cryptographic challenges proving they still hold your data. You don't have to take anyone's word for it.

Partners can be offline

Laptops sleep and PCs get switched off. Tango queues your encrypted data and delivers it whenever a partner is back online.

Disaster recovery

Lost your computer? Install Tango on a new one, type your 24 words, and your partners recognise you and send your files back.

External disks welcome

Back up from, or host partners on, removable drives. Disks are recognised by identity rather than drive letter, so nothing is written to the wrong disk.

Complete file fidelity

Permissions, ownership, timestamps, extended attributes, ACLs, file flags and hard links are all preserved, not just file contents.

Versions and retention

Go back to how a folder looked yesterday or last year. Deduplication and compression mean versions cost very little extra space.

Alerts wherever you are

Email, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, ntfy, webhooks or desktop notifications, plus an optional dead-man's switch that warns you even when your computer is off.

Works through firewalls

Computers connect directly whenever they can. Behind strict routers, an encrypted relay steps in, and it never sees your data.

Who it's for

Made for people who look after each other

Families

Parents and grown-up children back up each other's photos and documents across town or across the world.

Small businesses

Two offices, or the office and the owner's home, give each other off-site copies without any cloud contract.

Friends with spare disks

A home server or a big desktop drive becomes a safe, private off-site backup for a few trusted friends.

Photographers and creators

Terabytes of RAW files and footage are exactly where per-terabyte cloud pricing hurts the most.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a partner to use Tango Backup?

Yes. Tango stores your backups on other people's computers, so you need at least one partner running Tango Backup, such as a family member, a friend, a colleague, or your own second computer at another location. Two or more partners give you more copies and more resilience.

What do I give my partners in return?

Disk space. Each of you decides how much space the other may use, and you can change it at any time. Tango warns you before you promise more than your disk can hold.

Can my partners see my files?

No. Everything is encrypted and packed on your computer before it is sent. Partners only store opaque packs. They can't see file names, folder names, contents or the sizes of individual files. The security page lists exactly what a partner can and cannot learn.

What if my partner's computer is switched off?

That's normal and expected. Your encrypted data waits in a local queue and is delivered when the partner comes back online. Only a long absence (two weeks by default) makes Tango move your data to another partner.

What happens if my computer is lost or destroyed?

Install Tango Backup on any computer and enter your 24-word recovery phrase. Tango re-creates your identity, finds your partners, and restores your files. Your partners don't have to do anything.

What if I lose my recovery phrase?

The phrase is shown once, during setup. As long as your computer works, your backups carry on as normal. If you lose both your computer and the phrase, nobody can decrypt your backups, including us. That is what real privacy means, which is why Tango makes you confirm the phrase and offers a printable recovery kit.

What happens if my license expires?

Your data stays safe. Restore, verification and recovery always work, you keep hosting your partners, and files that were already protected keep being backed up. Licensing never deletes data. See fair licensing.

Does my data go through your servers?

Partners connect directly whenever their networks allow it. When a firewall gets in the way, traffic passes through our relay, which only ever sees end-to-end encrypted bytes. Your backups are never stored on our servers.

Which systems are supported?

Windows, macOS and Linux, on both x64 and ARM64. Partners can use different systems, so a Windows PC can back up to a Mac or a Linux server and the other way round.

Start protecting your files today

Free for up to 50 GB per computer. No account, no credit card, no cloud.

Download Tango Backup See pricing

Back up to people you trust.Not to a cloud you rent.