A free Recoverit alternative without the 100 MB cap
Wondershare Recoverit’s free version recovered roughly 100 MB when we checked in October 2026. Free options without a cap include PhotoRec, TestDisk and Retrova, with the trade-offs described below.
Recoverit is a broad, user-friendly paid product. If you need more than 100 MB for free, use an open-source tool. If you do buy Recoverit, read the licence and checkout terms closely: reviewers have flagged perpetual licences that cover one major version and bundled add-on trials.
What Recoverit’s free version allows
Recoverit, by Wondershare, scans for free and previews files, and as of October 2026 allowed about 100 MB of recovery on the free edition. Paid plans are sold as monthly, yearly and perpetual licences, with tiers that add video repair and advanced features. Official details are on Wondershare’s Recoverit site.
Two things to watch if you buy. The perpetual licence applies to one major version, so a future major release may need another purchase. And some reviewers describe checkout bundles that attach trials of other Wondershare products; read the basket before paying and check what renews automatically. We have not verified current checkout behaviour, so treat this as a prompt to check, not a claim.
Free alternatives, no cap
| Tool | Limit | Platforms | Interface | Names kept? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retrova 1.1.1 | None | Mac, Windows | Graphical | Yes on readable file systems and for deleted files on NTFS, FAT, exFAT; no in Deep scan |
| PhotoRec | None | Mac, Windows, Linux | Terminal | No |
| TestDisk | None | Mac, Windows, Linux | Terminal | Yes for undelete on some file systems |
| Recoverit Free (reference) | About 100 MB (Oct 2026) | Mac, Windows | Graphical | Yes |
Which job are you doing?
- You deleted a few files and know their names: a tool that undeletes from file-system records is best. Retrova does this free on NTFS, FAT and exFAT, and TestDisk is free for FAT, NTFS and ext. Recoverit’s free 100 MB may also cover a small document.
- You formatted a card or USB stick: a carver, such as PhotoRec or Retrova’s Deep scan, works regardless of size. See free USB drive recovery.
- The drive will not open at all: use a file-system reader like Retrova before anything else. See external drive not mounting on a Mac.
- The drive is clicking or disconnecting: image it first. See failing hard drive.
How Retrova handles the “did it really work?” problem
A common complaint about scan-first products is a list of thousands of files that turn out unusable once you pay. Retrova cannot promise every file is intact (damaged drives lose data), but it lets you preview photos, videos, PDFs and text before copying, rejects false positives while carving, and runs Verify afterwards to confirm each copied file matches its source byte for byte, with SHA-256 manifests you can keep. See how to verify copied files.
What Retrova cannot do
The honest limits compared with Recoverit:
- Undelete with names outside NTFS, FAT and exFAT. Retrova lists deleted files with their names and folders on NTFS, FAT12/16/32 and exFAT only. On APFS, ext and other file systems it falls back to deep scan, so names and folders are lost and fragmented files may come back damaged. On NTFS, compressed or encrypted deleted files, and ones whose details span several records, are not listed.
- Encrypted drives without the key. Retrova opens BitLocker (password or 48-digit recovery key), LUKS 1/2 (passphrase) and FileVault or encrypted APFS volumes (password) only when you have the key. It cannot open BitLocker startup-key (.bek) or TPM-only drives, or the startup disk of a T2 or Apple silicon Mac away from that Mac. Decryption runs at about 100 MB/s.
- RAID and NAS volumes, APFS snapshots, bootable media and phones. Not supported.
- Code signing. Builds are not signed or notarised yet, hence the first-launch warning.
- Fragmented file carving. Deep scan finds contiguous files of 72 types, which is fewer than the 400 to 1,000 types some paid tools claim. Names are lost, and files stored in pieces may come back damaged or not at all.
In particular, Recoverit includes video and photo repair and a bootable-media workflow for computers that no longer start; Retrova has neither.
The first-launch warning
Retrova’s builds are not signed or notarised with a paid Apple or Microsoft certificate yet, so the first time you open it you will see a warning. On a Mac, open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, click Open Anyway and confirm (on macOS 14 or earlier, right-click the app and choose Open). On Windows, when SmartScreen says “Windows protected your PC”, click More info, then Run anyway. You only do this once. The source code is public if you would rather build it yourself or read what it does.
How we checked
We read Wondershare’s published information and independent reviews in October 2026, and compared them with open-source tools’ documentation and Retrova 1.1.1. We did not test recovery success rates, and we did not complete a Recoverit purchase. Competitor details were checked in October 2026 and are dated in the text. Vendor prices and free limits change often and many run permanent sales, so treat every figure here as approximate and confirm on the vendor’s own page before you buy.
Get Retrova
Free and open source for macOS 11+ and Windows 10/11. No account, no recovery limit, and it never writes to the drive you’re rescuing.
Download RetrovaFree for Mac and WindowsQuestions
How much does Recoverit free recover?
About 100 MB when we checked in October 2026. Wondershare’s site has the current limit.
Is there a free Recoverit alternative with no cap?
Yes. PhotoRec, TestDisk and Retrova have no recovery limit. They are less polished and have different feature sets.
Does Recoverit’s lifetime licence cover updates?
Reviewers report that the perpetual licence covers a single major version. Confirm the terms on the checkout page.
Can Retrova recover from a computer that will not boot?
Not directly. You can remove the drive and connect it to another Mac or PC, or use an adapter, then read it with Retrova.