A free alternative to Stellar Data Recovery
Stellar Data Recovery’s free edition recovered up to about 1 GB when we checked in October 2026. Alternatives without a cap are PhotoRec, TestDisk and Retrova, though none of them match Stellar’s undelete-with-names or its photo and video repair.
Stellar is a long-established product with several paid editions. If your data is under 1 GB, the free edition may be enough. If it is more, or you want to avoid buying before you know the files are intact, use a free open-source tool, accepting the limits described below.
What Stellar’s free edition gives you
Stellar Data Recovery for Windows and Mac scans for free and lets you preview results. In our October 2026 check, the free edition allowed saving up to roughly 1 GB. Paid editions (Standard, Professional, Premium and Technician on Windows) unlock unlimited recovery, and higher tiers add things like RAID, drive cloning and photo and video repair. Prices vary by edition and region and are on Stellar’s site; they change often.
A 1 GB allowance is more generous than some competitors’ 100 MB, but it still covers only a few hundred phone photos or a handful of videos. A camera card or a project folder will exceed it.
Free tools without a limit
| Tool | Limit | Interface | Names kept? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retrova 1.1.1 | None; no account | Graphical, Mac and Windows | Yes when it can read the file system, and for deleted files on NTFS, FAT, exFAT | Read-only; verify copies; undelete with names only on NTFS, FAT, exFAT |
| PhotoRec | None | Terminal | No | Many file types |
| TestDisk | None | Terminal | Yes on FAT, NTFS, ext2/3/4 undelete | Repairs partitions; can write |
| Stellar Free (for reference) | About 1 GB (Oct 2026) | Graphical | Yes | Paid for more |
What Stellar does that Retrova does not
- Undelete with original file names on more file systems (Retrova does it on NTFS, FAT and exFAT).
- On higher tiers, RAID and wider encrypted-drive support (Retrova opens BitLocker, LUKS and FileVault only with your key).
- Photo and video repair for damaged files after recovery.
- A signed installer, phone and chat support, and a long record of use.
Retrova’s Deep scan covers 72 file types as contiguous files only. It will not repair a corrupted video. If your video is cut off at the end, or a photo shows grey bands, Retrova will tell you if a file is incomplete (it marks partly recovered files .INCOMPLETE) but will not fix it.
Where Retrova is the better fit
If a drive will not mount and the question is “can I get everything off it?”, Retrova’s model suits you. It reads APFS, Mac OS Extended (HFS+), NTFS, FAT, exFAT, ext2/3/4, XFS and Btrfs directly, shows the original folder tree, and copies files read-only. Then Verify checks every byte and can re-copy anything that mismatched. Because it is free with no cap, there is no point at which you are asked to pay to see whether your files are usable. Guides for the common cases: external drive not mounting on a Mac, NTFS on a Mac and a failing hard drive.
What Retrova cannot do
Retrova is young, and there are things it cannot do. If one of these is your situation, use a different tool:
- 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.
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 Stellar’s published edition and free-limit information in October 2026 and compared it with the open-source tools’ documentation and Retrova 1.1.1. We did not test recovery success rates. 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 can you recover with Stellar free?
About 1 GB when we checked in October 2026. Stellar’s site has the current terms.
Is there a free Stellar Data Recovery alternative with no limit?
Yes: PhotoRec, TestDisk and Retrova have no recovery cap. They differ in interface, file-name handling and file-type coverage.
Does Retrova repair corrupted photos and videos?
No. It recovers and verifies bytes, and marks partly recovered files as incomplete, but it does not repair damaged media.
Can I try free first and pay later?
Yes. You can use Retrova or Stellar’s free scan to see what exists, then decide. Just keep the original drive untouched in the meantime.