I’ve reviewed many of the best data recovery apps and found that EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and Disk Drill have the most reliable file restoration capabilities, while offering a simplicity that make these powerful tools accessible to everyone.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and Disk Drill are both great, but you need to know more to pick the best solution for your particular needs. I’ll compare pricing, features, and customer support to determine which offers the most value.
Tiers and pricing
If you’re budget is tight, EaseUS makes a free version of its Data Recovery Wizard that’s among the best available. Disk Drill also has a free app, but it’s limited to 500 MB of file restoration. EaseUS allows a more generous 2 GB of recovery for free.
Media take up space in a hurry and if you’re missing several photos or a few long videos, you’ll probably need to subscribe to or purchase data recovery software to get them back. For more options, check out our guide to the best free data recovery software.
The EaseUS website shows three plans for Data Recovery Wizard Pro: $70 monthly, $100 annual, and $150 lifetime. Losing data is often unexpected, but if you anticipate needing this service more than once, a longer subscription offers better value. Sometimes, EaseUS has a pop-up offer for a $40 weekly plan.
Unlike many data recovery apps, Disk Drill Pro is a one-time purchase, a welcome respite from the subscription fatigue of modern software. For $89, you can use the current version forever.
New versions of your operating system updates and file format changes might require you to update to a new version. For $19 more, CleverFiles offers lifetime upgrades to Disk Drill Pro — that’s a total of $108 to stay current forever.
Features
EaseUS lives up to its name, making complex software easy to use. In my testing, Data Recovery Wizard Pro was the only solution that successfully restored solid-state drive (SSD) files after I did a quick format of the drive. That might have been a bit of luck, because it couldn’t recover any that I deleted from the SSD.
Disk Drill Pro guided me through each step as I started testing. Even the best SSDs are nearly impossible to restore. Disk Drill Pro listed file names, but advised me recoverability was low and it couldn’t get any of those files back.
File restoration is most likely with hard disk drives (HDDs). EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro and Disk Drill Pro recovered HDD files and folders in every test. I also tried a damaged thumb drive that my computer couldn’t load. Windows told me I had to format the drive, but both data recovery apps found and restored files.
I didn’t notice any speed differences between apps. While SSDs are quite fast, my external HDD is built to last, but runs slowly.
Customer support and usability
When you need help restoring photos and videos that capture precious memories or files that are essential for work or finances, you’ll appreciate immediate help.
I was impressed with EaseUS VIP chat. Live agents are available 24 hours a day, every day. Disk Drill Pro also has 24/7 support via live chat. Low-cost apps like Recuva Professional only offer email support.
For a broader perspective, I checked TrustPilot, a third-party rating website. EaseUS earned 4.7 stars over 23,000 reviews. CleverFiles had less than 300 ratings, but scored 4.4 stars. TrustPilot ratings agree with my assessment that both have excellent customer service.
Which data recovery app is best?
You can’t go wrong with either of these data restoration apps. Both recovered HDD files and restored a damaged thumb drive with ease, showing previews along the way.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro is the only one I’ve tested that successfully restored files from SSD. I suspect that was a lucky occurrence, but it still counts. Disk Drill Pro has the advantage of a more affordable one-time purchase price.
If you don’t think you’ll need data recovery software in the future, you should check for the $40 weekly subscription pop-up for EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro. CleverFiles also has sales on Disk Drill Pro.
Disk Drill Pro’s lower cost lifetime price is great if you need ongoing data recovery. You can install the app on three computers, so it has the best value for multiple devices.
