iMazing does two jobs. It gets your data out of iPhone backups, and it manages an iPhone plugged into your computer. Most alternatives do one of the two. Here's what each one costs, what its free version really does, and which job it's for.
We make OpenExtract, one of the apps on this list. Every fact about the others comes from the maker's own website, linked under Sources.
| App | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| iMazing, for referenceDigiDNA · Windows · Mac | $49.99 a year for 5 devices; trial copies 25 messages | Both jobs in one app, with vendor support |
| OpenExtractWindows · Mac (Apple Silicon) · Linux | Free, open source | Messages, WhatsApp chats, photos, calls and voicemails out of a backup, with no export limits |
| iBackup ViewerWindows · Mac | Free version; Pro $29.95 once | WhatsApp, WeChat and Line chats; raw backup files |
| iPhone Backup ExtractorReincubate · Windows · Mac | Free, 4 files at a time; from $39.95 for 12 months | iCloud photos, chat apps, damaged backups |
| Decipher TextMessageWindows · Mac | $29.99 once | Texts only, as PDF, CSV, HTML or text |
| imessage-exporterCommand line · Windows · Mac · Linux | Free, open source | Messages only, from a terminal |
| Finder · Apple DevicesApple · Mac · Windows | Free | Backups, syncing, moving to a new iPhone |
| AnyTrans for iOSiMobie · Windows · Mac | $39.99 a year, or $59.99 once (listed as sale prices) | Phone-to-phone transfers, music, WhatsApp |
| CopyTransWindows only | Some apps free; $14.99 to $19.99 each, or $29.99 for 7 | Contacts, photos and chats on Windows |
| iExplorerMacroplant · Windows · Mac | Demo can't export messages or photos; $39.99 once | Music and files on a connected iPhone |
Prices in US dollars, as each maker's website listed them on November 10, 2026.
Partly. iMazing's trial has no time limit, and backups and Quick Transfer are free for personal use. Restoring a backup needs a subscription, apart from a standard restore through iMazing Mini, and installing, updating or restoring apps stops at 25. Getting your data out is where the trial stops: it copies out at most 25 messages, 50 photos, 10 contacts, 5 call-history entries, 5 notes and 1 voicemail. Since June 2025, iMazing has been sold only as a yearly subscription. Its store lists $49.99 a year for 5 devices, or $89.99 a year for a family plan with 20.
So before you pick an alternative, work out which half of iMazing you actually use. If it's the data in a backup, start with the first list. If it's the phone itself, skip to the second. OpenExtract vs iMazing goes feature by feature.
These read the backups that Finder, iTunes or the Apple Devices app save on your computer, so the phone itself can be broken, lost or already sold. Backups that iMazing made take one extra step, covered in the FAQ below.
Reads backups, encrypted ones too, and saves messages as PDF with their photos, or as HTML, CSV or text. It also saves photos and videos in their original formats, contacts, notes and voicemails, plus call history and Safari history, which Apple keeps only in encrypted backups. It also saves your Apple Podcasts subscriptions and listening history. It reads WhatsApp chats too, with their photos, voice messages and calls, and saves them as a web page, PDF, CSV or text. There are no export limits and no paid tier, and it can make a new backup of an iPhone plugged in by cable.
What it doesn't do: other chat apps such as WeChat, Line or Viber, WhatsApp Business, WhatsApp's own chat backup or anything else in iCloud, or managing a phone (no music, app or ringtone syncing, no phone-to-phone transfers). The Mac version needs an Apple Silicon Mac.
Download OpenExtract · What it covers for people leaving iMazing · Exporting WhatsApp chats
The closest of the paid apps to OpenExtract. The free version extracts contacts, saves messages as text, and exports call history and Safari history and bookmarks. Pro adds PDF export of iMessage, WhatsApp and WeChat chats, among other things. It also reads WhatsApp, WeChat and Line, voice memos and calendars, and lets you browse the raw files inside a backup.
iMacTools' own pages disagree on whether encrypted backups need Pro, so try the free version on yours first.
Besides local backups, it reads iCloud Photo Library, Photo Stream and contacts from an iCloud account (iCloud Photo Library needs a paid license), though Reincubate says downloading iCloud backups hasn't been possible since May 2020. It covers WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat and Kik, and gets calendars, voice memos and location data. Reincubate says it handles corrupt backups too. The free edition previews every backup file and recovers 4 at a time; a paid license lifts that limit for 12 months.
Does one thing: texts. It saves iMessage, SMS, MMS and RCS conversations with their attachments as PDF, CSV, HTML or text, from encrypted backups too. The trial never expires but saves only a few messages from each contact. A license covers two iPhones or iPads and any number of computers.
Decipher sells the rest separately: Decipher Chat for WhatsApp, WeChat and Viber ($19.99), Decipher VoiceMail ($19.99), and Decipher Backup Browser for photos, contacts, notes and call history ($29.99).
A command-line tool, with no windows or buttons, that exports iMessage, SMS, MMS and RCS conversations as HTML or text, with their attachments. It reads a Mac's own Messages database or an iPhone backup, encrypted or not. There are ready-made downloads for Mac and Windows; on Linux you build it with Rust's cargo.
It's a good fit if you're comfortable in a terminal and only want messages. It doesn't export photos, contacts or call history on their own.
This is the half of iMazing that OpenExtract doesn't replace: restoring backups, moving to a new phone, and copying music, photos and files to and from an iPhone plugged into your computer. OpenExtract can make a backup, but that's all it does with a connected phone.
Apple's own tools cover more of iMazing's job than people expect. They back up an iPhone to your computer, encrypted if you tick "Encrypt local backup", and restore it later. They sync music, movies, TV shows and photos, and the Finder on a Mac also syncs contacts and calendars. To move to a new iPhone, Quick Start sets it up straight from the old one. On Windows, the Apple Devices app is free from the Microsoft Store.
What they don't do is show you what's inside a backup or save single conversations or voicemails from it. That's the job of the backup readers above.
The closest thing to iMazing here: full or incremental backups, moving everything from one phone to another, adding music without erasing what's there, and exporting messages as PDF, TXT or HTML. It also moves and backs up WhatsApp, LINE and Viber chats, and browses the iTunes backups already on your computer.
The trial transfers 30 items of each kind within 3 days; switching phones and restoring backups need a license. iMobie lists $39.99 for a year, renewed automatically, $59.99 paid once for one computer, or $79.99 for a lifetime family plan on 5 computers, each shown as a discount from a higher price ($59.99, $79.99 and $109.99).
A family of small Windows apps rather than one. A few are free, and so are Shelbee's full backup and restore. The paid ones include CopyTrans Contacts, which manages contacts, calendars and notes and saves texts and WhatsApp, Viber and Line chats as PDF, Word, Excel and more, and CopyTrans Backup Extractor, which gets photos, contacts, messages and notes out of a backup.
Licenses are paid once and include two years of updates. The trials are tight: Backup Extractor's extracts 50 photos, 10 videos, 10 contacts, 10 notes and 1 chat, or twice that if you give it an email address. CopyTrans says Contacts and Backup Extractor can't connect to iCloud right now because of changes Apple made.
Does a bit of both jobs. It connects to an iPhone to copy music and playlists back to iTunes, browse app folders and mount the phone as a drive, and it reads backups too. The demo has no time limit and lets you look through messages, contacts, photos and more, but saving them needs a license, and music moves 10 tracks at a time. A license is a one-time payment covering updates to iExplorer 4.
For getting data out of a backup, yes: OpenExtract is free with no export limits. iBackup Viewer has a free version with fewer features, and Reincubate's free edition recovers 4 files at a time. For backing up an iPhone and moving to a new one, Apple's own Finder and Apple Devices app are free.
Two on this list are open source. OpenExtract (MIT license) is a desktop app for the messages, WhatsApp chats, photos, contacts, calls, notes and voicemails in a backup. imessage-exporter (GPL-3.0) is a command-line tool for messages only. Neither manages a phone the way iMazing does.
OpenExtract, as a .deb package or an AppImage, and imessage-exporter, which you build yourself on Linux. iMazing and the other apps here don't run on Linux.
Yes, with one extra step. By default iMazing keeps its backups in its own folder, not where Finder, iTunes or the Apple Devices app put them, so other apps won't find them on their own. iMazing's own advice is to use Export Backup as Folder, which writes a standard Apple backup that other tools can read. Then open that folder in the other app: OpenExtract opens any backup folder with a Manifest.db file in it.
We make it, and it's a free way to do the backup half of iMazing's job. Where another app does something better, this page says so. If you spot a mistake, open an issue.
Everything this page says about another app comes from its maker's own website, checked on November 10, 2026:
Prices and features change. If something here is out of date, open an issue and we'll fix it.
Thank-yous sent from inside OpenExtract by people who said it was OK to quote them. Word for word, without names. Read them all →