Stellar Data Recovery vs DMDE
Two of the top three data recovery programs, compared rule by rule on published facts.
In short
- Stellar Data Recovery has 75 points and DMDE 66, 9 apart on our data recovery software rules.
- Stellar Data Recovery earns more on what it finds, drives and systems and trust and support; DMDE earns more on price and tools.
- Cheapest paid licence: Stellar Data Recovery $59.99/yr, DMDE $20.13/yr.
- Only Stellar Data Recovery meets: free recovery limit, repairs damaged photos or videos, BitLocker drives and support with a paid licence.
- Only DMDE meets: money-back period and runs without installing.
Stellar Data Recovery75/100 #1 of 11
Best for: People who need partition, BitLocker or photo repair features and accept a paid licence.
Points by group
| Group | Stellar Data Recovery | DMDE |
|---|---|---|
| Price of 26 | 14 | 15 |
| What it finds of 20 | 16 | 12 |
| Drives and systems of 19 | 18 | 13 |
| Tools of 26 | 24 | 26 |
| Trust and support of 9 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 75 | 66 |
Rule by rule
What each vendor publishes, and the points it earns. Sources are on each product page.
| Rule (points) | Stellar Data Recovery | DMDE |
|---|---|---|
| Free recovery limit (9) | 1 4 | Not published 0 |
| Cheapest paid licence (11) | $59.99/yr 7 | $20.13/yr 9 |
| One-time licence (3) | Yes 3 | Yes 3 |
| Money-back period (3) | 0 0 | 30 3 |
| Signature (raw) scan (6) | Yes 6 | Yes 6 |
| Lost partition recovery (6) | Yes 6 | Yes 6 |
| File types listed (4) | Not published 0 | Not published 0 |
| Repairs damaged photos or videos (4) | Yes 4 | Not published 0 |
| Drives and media (6) | Hard drive or SSD, USB drive, SD or memory card, Optical disc, Virtual disk (VHD or VMDK) 5 | Hard drive or SSD, USB drive, SD or memory card, Virtual disk (VHD or VMDK) 4 |
| File systems beyond NTFS and FAT32 (4) | exFAT, ReFS, APFS or HFS+, ext4 4 | exFAT, ReFS, APFS or HFS+, ext4 4 |
| BitLocker drives (4) | Yes 4 | Not published 0 |
| RAID recovery (5) | Yes 5 | Yes 5 |
| Disk image before recovery (6) | Yes 6 | Yes 6 |
| Bootable recovery media (5) | Yes 5 | Yes 5 |
| Preview before you pay (7) | Yes 7 | Yes 7 |
| Pause and resume a scan (3) | Yes 3 | Yes 3 |
| Drive health check (3) | Yes 3 | Yes 3 |
| Runs without installing (2) | Not published 0 | Yes 2 |
| Open source (6) | No 0 | Not published 0 |
| Support with a paid licence (3) | Yes 3 | Not published 0 |
Stellar Data Recovery
Stellar suits people who want to preview results before paying and need more than basic undelete: lost partitions, BitLocker drives and bootable media are covered across editions. The free edition saves 1 GB. The catch: the cheapest Standard edition lacks partition recovery, and the refund policy does not list a change of mind among its refund reasons.
DMDE
DMDE suits people who want a RAID constructor, disk images and partition undelete, with licences from €18. The free edition lets you test recovery on up to 4,000 files at a time. The catch: refunds cover only licences you have not activated, and the vendor's pages give no file type count, no BitLocker statement and no link between email support and a licence.
Both products are scored by the same rules: how we score data recovery programs.