# Stellar Data Recovery review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Data recovery for deleted files and drives on Windows and Mac Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Stellar Data Recovery scans internal and external drives, memory cards and USB drives for deleted or lost files and previews them before recovery. Windows editions are Standard, Professional and Technician; Mac editions and separate iPhone, Android and tape recovery products are also sold. - **Category:** Desktop Utilities - **Made by:** Stellar Information Technology (since 1993) - **Website:** https://www.stellarinfo.com/ - **Runs on:** Windows, macOS - **Who should skip it:** Tight if you are recovering a large drive, as free stops at 1 GB. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Stellar Data Recovery has a free plan, and paid plans start at $39.99 per PC. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** The free download recovers up to 1 GB with no registration. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | Free download that recovers up to 1 GB, per the vendor's Windows and Mac pages. | | Standard | $39.99 per PC; license term not stated on the page | Listed at $49.99 crossed out, with no end date. Recovers documents, photos and videos, including from lost partitions and encrypted drives. | | Professional | $69.99 per PC; license term not stated on the page | Listed at $79.99 crossed out, with no end date. Adds non-bootable system recovery, disk imaging, SMART monitoring and photo and video repair. | | Technician | $199 per PC; license term not stated on the page | Listed at $299 crossed out, with no end date. Adds RAID recovery and reconstruction (RAID 0, 5, 6, SHR and nested). | Read from https://www.stellarinfo.com/windows-data-recovery.php on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Stellar Data Recovery before buying. ## Key features - **Drive and card recovery:** Recovers from HDD, SSD, SD cards and USB drives, including lost partitions. - **Preview before recovery:** Preview the files found, then save them to a different drive. - **Disk imaging:** Professional and above can image a disk before recovering from it. - **Non-bootable systems:** Professional and above can recover data from a PC that will not start. - **File repair:** Professional can repair corrupt videos and photos. - **RAID recovery:** Technician recovers from software and hardware RAID arrays. ## Good for - Home users recovering deleted files or formatted cards - Repair shops and IT staff using the Technician edition for RAID ## Worth knowing - The Windows page does not say whether a license is perpetual or time-limited, so confirm before buying. - Windows prices are the ones listed here; the Mac editions are Standard-to-Technician with their own pricing that was not read. - Windows edition supports Windows 11, 10, 8.1 and 8, and Windows Server 2022, 2019 and 2016; a license covers one PC. - The free version is capped at 1 GB of recovered data. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Stellar Data Recovery scans drives, memory cards and USB sticks for lost files and shows a preview before recovery. The free download recovers only 1 GB, and the page does not say whether a paid license is perpetual or time-limited. - **Value for money: C.** Standard is $39.99 per PC, Professional $69.99 and Technician $199, each listed as discounted. The page does not state the license term, so value is graded as ordinary. - **Free plan and trial: C.** The free download recovers up to 1 GB with no registration. That cap is easy to pass on a photo drive. - **Features: C.** Drive and card scans, preview, disk imaging, non-bootable systems, repair and RAID. The gap: Standard leaves out system recovery and imaging, which sit on Professional, and RAID is Technician. - **Ease of use: B.** No store rating is on record, but you install it, pick a drive and scan. - **Platforms and integrations: C.** Windows and Mac computer programs, with separate phone products sold apart. A license covers one PC. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Stellar Information Technology's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among desktop utilities - Stellar Data Recovery's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 13 of the 186 other desktop utilities we grade, and level with 21. - It stands best on ease of use (B, above 78 of 186) and worst on features (C, above 2). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/utilities ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** Nothing Stellar Data Recovery does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 3 things listed below take a company. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 152 of the 186 other desktop utilities grade higher. - You could not: A file manager working directly on your disk. - You could not: Readings from inside the operating system. - You could not: A real app for macOS and Windows. Something home-made would be a web page. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. **Tags:** File management, System monitor ## Alternatives - [R-Studio](https://toolgpa.com/tools/r-studio): Data recovery software for Windows, Mac and Linux with RAID support. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/r-studio-vs-stellar-data-recovery) - [Disk Drill](https://toolgpa.com/tools/disk-drill): Data recovery app for Mac and Windows with free disk tools. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/disk-drill-vs-stellar-data-recovery) - [Recoverit](https://toolgpa.com/tools/recoverit): File recovery software for Windows and Mac from Wondershare. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/recoverit-vs-stellar-data-recovery) - [TestDisk and PhotoRec](https://toolgpa.com/tools/testdisk-and-photorec): Free open-source tools for lost partitions and deleted files. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/stellar-data-recovery-vs-testdisk-and-photorec) - [DiskGenius](https://toolgpa.com/tools/diskgenius): Windows partition manager, data recovery and disk cloning tool. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/diskgenius-vs-stellar-data-recovery) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.stellarinfo.com/ - https://www.stellarinfo.com/windows-data-recovery.php - https://www.stellarinfo.com/data-recovery-mac.php - https://www.stellarinfo.com/free-data-recovery.php Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/stellar-data-recovery Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).