By 2025, at least 75% of IT organizations will face one or more data attacks, according to Gartner. As the need for cloud backup platforms grows, they have the potential to help data be retrieved without damage.
The global cloud backup market is estimated to grow from $3 billion in 2021 to around $9.2 billion by 2027. This would exhibit a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.41% during 2022-2027, according to IMARC Group.
Data growth has caused the rising adoption of a cloud backup solution for enterprises. Technologies such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) have also added to the growing market.
See below to learn all about cloud backup technologies and the top providers in the cloud backup market:
Choosing the right cloud backup provider
- Top cloud backup providers
- AWS Backup
- Microsoft Azure Backup
- Actifio GO for Google Cloud
- IBM Cloud Backup
- HPE Backup and Recovery Service
- Oracle Cloud backup
- Crash Plan
- Acronis
- Zoolz Cloud Backup
- Dropbox Backup
- Cloud backup features
- Cloud backup benefits
- Use cases
- What to look for in cloud backup providers
Top cloud backup providers
AWS Backup
AWS, or Amazon Web Services, is the largest public cloud provider in the world by a large part of the market, at around 34%. To protect the data stored in a business’s cloud, AWS created the AWS Backup, a provider that can manage and automate data protection for the AWS cloud and other hybrid platforms.
AWS Backup can deploy data protection using AWS Backup’s central console, API, or command line to help configure, manage, and restore any important data. They also provide the ability to set automated backup schedules, protect the company’s data from manual deletion, and prevent changes in the backup lifecycle settings of the cloud data.
“AWS Backup is extremely easy to set up and use. It’s much easier than any backup product we’ve used in the past and enables us to show our auditors what they need to see for maintaining compliance. We spun up our AWS Backup plans really quickly and set up templates and tags, so any team can automatically have their new resources protected by the right backup plan,” says Thomas Hewer, Technology Lead, Wise.
AWS was recently selected as Delta’s Preferred Cloud Provider.
Differentiators
- Assists in compliance audits
- PCI and ISO compliant
- HIPAA eligible
Pricing
For pricing, go to the AWS pricing page.
Microsoft Azure Backup
Based in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft Corporation is a top player in the technology industry, working on software, hardware, and other technology solutions. Microsoft’s cloud computing service, Microsoft Azure, is a large part of the cloud market. Their product, Microsoft Azure Backup, is a solution to data and cloud backup needs.
Azure Backup can monitor, operate, manage, and maximize data protection using their backup center that can protect enterprise workloads, Azure Virtual Machines, SQL and SAP databases, and Azure file shares. They have multiple types of storage including locally redundant storage (LRS), geo-redundant storage (GRS), and zone-redundant storage (ZRS). A company can have all of their infrastructure, databases, and storage together wherever they need.
“We don’t have to worry about managing space on expensive, purpose-built backup storage systems. We have no tape costs, management costs, nothing. Backup is dramatically cheaper with Azure,” says Sean DeLessio, Lead Engineer, Distributed Infrastructure Team, Russell Reynolds.
Microsoft ranked among the top 100 companies in the world with the best corporate reputations, by Global RepTrak.
Differentiators
- Built-in encryption
- Data loss prevention strategy
- One-click support
Pricing
For pricing, go to Azure’s pricing page.
Actifio GO for Google Cloud
Google Cloud is a digital transformation company that expands their business customers and employees. To improve Google Cloud’s technology, Actifio joined Google Cloud. Together they created Actifio GO, a cloud backup software.
Actifio GO is a backup and recovery provider that offers and enables data protection for both Google Cloud and hybrid workloads. Actifio GO assists to deliver backup and recovery of virtual machines (VMs), SQL Server, and SAP HANA databases inside of Google Cloud and on-premises VMware VMs. Actifio GO also offers an SLA engine with data protection and management policies; safely secured data; storage that can meet both business and regulatory requirements; the ability to instantly access thousands of datasets.
“The consolidation of existing backup/recovery services to a single platform has been our favorite part of deploying Actifio. Also, the single pane of glass for our copy data has made administration a breeze. We’ve been able to rapidly reduce our tape footprint and drop our RTO/RPO for disk recovery down to minutes instead of hours or days,” says Aaron T., a VP of operations and user of Actifio GO.
Differentiators
- Low total cost of ownership (TCO)
- Data fixed option
- Backup and recover on-premises workloads to Google Cloud
Pricing
For pricing, go to the Google Cloud Marketplace.
IBM Cloud Backup
IBM Cloud is a leader in cloud computing services for enterprises of all sizes. The parent company, IBM, is a top software provider. To protect their customers’ and businesses’ data, IBM created IBM Cloud Backup.
IBM Cloud Backup is an agent-based, automated backup and recovery system that uses multi-vault technologies, where a business can move data between IBM Cloud servers or IBM Cloud data centers globally. IBM Cloud Backup provides backup from anywhere, central management, plans backups based on business needs, end-to-end encryption, and restores previous backups or recovery points. IBM Cloud Backup allows data backups for many third-party software applications as well.
“Our organization uses IBM Cloud Backup for data management, storage, and even security, where crucial and sensitive information get the right treatment. Besides, IBM Cloud Backup makes it possible to recover any data loss, more so when there are breakdowns, ensuring that every business transaction is well handled. IBM Cloud Backup also makes it practical to work remotely, where we efficiently access different databases, either in the company system or in another external source, under security authorization,” says David Vlad, communications coordinator, Outdoor Pride.
Differentiators
- Multi-vaulting capabilities
- Web-based UI
- System image recovery
Pricing
For pricing, go to the IBM Cloud Backup’s pricing page.
HPE Backup and Recovery Service
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is a global edge-to-cloud company seen as a top cloud computing provider. Because of their cloud expertise, HPE created a cloud backup software called HPE Backup and Recovery Service.
HPE Backup and Recovery Service have hybrid cloud data protection with the ability to restore, recover on-premises, and long-term retention in the cloud. HPE Backup and Recovery Service can protect VMware VMs, Amazon Elastic Block Store, and Elastic Compute Cloud. HPE Backup and Recovery Service also provide automation, data immutability, security through encryption, and dual authorization across a business’s hybrid cloud.
“HPE Backup and Recovery Service … is a backup as a service designed for hybrid cloud. … customers can secure their data against ransomware, recover from any disruption, and protect their VM workloads across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments. HPE is working to make data protection as simple as configuring recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs).
“Using these policies, customers can apply the right blend of disaster recovery, backups, and archive technologies, all of which are auto-configured and auto-managed for protecting data and applications across on-premises, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud environments,” says Phil Goodwin, research VP, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms, and Technologies Group.
Differentiators
- Microservice architecture
- Automatic service updates
- Integrated cloud protection store
Pricing
Get HPE Backup and Recovery Service free for 90 days here.
Oracle Cloud backup
Oracle is a leader in the database management systems and cloud computing sectors. Their cloud service, Oracle Cloud, provides a backup solution as well, called Backup and Disaster Recovery solutions on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or Oracle Cloud backup.
With Oracle Cloud backup, a business can protect their data and applications in the cloud. Oracle Cloud backup also offers scalable, reliable, secure, and disaster recovery (DR) solutions. Companies use Oracle’s backup solution to provide available access and disaster recovery for enterprises’ data. Another part of the backup system is Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN). It assists in backing up, recovering, and migrating Oracle Database.
“We selected Oracle for its advantages in performance, scalability, reliability, and superior cloud security,” says Eric S. Yuan, CEO, Zoom.
Differentiators
- Cache pinning
- Health check
- Cloud sync
Pricing
For pricing, go to Oracle’s cloud marketplace.
CrashPlan
Minneapolis, Minnesota-based CrashPlan is a cloud data backup company. With over 50,000 customers globally, CrashPlan aims to protect a business’s valuable data when and where it is being created without impacting workflow in a business.
CrashPlan’s technology can provide automated protections; offers unlimited storage; can restore data when needed; has customizable file retention; secondary drive support; recovery from ransomware; migration between devices; and the ability to preserve data for legal hold.
“I’m happy with CrashPlan for small business because it always works, I’m notified if it does not backup on schedule, recovery works as advertised, and the support staff is very helpful,” says Bill Kormoski, Owner, Kormoski & Associates, a user of CrashPlan.
CrashPlan has won “Enterprise Product of the Year” in the Best in Biz Awards and received two Info Security Global Excellence Awards by Info Security Products Guide.
Differentiators
- AES 256-bit encryption
- Configure version retention
- Customize deleted file retention
Pricing
Pricing options can be found on their pricing page.
Acronis
Acronis is a data protection and cybersecurity company founded in Singapore. With an estimate of over 1,900 employees, Acronis provides backup and protection of data for over 5.5 million home users and 500,000 enterprises.
Acronis focuses on their cloud backup to protect enterprises’ data. Some of their abilities are a 15-second recovery time, simple cloud access, military-grade encryption, SSAE-18 certified security, and providing both automated and manual backups for an enterprise’s data.
“Great software, easy to install and setup initial backup, so far there has been no noticeable downtime of the cloud servers. We backup file servers, domain controllers, and a couple of endpoint machines. The ability to remotely monitor backups on multiple sites from one pane of glass web portal is extremely useful to me,” says Paolo S., a user of Acronis’s cloud backup.
Differentiators
- 15-second recovery time
- SSAE-18 certified security
- Has full backup, differential backup, incremental backup
Pricing
For pricing, go to the cyber protect page here.
Zoolz Cloud Backup
London-based Zoolz is a technology, information, and internet provider that is focused on cloud-based storage. Zoolz has over four million customers globally. Their cloud backup platform, Zoolz Cloud Backup, is a business-focused backup solution.
Zoolz Cloud Backup offers universal compliance; management of files; a centralized web console for restoring data; gives full control over data and users; the ability to keep track of an enterprise’s clients; and an enterprise-level web core.
“I have no regrets about choosing Zoolz. … I am very happy with the online interface and the simplicity of the software. On the occasions that I have had to restore files, this has been straightforward, and was able to choose which version of the files to restore and where to restore them. If you need an off-site backup for your files in case of disaster, you should consider Zoolz,” says a five-star user of Zoolz Cloud Backup.
Zoolz Cloud has won both “Best Cloud Storage Service in 2020” by Digital.com and the “IT Grid Review Award” by ITreview.
Differentiators
- Uses Amazon Snowball
- Zoolz Bring Your Own Hard disk (BYOHD) technology
- Local storage, instant storage, cold storage
Pricing
For pricing, go to the Zoolz Cloud pricing page.
Dropbox Backup
Dropbox is a technology, information, and internet provider. With over 700 million registered users across 180 countries, they aim to keep companies organized and keep moving. Dropbox’s backup system, Dropbox Backup, is a leading provider of data storage.
Dropbox backup provides an automatic safety net in the case of accidental deletions, drive failures, and ransomware attacks. It also can back up multiple devices, recover documents, migrate files, and gives enterprises the ability to manage all their data and files from a desktop.
“Dropbox Backup is excellent. You can easily back up all the files that you want to, make changes anytime, choose which folders you want to back up, and access your files everywhere,” says Arvin Velarde, a user of Dropbox Backup.
Dropbox was named one of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company.
Differentiators
- Content collaboration
- Track document analytics
- Ability to connect existing tools
Pricing
For pricing, go to Dropbox’s pricing page.
Cloud backup features
- File sharing: managed with enterprise permissions enabling administrators to control who can receive access to the shared file data
- Data encryption: protects data a business sends, receives, and stores and involves changing text to make it nearly impossible for hackers to read
- Automatic backups: gives the ability to update files instantly and work non-stop
- Data recovery: the ability to backup to keep files and data available in case of a system failure or an unexpected problem
Cloud backup benefits
- Reliability: automatic backups prevent data from being lost before it can be backed up manually
- Cost efficiency: backup protection can prevent both hacks where money may be traded or replacements of materials and data necessary
- Quick file access: mobility and data sharing makes a company’s efforts for access increasingly convenient
- Build customer trust: protection and security of not only the customer data, which can assist in achieving their trust
Use cases
Coast Community College District
Coast Community College District’s (CCCD) data management system was falling behind in the amount of data they were producing.
Data recovery could take multiple days and failed often while staff moved tapes from campus to campus to leverage data backup protection. Staff required an easier and more efficient way to protect data. Seeing other examples of cloud storage, CCCD decided to replace tapes with cloud storage.
“None of the tapes were being taken more than five miles away. Say ‘The Big Quake’ hits Southern California, it would wipe out our primary data center and our campuses,” says Roger Glenn, IT infrastructure and systems engineer, CCCD.
Glenn says that CCCD officially needed to modernize its infrastructure. Glenn found Backblaze B2, one of Backblaze’s backup products, to be the best solution for tape replacement. Not only was it convenient, but it also helped with the IT budget.
“I sleep better at night, and my boss sleeps better at night, knowing that any time we’ve tried to recover or restore, it works as expected,” says Glenn.
Adveniosoft
Adveniosoft is a software development company, founded by Bob Fury.
Fury needed small business data protection as well as protection as his company grew. Soon, Fury took on CrashPlan to backup their data.
That’s when their system crashed, and Adveniosoft almost lost all of their data and files. These problems, whether a scam or hardware crash, are possible within any company.
Fury trusted and still trusts CrashPlan to protect his computers with the peace of mind that his business is always protected.
“CrashPlan … saved me big time in terms of not only having a whole bunch of work I had to make up, but also the business documents on my desktop as well. If I had lost this information, we would have been done as a business,” Fury says.
