Best Cloud Backup Services of 2021: Features & Pricing

Finding the best cloud backup service for your needs requires comparing dozens of variables across many cloud storage providers.

To simplify your search, the experts at Enterprise Storage Forum have spotlighted the best cloud backup solutions for the following:

• Home/Small Business Cloud Backup Services: Reliable, easy-to-use services, typically for price-sensitive users. See a quick comparison or a full feature comparison for home/SMB cloud backup services.

• Enterprise Cloud Backup Services: Robust solutions with the advanced features required by larger businesses. See a quick comparison or a full feature comparison for enterprise cloud backup services.

These leading cloud backup services – for home/SMB and enterprise – are constantly upgrading their services, so please bookmark this page for later user.

Home/Small Business: Top 10 Cloud Backup Services

Using safe and secure cloud data storage is essential. Most security experts recommend a 3-2-1 backup strategy. You should have three copies of your data stored on two different types of media, with at least one of those copies in a different location than your main system. So without cloud storage in the mix, this strategy is all but impossible.

Moreover, local backups often don’t provide protection from one of the biggest threats computer users face today — ransomware. If you don’t have a point-in-time cloud backup, you may have no choice but to pay a hefty ransom if your computer gets infected. And even then, there is no guarantee that you will actually get access to your files.

In short, cloud storage is critically important in today’s world.

Tips on Selecting Home/SMB Cloud Storage

• Price – but more than price: Certainly monthly fee is an important factor, but make sure you also get the features you want – in particular, what features distinguish this offering from another? Each vendor usually offers at least one “special twist.”

• Mobile: Some vendors offer mobile device backup, while others don’t specialize in this. Is this essential to you?

• Total security: Some of the cloud storage providers offer two-factor authentication, which experts see as the “gold standard” for data protection

If you need a cloud backup service, or if you’re considering changing from your current provider, you should check out these ten top cloud backup services. If you aren’t currently using one of these top cloud backup services for your home or SMB computer, you are putting your files — including priceless photos and videos — at risk.

Top 10 Cloud Backup Services at a Glance: Home/SMB

1. iDrive

• Capacity: Up to 5TB
• Price: 5GB for free, 2TB for $52.12 per year, 5 TB $74.62 per year. The site is currently running a promotion for $6.95 for the first year of service.
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: Yes
• System and software backups: Yes
• Two-factor authentication: Yes
• Drive shipping: Backup and restores
• Retention of deleted files: 30 days

Winner of multiple awards, iDrive allows you to back up an unlimited number of PCs, Macs and mobile devices to a single account. It syncs files in real time and includes a helpful console that allows you to see which files are stored from which system. In case you get hit with a ransomware attack, it includes point-in-time recovery, so that you can go back to a date before your system came under attack. It stores deleted files for 30 days, and it doesn’t delete your archives unless you manually select “Archive Cleanup.” Other key features includes 256-bit AES encryption, activity and status reports, disk image backup, backup and retrieval of data from physical drives, and incremental and compressed backups.

About the only downsides to iDrive are that it does not have an unlimited storage option for consumers and that its restore speeds tend to be a bit slow. Overall, it offers excellent value for the money.

2. Backblaze

• Capacity: Unlimited
• Price: $6 per month per device
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: No
• System and software backups: No
• Two-factor authentication: Yes
• Drive shipping: Retrieval services
• Retention of deleted files: 30 days, can extend for an extra $2 per month

While iDrive is good for people who have a lot of devices to back up, Backblaze is good for people who have a single device with a whole lot of stored files. It offers unlimited backup capacity at a low price. It has a computer location service, which can be handy if your PC gets lost or stolen, and the service will send you a USB drive if you don’t want to do a restore over the Internet. Also, it allows you to tune your performance for faster backups and restores. Backups can run automatically or on a schedule that you set up. Other key features include encryption, file sharing and fast speed.

On the negative side, Backblaze doesn’t have good mobile support. And if you have a lot of devices, it could get expensive in a hurry. It also doesn’t have imaging capabilities that would allow you to restore your operating system and other system files in case of a catastrophic drive failure.

3. Acronis True Image

• Capacity: Up to 5TB
• Price: $49.99 to $159.99 per year
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: Yes
• System and software backups: Yes
• Two-factor authentication: No
• Drive shipping: No
• Retention of deleted files: Unlimited

If you like to keep a local backup copy as well as a cloud-based backup, Acronis True Image is a good option for you. It allows you to back up to an external drive as well as the cloud, and it allows walks you through the process of creating an emergency restore drive in case you need it. It allows you to back up as many as 5 devices, and it gives you a lot more control over when your backups get made, where they are stored, and when — and if — your archived files get deleted. The service began life as a software-based imaging and mirroring tool, and the cloud service still does full image backups, which makes it easy to restore your OS and system files. It also has a helpful Office365 backup service built in.

The negatives for Acronis are that the pricing is a little complicated; you’ll pay different fees depending on the features you choose and the number of systems you want to back up. However, if you enjoy tweaking your system and want to control what your backup system is doing, Acronis gives you an unparalleled level of flexibility.

4. Carbonite Safe

• Capacity: Unlimited
• Price: $6 per month and up
• External backups: Depends on the plan selected
• Mobile device backup: No
• System and software backups: Depends on the plan selected
• Two-factor authentication: Yes
• Drive shipping: File restores
• Retention of deleted files: No

While Acronis is for knowledgeable users, Carbonite Safe is for those at the other end of the spectrum — novices who need a product that is easy to use and comes with excellent support. Carbonite advertises a plan for $6 per month, but to get features like image backup and external hard drive backup, you’ll need to upgrade to one of its other, considerably more expensive plans. Also, while it is very easy to sign up for Carbonite on the website, it is much harder to get information about which features are included and exactly what you will get with your subscription.

Still, for users with basic needs who need a very intuitive interface, Carbonite is a good option.

5. SpiderOak One

• Capacity: Up to 5TB
• Price: $6 to $29 per month
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: No
• System and software backups: Optional
• Two-factor authentication: No
• Drive shipping: No
• Retention of deleted files: Unlimited

SpiderOak One focuses on security and privacy. It encrypts data on your system, in transit and in the cloud. It offers point-in-time backup to protect against ransomware, and it will retain deleted files and old versions for an unlimited amount of time. It also includes file sync and share capabilities.

However, SpiderOak does not offer two-factor authentication, which is unusual for a product with a security focus. Also, while it advertises a low starting price, you may have to pay more to get the amount of storage or level of features that you need. In addition, reviewers say that it isn’t as user-friendly as some of the other options on the market.

6. Zoolz Cloud Backup

• Capacity: Up to 4TB
• Price: $39.95 for 1TB; $99.95 for 4TB
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: No
• System and software backups: No
• Two-factor authentication: Yes
• Drive shipping: Yes
• Retention of deleted files: Unlimited

Zoolz advertises itself as “the first lifetime cloud storage,” by which it means that it will store your files forever — even if you retire an older computer. It also offers a high level of reliability and a hybrid option that allows you to make a local backup as well as the cloud backup.

The biggest thing that sets Zoolz apart from other services, though, is that it is based on Amazon Web Services’ Glacier storage. This allows Zoolz to offer very low prices, although restores typically take three to five hours. The tradeoff might be worth it for customers who do not expect to need their backups very often and who have limited funds.

7. SOS Online Backup

• Capacity: Up to 10TB
• Price: $4.99 to $299.99 per month
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: Yes
• System and software backups: Yes
• Two-factor authentication: Yes
• Drive shipping: No
• Retention of deleted files: Unlimited

If security is of paramount importance to you, check out SOS Online Backup, which claims to be “the world’s most secure online backup.” It promises “military grade multi-layer encryption,” and it will archive files forever. It supports multiple computers on a single account, with no file size limitations. And it also supports mobile backups, social media backups and folder syncing.

However, SOS is also one of the most expensive options available on a per gigabyte basis. The $4.99 per month plan gets you only 50GB of storage, which is probably not enough for most families. To get the 5TB offered by many other plans, you will need to pay $159.99, which is pretty steep.

8. OpenDrive

• Capacity: Unlimited
• Price: $9.95 per month and up
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: No
• System and software backups: No
• Two-factor authentication: No
• Drive shipping: No
• Retention of deleted files: 30 days

While most of the services on this list are focused primarily on cloud backup, OpenDrive offers cloud storage and file syncing as well as backup services. You can think of it as an alternative to Dropbox that you can also use for cloud backup.

The pros for OpenDrive include unlimited storage (although the fine print says that it isn’t intended for mass storage of media libraries or backing up NAS or SAN devices), file sharing among multiple users, auto syncing, file encryption and built-in notes and task management.

The cons are that it is more expensive than other options, and it doesn’t have as many features as some of the other tools. However, if you are using it to replace a cloud storage service, it might be worthwhile.

9. Google One

• Capacity: Up to 30TB
• Price: 5GB for free, 100GB for $1.99 per month, 200GB $2.99 per month, 2TB $9.99 per month, 10TB $99.99 per month, 20TB $199.99 per month, 30TB $299.99 per month.
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: No
• System and software backups: No
• Two-factor authentication: Yes
• Drive shipping: No
• Retention of deleted files: Up to 25 days

Better known as “Google Drive,” Google One is the new name for Google’s cloud storage service. (“Google Drive” is still the name of the free 5GB service.) Similar to Dropbox and similar services, Google One will sync your desktop files with the cloud, but it does not do a complete image backup that you could do to restore your operating system and other software.

Google One also comes with other benefits, like discounts in the Google Store, Google Play credits, and deals on hotels. You can also share your plan among up to five different family members. Performance is slow and features are limited. However, prices are very reasonable at the lower end of the spectrum if you need 2TB or less of space. If you use a lot of other Google products and services, this might be a good option for you.

10. Microsoft OneDrive

• Capacity: Up to 6TB
• Price: 5GB for free, 100GB for $1.99 per month, 1TB plus Office 365 Personal for $69.99 per year, 6TB plus Office 365 Home for $99.99 per year.
• External backups: Yes
• Mobile device backup: No
• System and software backups: No
• Two-factor authentication: Yes
• Drive shipping: No
• Retention of deleted files: Customizable

Many people know that Microsoft OneDrive allows you to store Office365 documents in the cloud, but you might not realize that it will also backup and sync with other folders on your computer. Like Google Drive, it does not do a full disk image that can restore the operating system and software, but it can save your files.

OneDrive makes a lot of sense if you use Office365 apps like Word and Excel. In fact, if you have an Office365 subscription, you probably already have access to OneDrive. Enabling it for backup is as easy as turning on the PC folder backup option. OneDrive isn’t the fastest or most full-featured option, but it can be very affordable for users of other Microsoft products.

Top 10 Home/SMB Cloud Backup Services: Full Feature Comparison

Enterprise Cloud Storage: Top 10 Cloud Backup Services

As enterprises have embraced hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, software as a service (SaaS), mobility and big data technologies, their IT environments have become much more difficult to back up. And at the same time, organizations are facing increasing security threats, particularly from ransomware, which makes having good backups more important than ever.

Consumer-style cloud backup services that simply copy all files to the cloud are not enough for enterprise IT. Large organizations need services that can collect their data from the many different places where it resides and protect it from cyberattacks, downtime and disasters. They need tools with advanced automation capabilities that can minimize the amount of time that IT staffers must spend babysitting the backups. And because today’s business moves more quickly than ever, they need services that can meet their fast recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs).

In fact, the term “cloud backup” means something different in the enterprise market than in the consumer market. For consumers, “cloud backup” means that the backup data resides in the cloud. For enterprises, “cloud backup” means protecting data that already lives in the cloud, and while that may mean creating another copy that resides in a cloud, it could also involve backups that reside in the data center.

Tips on Selecting Enterprise Cloud Storage

• Management features: Given the size of the enterprise workload, management features like AI and hybrid interoperability are essential. Advanced automation is particularly important.

• Overall complexity: Enterprise cloud backup is complex by its very nature, but is the solution you’re examining more complex than it needs to be for your needs?

• Cost vs. company fit: Cost is obviously critical, but the factor to weigh is: How costly is it versus how many of the feature are must-have? You don’t want to save a few dollars on a solution only to later realize it won’t scale.

The ten services below all offer excellent options for enterprises that need to back up complex IT environments. Please note that this is not a ranking; the companies are organized in alphabetical order.

Top 10 Enterprise Cloud Backup Services at a Glance

1. Acronis

Services: Acronis Cyber Backup

Target Markets: Businesses of all sizes with special offerings for service providers

Backup Sources: Desktops, servers, virtual machines, cloud, applications and mobile

Security Features: AI-based proactive ransomware protection, whitelisting, AES-256 encryption, blockchain notarization

Disaster Recovery: Yes, as an add-on

Archive: Yes

Deduplication: Advanced edition only

Pricing:Prices start at $99 per year to protect one workstation (physical or virtual), $839 per year for one server, $929 per year for one virtual host, $229 per year for Windows Server Essentials, $299 per year for Office 365 backup, and $199 per year for G Suite backup.

Acronis is a pure-play data protection vendor with one of the most highly rated enterprise cloud backups services available. The company claims that it takes just three clicks to set up the service, and users say that restores are very fast. It also offers advanced security features, like machine learning-based ransomware protection and blockchain-based protections. It also has won a host of awards.

The downsides to this service center around the buying process. You have to purchase through a reseller, which can be cumbersome. In addition, depending on which level of service and add-ons you select, it can become very expensive quickly. It might be out of reach for very small businesses with limited budgets or for extremely large enterprises with lots of users.

2. Arcserve

Services: Business Continuity Cloud, UDP Cloud Hybrid, UDP Cloud Direct, UDP Cloud Archiving, Continuous Availability

Target Markets: Large enterprises and service providers

Backup Sources: Desktop, server (including UNIX, HP/UX, and AIX), virtual, cloud

Security Features: 256-bit AES encryption and SSAE16-certified backup data centers

Disaster Recovery: Yes

Archive: Yes

Deduplication: Yes

Pricing: Starts at $50 per TB per month for backup only; UDP and business continuity pricing available on request.

Another pure-play data protection vendor, Arcserve offers both on-premise and cloud-based backup, business continuity and disaster recovery solutions. Its sweet spot is in creating hybrid solutions that include both on-premise and cloud-based components that provide unified data protection for large enterprises with complex IT environments that include both legacy systems and modern, cloud-based applications. It is highly scalable and built to meet compliance needs.

However, the cloud solution can be somewhat complex to configure and deploy — which might be expected when it handles such complex environments. Some require agents, which adds to the difficulty of implementing the service.

3. Cobalt Iron

Services: Compass

Target Markets: Large enterprises

Backup Sources: Physical, virtual, cloud

Security Features: AES-256 encryption, role-based access control

Disaster Recovery: No

Archive: Yes

Deduplication: Yes

Pricing: SaaS-based; available on request

A pure-play backup vendor, Cobalt Iron aims to help enterprises simplify and consolidate their legacy backup systems. It promises that organizations can reduce their backup-related administrative workload by 90 percent while dropping costs by more than half. It customers include IBM, Lenovo, Whirlpool, Suncor Energy, Kaiser Permanente and many others in more than 44 different countries, and it boasts 100 percent year-over-year growth.

Cobalt Iron protects data that resides in many different locations, including multiple clouds and enterprise data centers. It automates data protection management that incorporates advanced analytics, and it delivers that data protection on a SaaS basis.

4. Cohesity

Services: DataProtect

Target Markets: Medium to large enterprises

Backup Sources: Physical and virtual workloads, public cloud, databases, applications (including SaaS) and storage

Security Features: AES-256 encryption, multi-factor authentication, FIPS certification

Disaster Recovery: Yes

Archive: Yes

Deduplication: Global variable length deduplication

Pricing: Available on request

Cohesity offers a range of data management products that include its data protection solution, aptly named DataProtect. Like Cobalt Iron, it focuses on simplifying complex backup environments, and it says that it can reduce data protection costs by 70 percent or more. It also promises exceptionally fast recoveries and the ability to meet frequent recovery point objectives. The company’s customer list includes the Wendy’s fast-food chain, Schneider Electric, 1st Security Bank, Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, Cisco, Brown University and others. In their market analyses, Gartner named it a Visionary, and Forrester called it a Leader.

On the negative side, some of its features are only available as add-ons with an extra charge, so enterprises will need to look through any pricing proposals carefully.

5. Commvault

Services: Metallic, Orchestrate

Target Markets: Large enterprises

Backup Sources: Server, virtual, cloud, database, Office 365, endpoints

Security Features: Encryption in flight and at rest

Disaster Recovery: Yes

Archive: Yes

Deduplication: Yes

Pricing: Metallic Core $140 to $200 per TB per month, depending on volume. Office 365 backup is $2.80 to $4 per user per month. Endpoint backup is $6.48 to $9.25 per user per month. Other pricing available on request.

Commvault primarily offers on-premises backup solutions, although its Complete Backup & Recovery solution can also backup cloud data. But through its Its Metallic division, it also offers a SaaS backup and recovery solution based on the same technology. It also has an Orchestrate syncing service that can be used to set up a cloud-based backup. Commvault customers include Sony, Panasonic, HunterDouglas, Ace, UCONN Health, HarperCollins, NTT Data, Daihatsu and others, and Gartner named the company a Leader in backup.

On the negative side, Commvault’s Metallic products are still maturing and don’t have the full feature set of some other enterprise cloud backup services. And the other Commvault products, while very mature, are somewhat complex and can be difficult to deploy.

6. Dell EMC

Services: Dell EMC Data Protection Suite

Target Markets: Large enterprises

Backup Sources: Server, cloud, virtual

Security Features: Varies by product

Disaster Recovery: Yes

Archive: Yes

Deduplication: Yes

Pricing: Available on request

Dell EMC offers a range of appliance hardware, software and cloud backup services as part of its Data Protection Suite. The suite seems particularly well suited for organizations with hybrid environments and for organizations that use a lot of other Dell EMC products, such as its storage and server hardware. And Dell EMC’s business relationship with VMware means that it has good support for virtualized workloads.

However, getting cloud backup from Dell EMC isn’t as simple as when using a pure-play cloud backup service. Organizations will likely need to cobble together a range of hardware, software and services to meet their data protection needs. This might be the best option for complex environments, but it definitely won’t be fast and easy.

7. IBM

Services: IBM Cloud Backup

Target Markets: Businesses of all sizes

Backup Sources: More than 200 operating systems, platforms and applications

Security Features: End-to-end encryption and SSAE 16-compliant data centers

Disaster Recovery: Yes

Archive: (yes or no or description) No

Deduplication: Front-end and back-end deduplication that reduces storage footprint by up to 99 percent.

Pricing:Prices start at $15 per month for 20GB.

Enterprises that already use IBM Cloud would do well to investigate IBM Cloud Backup, and the service is also available as an upgrade for some IBM hardware. One of IBM’s big advantages in this space is its global reach. Because it has cloud data centers, it can offer redundancy capabilities that allow organizations to store backup copies in multiple locations for extra protection. It also includes the ability to do bare-metal restores and backup applications like Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL and others.

On the downside, IBM’s pricing isn’t as competitive as some of the other providers. It also doesn’t advertise the sort of automated archiving service that some of the other vendors offer, although IBM cloud does have a low-cost storage service that is suitable for archive data.

8. Rubrik

Services: Cloud Data Management

Target Markets: Medium to large enterprises

Backup Sources: Physical, virtual, cloud, SaaS and NoSQL workloads

Security Features: Encryption, role-based access control, automated compliance

Disaster Recovery: Yes

Archive: Yes

Deduplication:

Pricing: Available on request

Designed for the cloud, Rubrik’s flagship Cloud Data Management service brings together backup, recovery, archiving, search, analytics, compliance and copy data management in a single platform. It promises near-instant restores, instant search, automation capabilities, built-in analytics and more. Its customers include Kern Medical Center, Mall of America, the city of Sioux Falls and others.

Rubrik receives excellent ratings and reviews for its comprehensive features. However, some customers have reported difficulties implementing the solution, and some had cost concerns.

9. Veeam

Services: Availability Platform, Availability Suite, Cloud Connect

Target Markets: Small businesses and enterprises of all sizes

Backup Sources: Virtual, physical, cloud and SaaS workloads

Security Features: End-to-end encryption

Disaster Recovery: Yes

Archive: (yes or no or description) Yes

Deduplication: Yes

Pricing: $1500 per year for 10 licenses or $1380 per socket

As one of the world’s leading backup providers, Veeam offers an extensive and comprehensive lineup of backup and recovery services. It has more than 365,000 customers, including 82 percent of the Fortune 500, and it has won more than 170 industry awards. Its flagship Availability Suite combines backup and recovery capabilities with monitoring and analytics. And it works with multiple cloud services, helping prevent vendor lock-in. And unlike some of the other providers, Veeam has services tailored for small businesses as well as enterprises, and it even has some free tools.

Overall, Veeam receives excellent ratings from users, but some industry reviewers have found fault with its level of integration with some cloud vendors.

10. Veritas

Services: NetBackup, CloudPoint, SaaS Backup

Target Markets: Businesses of all sizes

Backup Sources: Physical, virtual, cloud, database, storage, applications, big data systems

Security Features: Role-based access control, security monitoring, encryption

Disaster Recovery: Yes

Archive: Yes

Deduplication: Yes

Pricing: Available on Request

Another leader in the enterprise backup space, Veritas says that its flagship NetBackup product is the most widely used in the world. NetBackup can store backups in the cloud, or on disk or tape, and the latest release adds many more cloud-friendly features. It also offers CloudPoint, a simpler cloud-based snapshot backup product, and SaaS Backup, which backs up services like Office 365, G Suite and Salesforce. According to Veritas, 97 of the companies on the Fortune 100 list use its services. That includes companies like Bank of America, T-Mobile, Nationwide, United, FedEx, CenturyLink and others. And the company has received numerous industry awards and accolades.

The only areas where Veritas seems to sometimes fall short is with its compliance features. Also, implementing the backup in the cloud can sometimes be complicated. In general, however, the company gets high ratings.

Top 10 Enterprise Cloud Backup Services: Full Feature Comparison