Backup software is judged on the one day it is used. This guide ranks on restore speed rather than backup speed, on whether the product can survive the ransomware event that encrypts the backups too, and on what a full recovery of a working system actually involves once you are the person doing it at three in the morning.
AuthorHannah ReiterSenior Analyst, Business Applications
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Full disclosure.
In short
What backup software software does
Backup software copies data and systems to a second location on a schedule, and restores them when the first location is gone, corrupted or encrypted.
Four things, in this order: how much setup the first ninety days take, what the price becomes
once the modules a normal buyer needs are added, how your data comes back out if you leave,
and who the product is genuinely for. Feature counts are the least useful comparison in
software, because every vendor ticks every box.
We do not publish a score out of ten. A number like 8.4 is a judgement dressed as a
measurement, and nobody can check it. What you can check is on this page: what each product
costs, where the vendor is established, whether the price is published, and what we think it
is bad at. Our full method is on the how we work page.
A small technical team that wants encrypted backup for free
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
Acronis puts backup and active anti-ransomware in one agent, which closes the gap where malware encrypts the backups before anyone notices the primary system is gone. Bare-metal restore works. The agent is heavy compared with pure backup tools, and the product range is segmented in a way that makes working out which edition you need harder than it should be.
What stands out
Swiss company
Anti-ransomware built in
Bare-metal restore
Where it costs you
The agent is heavy
The product range is confusingly segmented
Right for
A company that wants backup and ransomware protection in one agent
Unlimited personal backup, and cheap object storage
Ranked #2 of 8 in Best Backup Software in 2026.
Published pricing
Backblaze's unlimited personal plan is the best value in backup, full stop, and B2 object storage costs a fraction of what the hyperscalers charge with no egress surprise for normal use. The published hard-drive failure statistics say something about the company's culture. Restoring a large set is slow over the internet, so factor in the shipped-drive option for genuine disaster recovery.
What stands out
Flat unlimited plan
B2 object storage
Published hard-drive stats
Where it costs you
Restores of large sets are slow unless you pay for a shipped drive
Business features are thin
Right for
Someone who wants unlimited backup or very cheap object storage
Wrong for
An enterprise needing instant recovery
United StatesPer computer per year or per TB per month, published
The enterprise standard for virtual infrastructure
Ranked #3 of 8 in Best Backup Software in 2026.
Pricing on request
Veeam is what serious IT departments run for virtual infrastructure, and instant recovery of a virtual machine works as well as the marketing claims — which is the moment you find out whether backup software was worth the money. Immutable backup targets are supported. Licensing is complex enough to need a specialist, and the community edition stops well short of business requirements.
What stands out
Instant VM recovery
Immutable backups
Broad platform support
Where it costs you
Licensing is complex
The community edition stops short of business needs
If you already own a Synology NAS, Active Backup is genuinely free and genuinely capable: agents for servers, PCs, virtual machines and Microsoft 365, with fast local restores. There is no licence to buy. Two limits matter: it ties you to Synology hardware, and a NAS in the same building as the systems it protects is not an offsite backup by any definition.
What stands out
No licence fee
Agent for servers and PCs
Local restore speed
Where it costs you
Ties you to Synology hardware
A NAS in the same building is not offsite
Right for
A company that already owns a Synology NAS
Wrong for
An organisation needing offsite by default
TaiwanFree with a Synology NAS; you pay for the box
NAKIVO covers most of what Veeam does for roughly a third of the licence cost and will run directly on a NAS rather than needing a dedicated server, which suits a smaller IT team with a constrained budget. Throughput is good. It has fewer integrations, a smaller partner network, and less evidence of behaviour at very large scale.
What stands out
Low licence cost
Runs on a NAS
Good throughput
Where it costs you
Fewer integrations
Less proven at large scale
Right for
A budget-conscious IT team that wants Veeam-class features
Rewind covers the blind spot almost every company has: the Shopify store, the accounting ledger, the GitHub organisation and the ticketing system are not backed up by anyone unless you arrange it, and the platform's own protections are not backups. Item-level restore works well. It is narrow by design and priced per service, so covering four systems means four subscriptions.
What stands out
Backs up SaaS data
Shopify and QuickBooks
Item-level restore
Where it costs you
Narrow by design
Priced per service
Right for
A business whose critical data lives in SaaS accounts
Backs up things nothing else will touch, which is why it survives in banks and hospitals. Everything about it is heavy: the licensing, the console and the consultancy bill.
What stands out
Handles anything
Tape and cloud
Long track record
Where it costs you
Everything about it is heavy
Consultancy cost is part of the deal
Right for
A bank or hospital with an estate nobody can simplify
Encrypts before it leaves the machine and writes to any storage you already pay for, which makes it the honest choice for a small technical team. It is a community project: no support contract, and restores deserve testing before you rely on them.
What stands out
No licence cost
Client-side encryption
Any storage back end
Where it costs you
No support contract
Restores deserve testing before you rely on them
Right for
A small technical team that wants encrypted backup for free
Backup software copies data and systems to a second location on a schedule, and restores them when the first location is gone, corrupted or encrypted. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
6 of the 8 tools here publish what they cost; the other 2 quote per organisation, which means a sales conversation before you can compare anything. If you are buying without a procurement function, start with the ones that publish: Acronis Cyber Protect, Backblaze, Synology Active Backup, NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Rewind, Duplicati.
02
Work out what the first ninety days cost in time
Licence cost is the number in the contract; setup effort is the number that surprises people. Ask every shortlisted vendor who does the configuration, how long it took the last customer of your size, and what happens if that person leaves halfway.
03
Check the exit before the entry
Ask for an export of your own data in a format you can open, and ask whether it is included or billed as a project. A vendor that hesitates here is telling you what renewal negotiations will feel like in three years.
04
Match the tool to the size you are, not the size you plan to be
Most regret in this category comes from buying for a headcount that never arrived. The entry-level products here are not worse; they are aimed at a different company.
05
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
2 of these 8 vendors are established in Europe. Where a vendor is established decides which government can compel access to what it holds, which is a different question from where the servers are. For most buyers that is a factor, not a veto.
06
Consider whether you want the source
1 of these are open source, which means you can host them yourself and read what they do with your data. That control is real, and so is the maintenance it hands you.
What goes wrong most often
Shortlisting on a feature matrix. Every vendor ticks every box, so the matrix tells you nothing and costs a week.
Testing with clean data. Import the messy export from the system you are replacing, because that is what the first week will actually look like.
Letting the demo be run by the vendor. Ask for a sandbox and do your own three most common tasks in it, timed.
07
Frequently asked questions
7 answers
What is the best backup software in 2026?
Acronis Cyber Protect leads our ranking of 8. Combines backup with active ransomware protection, which closes the gap where the malware encrypts the backups first. The agent is heavy and the product range is confusingly segmented.
How did you rank these backup software tools?
On what separates products after the demo: how much setup the first ninety days take, what the price becomes once the modules a normal buyer needs are added, how your data comes back out, and who the product is genuinely for. Not on feature counts, and not on a score we invented.
Which backup software tools publish their pricing?
Acronis Cyber Protect, Backblaze, Synology Active Backup, NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Rewind, Duplicati. The other 2 quote per organisation.
Is there a free backup software option?
Synology Active Backup, Duplicati offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition. Read what the free tier excludes before you plan around it.
Which backup software vendors are European?
Acronis Cyber Protect, Duplicati are established in Europe, 6 elsewhere. Establishment decides whose courts and whose disclosure laws apply, which is a separate question from where the data is hosted.
Do you get paid for these rankings?
Some links on the page are commercial and commercial relationships can affect which products we cover and where they appear. They never change what an entry says, including the criticism. The full arrangement is on our disclosure page.
How often is this backup software guide updated?
Whenever the facts move: a price change, an acquisition, a product that stops being maintained. The published and updated dates at the top of the page are real, and a review means someone went back to the vendor documentation rather than bumping a date.
Not on this list, or listed and unhappy with what it says? A factual correction is free and
applied whoever asks for it. If you want the product taken apart properly, we do
commissioned analysis — you see it before it is
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