Top-10 Best Solutions for Microsoft Office 365 backup in 2024
Accessible, convenient, and fast, Microsoft’s productivity suite, Office 365, has become a staple of the modern business landscape. Despite the head-spinning rate of adoption, an ever-increasing number of companies are discovering the downsides of SaaS data, namely data safety and compliance vulnerabilities.
Both large enterprises and SMBs increasingly turn to third-party backup solutions to mitigate data safety vulnerabilities inherent in Microsoft Office 365. However, with the backup market being inundated with offers of widely varying scope, value, and cost, the choice of the right solution may feel overwhelming. To help you weigh the options and take the guesswork out of the decision, I have compiled a list of the top 10 best backup solutions for Microsoft Office 365. Following is an overview of backup solutions for Office 365 listed in the order of performance across five rating criteria: speed, reliability, scalability, usability, and cost.
1. NAKIVO Backup & Replication
With quick, incremental backups and near-instant recovery, NAKIVO Backup & Replication is the best backup solution available. Seamless integration with OneDrive for Business, Exchange Online, and SharePoint Online makes the solution suitable for most data-driven companies.
NAKIVO Backup & Replication allows storing data on-premises, thereby allowing companies to store the backups offline to counter cyber threats and granting a higher level of control over the company’s information. What also sets NAKIVO Backup & Replication apart is its relentless focus on usability. From a single deployment package allowing you to complete the installation in under 5 minutes to an intuitive web interface with a step-by-step backup job wizard, every facet of the feature has been streamlined for user convenience.
Another reason NAKIVO Backup & Replication ranks at the top is affordability. Priced starting at only $0.75 per user/month, the solution stacks up favorably against the competition. Additional features that have propelled the solution to the top of the list are role-based access control, bandwidth throttling, self-backup, BaaS, DRaaS, and policy-based data protection. It is also worth mentioning that NAKIVO Backup & Replication can also be used for backing up physical, virtual, and cloud workloads from a single point of control.
The bottom line is NAKIVO Backup and Replication is a mature backup solution with a well-rounded set of features making the task of Microsoft Office 365 data protection quick and simple in equal measure.
2. Acronis Backup
Acronis Backup is an enterprise-grade solution for Microsoft Office 365 backup. The solution has been around for years and, just like the top pick, gained the allegiance of a massive customer base. Acronis Backup offers watertight data protection across the key Microsoft Office 365 applications: Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Teams. Scoring reasonably well in backup speed, the solution also offers a host of recovery options. Its users can granularly recover anything from individual emails to entire folders. Adding to the convenience of granular recovery, Acronis Backup offers a quick backup search. The users can search through their backup repository either by site items or file names.
Acronis Backup is not my best pick because it charges as much as $4.31 per user/month with a 3-year subscription. The premium price notwithstanding, the arsenal of features lacks advanced bandwidth throttling, self-backup, role-based access control, calendar dashboard, job chaining, and job grouping. One should also keep in mind that Acronis Backup is a cloud-to-cloud solution, which means its users are exposed to all vulnerabilities of the cloud. Despite several downsides, Acronis Backup earns a prominent position in the list of the best solutions for Microsoft Office 365 backup in 2024.
3. CodeTwo
CodeTwo boasts a comprehensive set of features that streamline the process of backup management. Like the top-scoring solutions, CodeTwo software allows backing up SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, and Teams data. Other features it shares with the heavy hitters are continuous incremental backup, central management, granular recovery, global search, and unlimited data retention. There is also a characteristic that raises the solution above the competition — CodeTwo Outlook sync. In case of deletion, alteration, or corruption, all Outlook items can be easily restored.
Being a desktop application, CodeTwo cannot be remotely managed, which can introduce more than a minor inconvenience to some IT teams. Other drawbacks are the lack of reporting functionality, deduplication, and compression. Not surprisingly, therefore, CodeTwo’s protection for Microsoft Office 365 data comes at a reasonable price — $0.85 per user/month. Given the great balance of price and functionality, the solution merits serious consideration.
4. Unitrends Backup
Unitrends Backup is an enterprise-grade backup solution for Microsoft Office 365. The solution’s backup and replication capabilities cover SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, and OneDrive for business. The absence of storage limits and per-user licensing allows for frictionless scalability, which is something that can be appreciated by fast-growing startups. The solution also makes it possible to restore lost and corrupted files through the self-service user interface. Moreover, IT administrators can restore files from one account to another, which can come in handy for managing company data before and after the termination of employment. Another noteworthy fact is that Unitrends virtual backup application does away with the installation.
Although Unitrends can be rightfully considered a well-rounded solution for most backup needs, it does not have much to offer aside from the core functionality that is also implemented by other vendors. There is no advanced automation, job grouping, role-based access control, self-backup, or any other features to make the use of the solution more enjoyable and less time-consuming. Perhaps this is the reason why Unitrends does not make public its pricing details.
5. Cloudally
Simple and functional. These descriptors can be aptly applied to Cloudally — a robust backup solution for Microsoft 365. The solution performs on-demand and automated backups for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Groups, and Teams. What makes Cloudally a good value proposition is its comprehensive set of features, including granular restore, Amazon S3 encryption, object lock, data/status monitoring, advanced search, and archival export.
As for the downsides, Cloudally is a standalone solution with a sole focus on SaaS. Therefore, it is less versatile than other market offerings that can be implemented in physical, virtual, cloud, and SaaS environments. Furthermore, the steep price of $2.5 per user/month precludes small businesses, which are the likeliest users of the solution reserved for SaaS workloads, from adopting Cloudally. Nevertheless, companies that can afford the solution will enjoy its simplicity and reliability.
6. Iperius Backup
Iperius Backup is a lightweight solution for backing up Exchange servers and Exchange Online mail accounts. Coming from a large software suite, including Iperius Remote, Iperius Console, and Iperius Storage, the solution allows you to create incremental backups compatible with Outlook. Its users can copy backup files to NAS, FTP, S3, and the cloud. The solution also allows granularly restoring individual mailboxes — a feature that might be convenient in a number of scenarios. Even though the use of Iperius Backup can be beneficial for small companies, its wider implementation is hindered by the compromise on functionality. On the plus side, being a niche solution, Iperius Backup is characterized by minimal resource consumption, which is essential for backing up without interruptions. Moreover, a lifetime license for Iperius Backup costs only $244; therefore, there is certainly a market for the solution with a unique value proposition.
7. Cohesity
Cohesity addresses the limitations of native recovery capabilities in Exchange Online, SharePoint, and OneDrive. With its auto-discovery, Cohesity detects and backs up mailboxes, groups, files, and folders, which can be later stored on-premises or in Microsoft Azure. When the need for recovery arises, the backed-up files can be located with the help of the global search functionality. The automation of Cohesity backup and recovery processes takes multiple responsibilities out of the user’s hands, thereby streamlining the use of administrative resources. It is also worth pointing out that Cohesity enables the creation of customized retention periods, which saves storage space by disposing of non-essential information.
Using the nuts and bolts functionality of Cohesity, one can attain a reasonably high level of protection for their data stored across multiple Microsoft Office 365 applications. At the same time, some users might find the lack of advanced features to be a deal-breaker.
8. Barracuda Backup Solutions
Barracuda offers a complete SaaS solution — no hardware or software is needed to back up data stored across Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, Groups, and Teams. With a customizable backup schedule, the users can offload the bulk of their data safety responsibilities to the solution. Once backed up, data can be retained indefinitely without having to purchase additional licenses. In a similar vein, there are no caps on data storage. Other noteworthy features of the solution are no-installation setup, 128-bit AES encryption, role-based access control, and point-in-time recovery. Barracuda Office 365 reporting capabilities also merit a mention. From item-level reporting for backups and data retrievals to audit-log reporting, users can access easily-digestible information for all actions performed across their account.
Barracuda Backup has a considerable downside that detracts from its multiple benefits. Namely, due to the solution’s sole focus on cloud-to-cloud backup, its users are not granted the flexibility of on-premises storage. Perhaps for the same reason, the speed of recovery is also lacking.
9. Commvault
Commvault is a data protection solution characterized by a low total cost of ownership as well as speedy data backup and recovery capabilities. With Commvault, users can back up data from Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, and Project Online. Microsoft Teams data that is tied to SharePoint and OneDrive can also be backed up by the solution. When it comes to the choice of data repository, the users are provided with several options: on-premises, hybrid cloud backup, and public cloud backup.
Aside from standard features such as global search and granular recovery, Commvault does not have much to offer to its customers. Nevertheless, it’s a well-functioning solution that can benefit small businesses that are not looking for an advanced level of automation and flexibility.
10. Rubrik
Rubrik offers data protection for Exchange Online and OneDrive data. The company’s single-minded focus on simplicity is manifestly evident from the deployment, which can be performed in mere minutes, to the management, which is facilitated by policy-based scheduling. Once deployed, the solution automatically detects all users who have been added to Rubric Microsoft 365 subscription. Instant search and recovery from point-in-time snapshots allow accessing critical data of both active and inactive users.
Like several other vendors that have ended up at the bottom of this list, Rubrik backup cannot be stored on-premises. It means its users are exposed to multiple data safety threats inherent in cloud environments. While it might not be a deal-breaker for some users, organizations seeking complete control over their data and an additional security layer created by on-premises storage should opt for other solutions.
