File Storage · alternatives
Alternatives to Carbonite
22 file storage tools sit alongside Carbonite in this directory. Below is what separates each from Carbonite on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 9
- Cheaper to start
- 9
- Carbonite starts at
- $6/month
Why people look past Carbonite
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Carbonite entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
It costs more than the category median
Carbonite starts at $6/month. Across the 13 file storage tools listed beside it that publish a price, the median entry point is $5/month.
There is no free tier
The record for Carbonite carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 9 of the 22 alternatives below can be used without paying.
There is only one tier
Carbonite publishes a single plan, Basic at $6/month. There is no smaller tier to drop to if the fit is wrong or the budget moves.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Unlimited cloud backup at an affordable price
- Starts $3 a month dearer, at $9/month.
- 2 tiers to Carbonite's 1.
Endpoint backup designed for work-from-anywhere
- Starts $2 a month dearer, at $8/month.
- 3 tiers to Carbonite's 1.
Mac and Windows backup to your own cloud storage
- Starts $44 a year dearer, at $50/year.
Google's consumer cloud storage app, sharing the same 15GB quota as Gmail and Google Photos
- Can be used without paying; Carbonite cannot.
- Sold on a Free tier plus paid storage add-on model rather than subscription.
- 3 tiers to Carbonite's 1.
Low cost S3-compatible object storage with egress included up to a multiple of what you store
- Can be used without paying; Carbonite cannot.
- Starts $2 a month cheaper, at $4/month.
- Sold on a Per terabyte per month model rather than subscription.
- 2 tiers to Carbonite's 1.
S3-compatible object storage that charges nothing for egress to the internet
- Can be used without paying; Carbonite cannot.
- Starts $5.985 a month cheaper, at $0.015/month.
- Sold on a Per gigabyte stored per month model rather than subscription.
- 3 tiers to Carbonite's 1.
Every Carbonite alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbonite (this page) | $6/month | Subscription | 1 | |
| BackblazeCloud backup service with unlimited storage for personal use and strong emphasis on speed and reliability. | $9/month | - | 2 | vs Carbonite |
| CrashPlanCloud backup solution offering unlimited storage, continuous backup, and version history for personal and business use. | $8/month | - | 3 | vs Carbonite |
| Arq BackupFlexible cloud backup software supporting multiple storage backends and offering incremental backups. | $50/year | Subscription | 1 | vs Carbonite |
| Google Drive | Free | Free tier plus paid storage add-on | 3 | vs Carbonite |
| IDrive e2 | Free, then $4/month | Per terabyte per month | 2 | vs Carbonite |
| Cloudflare R2 | Free, then $0.015/month | Per gigabyte stored per month | 3 | vs Carbonite |
| Ceph | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Carbonite |
| MinIO | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Carbonite |
| Storj | Free, then $4/month | Per terabyte per month | 2 | vs Carbonite |
| Tigris | Free, then $0.004/GB/month | Usage-based tiered storage with per-request fees | 4 | vs Carbonite |
| Box | Free, then $5/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Carbonite |
| Nextcloud | Free | Freemium | 4 | vs Carbonite |
| LucidLink | $7/month | Per member per month plus storage | 3 | vs Carbonite |
| VAST Data | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Carbonite |
| Panzura | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Carbonite |
| Scality RING | On request | Quote | 2 | vs Carbonite |
| Cloudian | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Carbonite |
| Nasuni | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Carbonite |
| Veritas NetBackup | $100/month | Subscription | 1 | vs Carbonite |
| Zerto | $5/month | Subscription | 1 | vs Carbonite |
| Microsoft OneDrive | $1.99/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Carbonite |
| IDrive | $2.5/month | Subscription | 7 | vs Carbonite |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Carbonite badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (9)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Google Drive , Free
- IDrive e2 , Free, then $4/month
- Cloudflare R2 , Free, then $0.015/month
- Ceph , Free
- MinIO , Free
- Storj , Free, then $4/month
- Tigris , Free, then $0.004/GB/month
- Box , Free, then $5/month
Cheaper than Carbonite (9)
Entry price under Carbonite's $6/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- IDrive e2 , Free, then $4/month
- Cloudflare R2 , Free, then $0.015/month
- Storj , Free, then $4/month
- Tigris , Free, then $0.004/GB/month
- Box , Free, then $5/month
- Nextcloud , Free
- Zerto , $5/month
- Microsoft OneDrive , $1.99/month
What you would be giving up
Carbonite is most often brought in for data protection, disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware protection, compliance. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Carbonite is broadly right and the question is cost, the Carbonite pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the File Storage category lists everything the directory holds, and best file storage tools ranks them.
Carbonite runs on windows, mac, web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Carbonite alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Carbonite?
- 22 other file storage tools are listed in this directory, led by Backblaze, CrashPlan, Arq Backup, Google Drive. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Carbonite?
- 9 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Google Drive, IDrive e2, Cloudflare R2, Ceph, MinIO.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Carbonite?
- Yes. 9 of the alternatives below start under Carbonite's $6/month: IDrive e2 at Free, then $4/month, Cloudflare R2 at Free, then $0.015/month, Storj at Free, then $4/month, Tigris at Free, then $0.004/GB/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Carbonite?
- On the figures on record, 3 things stand out: it costs more than the category median; there is no free tier; there is only one tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Carbonite?
- Carbonite is most often brought in for data protection, disaster recovery, business continuity, ransomware protection, compliance. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Carbonite?
- None of the file storage tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Carbonite alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, File Storage, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Carbonite against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Carbonite covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every file storage tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the File Storage category, 22 tools beside Carbonite. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.