Backup · ranked shortlist
Best Backup software in 2026
20 approved backup listings, ordered by published rating with the method stated below rather than assumed.
- Tools ranked
- 20
- Entry price range
- $1.70-$1,095
- Publish a $0 plan
- 5 of 20
How this ranking is derived
The sort key
Published rating, highest first. Ties break on the number of ratings behind the score, then on product name so the order never depends on what the API happened to return first. That is the whole rule, there is no weighting, no score of our own, and nothing paid: no sponsored slot runs on these pages.
Where the ratings come from
No listing in this set carries a rating, so the order falls back to name. Those scores are aggregated from public sources rather than collected here, Softwr hosts no reviews of its own, which is also why no rating on this page is marked up as ours in structured data.
What the pool is
Approved backup listings, capped at 20 per page; 20 came back for this one. It is not the whole market, and a tool being absent means we hold no record of it rather than that it failed a test. The unranked full set is on the backup category page.
The ranking
Each entry lists why it sits where it sits, drawn from its own published rating and pricing.
- #1
Acronis Cyber Protect
Highest rated hereIntegrated backup and cybersecurity protection
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $5.67 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $129.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- cyber-protection, backup, anti-ransomware, disaster-recovery
- #2
Altaro VM Backup
Simple and powerful VM backup for SMBs
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $595 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- vm-backup, smb, simple, wan-optimized
- #3
Amanda Enterprise
Open-source backup trusted by enterprises
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $30 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Open Source, cross-platform, cloud-backup, Enterprise
- #4
AOMEI Backupper
Complete backup and restore solution for Windows
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $39.95 a month.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $49.95.
- Billing
- one-time
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- windows-backup, sync, clone, bootable-media
- #5
Apple Time Machine
Built-in backup for every Mac
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- built-in, mac, automatic, Free
- #6
Arcserve UDP
Unified data protection for all workloads
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $25 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- unified-protection, assured-recovery, Enterprise, application-aware
- #7
Axcient x360Recover
Unified BCDR for managed service providers
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $99 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- msp, chain-free, bcdr, autoverify
- #8
Backupify
Automated cloud-to-cloud backup
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $29 a month, with no free plan.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- saas-backup, cloud-to-cloud, automated, compliance
- #9
Bacula
The best open source backup software for Linux
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- open-source
- #10
Borg Backup
Deduplicating archiver with compression and encryption
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Free, Open Source, deduplication, archiver
- #11
Clonezilla
Free disk cloning and imaging solution
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Free, Open Source, disk-cloning, imaging
- #12
CloudAlly
Enterprise SaaS backup made simple
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $3 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- saas-backup, multi-platform, Enterprise, simple
- #13
Cohesity
Protect, secure, and gain insights into your enterprise data
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Billing
- quote
- #14
Comet Backup
White-label backup software for service providers
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $19 a month, with no free plan.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $99.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- white-label, msp, byos, fast
- #15
Commvault Complete Data Protection
Enterprise-grade intelligent data management
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $1.70 a month, with no free plan.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $90.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- Enterprise, data-management, cloud-backup, compliance
- #16
Datto Backup
Business continuity without compromise
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Billing
- subscription
- #17
Dell EMC NetWorker
Unified data protection for the enterprise
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $80 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Enterprise, protectpoint, unified, cloud-tiering
- #18
Bacula Enterprise
Open-source enterprise backup solution
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $500 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- Open Source, Enterprise, modular, cost-effective
- #19
Cohesity DataProtect
Hyperconverged secondary data protection
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- hyperconverged, data-management, instant-recovery, Enterprise
- #20
Datto SIRIS
All-in-one business continuity and disaster recovery
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $1,095 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- msp, business-continuity, hybrid-cloud, ransomware-protection
What backup software costs
Counted from the published pricing of the 20 listings on this page. A tool counts as free only where it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence or a starting price of zero.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $1.70Commvault Complete Data Protection
- Median entry price
- $30across 13 priced
- Dearest entry price
- $1,095Datto SIRIS
- Publish a $0 plan
- 5of 20
Paid backup plans in this set start anywhere from $1.70 a month for Commvault Complete Data Protection to $1,095 for Datto SIRIS. The median entry price across the 13 tools that publish one is $30, half of them start below that figure and half above it.
5 of 20 publish a $0 plan, and 4 of those charge nothing at all. 12 tools have no free tier of any kind.
1 of 20 keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote, which in practice means the number you end up paying at the top end is not on this page or on theirs.
Commvault Complete Data Protection pricingDatto SIRIS pricingDatto SIRIS plans
How these vendors bill
The billing model each of the 20 backup listings publishes, counted. Two tools at the same headline price are not the same purchase if one of them charges per seat.
- subscription
- 8
- free
- 3
- one-time
- 1
- open-source
- 1
- quote
- 1
Separately, 1 of 20 publish at least one tier with no price attached. Those are sold by quote, so the top of the ladder is negotiable, and unknowable, until you talk to sales.
What “Backup” covers in practice
The subject tags that recur across these 20 listings, with the number of tools carrying each. A category label is a filing decision; this is the closer read of what is actually filed under it.
- Enterprise7
- Open Source4
- Free3
- msp3
- cloud-backup2
- compliance2
- data-management2
- saas-backup2
- simple2
Carried by a single tool: anti-ransomware, automatic, built-in, cloud-tiering, deduplication, hyperconverged, multi-platform, unified. If one of those is the reason you are here, the category page is the wrong lens, go straight to that product.
How to choose between them
Four things the numbers above should change about your shortlist.
Start with the free tiers if there are enough of them
5 of 20 backup tools here publish a $0 plan, which is enough to run a real trial without a purchase order. A free tier is worth more than a free trial when you are evaluating: a trial expires on the vendor's schedule, a free plan expires when you outgrow it. The thing to check before you commit is which of the capabilities below sit above the free line, starting with cloud backup, the single most frequently named capability in this category's published tiers.
Read the spread before you read the features
$1.70 to $1,095 is a $1,093.30 spread on entry price alone, and a spread that wide is never about polish, it is about who the vendor built for. Tools at the bottom of this ladder are priced for one person or a small team; tools near $1,095 are priced for a department with a procurement process. Decide which of those you are before you compare capability, or you will shortlist four tools that were never competing for the same buyer.
Check which tier you actually land on
4 of 20 tools here publish three or more tiers, and the median vendor in this category ships 1 of them. The advertised price is the first rung, and the things teams tend to need, cloud backup, are named in higher plans far more often than in entry ones. Price your shortlist at the tier that contains what you need, not at the tier on the pricing page's left edge.
The billing model matters more than the headline number
This category splits across 5 billing models: subscription on 8 listings, free on 3, and 3 other arrangements across the rest. A per-user price and a flat subscription at the same headline figure are not the same purchase, the first one grows with headcount and the second does not. Multiply by your real team size before you compare two numbers side by side.
Compare backup tools directly
Every pairing below is a full comparison: the same checklist applied to both, so a gap in one is a gap in the other.
- Acronis Cyber Protect vs Altaro VM Backup
- Altaro VM Backup vs Amanda Enterprise
- Amanda Enterprise vs AOMEI Backupper
- AOMEI Backupper vs Apple Time Machine
- Apple Time Machine vs Arcserve UDP
- Arcserve UDP vs Axcient x360Recover
- Axcient x360Recover vs Backupify
- Backupify vs Bacula
Go straight to the numbers
- Acronis Cyber Protectpricingalternatives
- Altaro VM Backuppricingalternatives
- Amanda Enterprisepricingalternatives
- AOMEI Backupperpricingalternatives
- Apple Time Machinepricingalternatives
- Arcserve UDPpricingalternatives
Questions people ask about backup software
Answered from the listings on this page, and nowhere else.
- How is this backup ranking decided?
- Mechanically. The 20 approved backup listings on this page are sorted by their published rating, highest first, with the number of ratings behind each score as the tie-break and the product name as a final tie-break so the order is stable. Those ratings are aggregated from public sources, not collected from Softwr readers, this site hosts no reviews, so the order is a summary of what is already published elsewhere, not a verdict of our own. Nothing on this page is paid placement.
- How much does backup software cost?
- Across the 20 backup tools listed here, paid plans start between $1.70 and $1,095 a month, with a median entry price of $30. The most expensive single tier published in the category is $1,095 a month (Datto SIRIS). 5 of 20 also publish a $0 plan.
- What is the cheapest backup software?
- 4 of the 20 tools listed here cost nothing at all. Among the ones that charge, Commvault Complete Data Protection has the lowest published entry price at $1.70 a month. Cheapest and best value are different questions: check which tier the capability you need actually appears in before you compare starting prices.
- Is there free backup software?
- Yes, 5 of 20 tools in this category publish a plan priced at $0. 4 of them are free outright, with no paid tier above. A tool is only counted as free here when it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence, or a starting price of zero, a free trial does not count.
- How is backup software usually billed?
- subscription (8), free (3), one-time (1), open-source (1), plus 1 less common arrangements, counted across the 20 listings on this page. The distinction that costs money is per-seat versus flat: a per-user plan at the same headline price scales with your headcount and a flat subscription does not. 1 of 20 tools also keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote.
- What does backup software actually cover?
- The 20 tools on this page do not describe themselves the same way. The subject tags they carry most often are enterprise (7), open source (4), free (3), msp (3), cloud-backup (2). That spread is the honest answer to what the category means in practice: it is not one product shape, and two tools filed under backup may overlap on very little.
- How many pricing tiers do backup tools offer?
- 14 of 20 tools here publish a plan breakdown, and the median one has 1 tiers. 4 of 20 publish three or more. More tiers is not generosity, it usually means the capability you are buying for sits two rungs above the advertised price, so price your shortlist at the tier that contains it.
- How many backup tools are listed on Softwr?
- 20 approved backup listings appear on this page, including Acronis Cyber Protect, Altaro VM Backup, Amanda Enterprise, AOMEI Backupper. Each links to a full breakdown with its pricing tiers and plan detail, and the category can be filtered by price and sorted by rating above. You can also read the shortlist view at /best/backup, which ranks the same set by published rating.
Keep reading
Neighbouring categories
Adjacent in the same taxonomy, not a ranking.