Online Backup Services Reviews

Who's better?

Acronis vs Backblaze

We've analyzed the best Online Backup Services to help you find the right solution for your needs.

2026 Online Backup Service Reviews

Here you can see how Acronis and Backblaze match up head-to-head in a battle for the Best Online Backup Services in 2026.

Winner

Acronis

  • Essentials plan: $49.99/year for local backup with no cloud storage
  • Advanced plan: $72.99/year including 250GB cloud storage
  • Premium plan: $124.99/year with 1TB cloud storage

Acronis gives you powerful online backup protection with added security features to keep your data safe from everyday threats. With plans starting at $49.99/year for local backups, you can upgrade to include cloud storage (250GB for $72. 99 or 1TB for $124. 99) if you want the convenience of off-site protection. You'll get comprehensive tools like disk imaging, active ransomware protection, and the ability to restore your system to completely different hardware. Acronis earns a solid rating and is best suited for tech-savvy users and small businesses who value advanced backup features and strong security over simplicity.

Backblaze

  • $9/month, $99/year, or $189/two years for unlimited storage for one computer
  • Unlimited backup with no storage caps for personal plans
  • Automatic backup of external drives at no additional cost

Backblaze offers unlimited online backups for a single device at $9 per month, which might sound appealing if you have substantial data to protect. However, you'll want to think twice before trusting this service with your irreplaceable files - with abysmal customer support, unreliable restoration processes (exactly when you need your backups most), and concerning financial instability, Backblaze falls short where it matters most. This service might work for casual users with minimal data and plenty of patience, but if you value seamless recovery and responsive support when disaster strikes, you should look elsewhere. Reflected by its disappointing rating, Backblaze isn't recommended when better alternatives exist for your critical online backup needs.

More of our lives are digital than ever, and with that shift we store priceless photos and essential documents on our phones and laptops. When a drive dies, a computer disappears, or ransomware locks everything, the loss can be devastating. That's why cloud backups matter - they step in when things go wrong and give you a safety net. The best services run quietly in the background, encrypt your data, and keep multiple versions of your files so you don't have to babysit anything. Still, with a crowded market, choosing the right provider can feel daunting.

If you store anything digitally, you need an online backup. Whether you're a photographer safeguarding thousands of client shots, a small business owner protecting financial records, or a family preserving decades of memories, cloud backups deliver real peace of mind by keeping your data secure. When the unexpected hits - a coffee spill on your laptop, a full-blown system crash, or even ransomware - you can restore what matters fast instead of starting from scratch. Better yet, most services run automatically in the background and keep multiple versions, so your protection keeps up with you without extra effort.

Online backup services aren't one-size-fits-all. Some give you unlimited space for a single machine - wonderfully simple, but not very flexible if you've got multiple devices. Others go the opposite way, supporting several devices and layering in strong encryption, yet they put a hard cap on how much you can store. The most complete offerings add extras like ransomware protection and built-in antivirus, turning backup into a full data protection system. Before you choose, weigh restore speed, version history, and pricing, since those details can matter as much as raw capacity.

Pricing is all over the map: some providers charge per computer and toss in unlimited storage, while others give you a fixed pool to share across multiple devices. You'll see splashy "discounts" that curiously never end, but there are also truly competitive rates with real savings if you pay annually. Think about how many devices you back up today - and tomorrow - before you lock into a plan. For a multi-device household, the gap between $6 a month for one machine and $10 for unlimited devices adds up fast over a year.

When selecting the ideal online backup service for your needs, here are the key factors to consider:

Top Consumer Reviews has evaluated and ranked the best online backup services available today. We've thoroughly tested each option to help you find the perfect balance of features, security, and value. We hope our research helps you find the best online backup service for your unique needs - because when it comes to protecting your irreplaceable digital memories and crucial files, you deserve nothing less than complete peace of mind.

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Online Backup Service FAQ

What is an online backup service?
Online backup services give customers the ability to back up, secure and restore their files. In the event of data theft, hard drive failure or other loss, clients can easily get their information back from the service's cloud storage facilities.
Are online backup services just for big companies?
Definitely not. Anyone can benefit from having their computers backed up to a secure cloud, whether the data contains sensitive financial data or treasured digital photos.
How much do online backup services cost?
For the average personal user, the monthly fee starts at around $5. Business pricing begins around $30/month. Fees vary by the number of users and the amount of desired offsite storage space.
Why would I pay for an online backup service when there are free options out there?
Free services are handy, but they're not designed to give you automated backup and seamless restoration of your files. If you're not on top of saving absolutely everything on your computer, your free storage is going to be incomplete. Using an online backup service with regularly scheduled backups is the best way to ensure that none of your files are lost.
How often should I schedule a backup to my online service?
At least once a week. Your online backup service may allow you to have continuous backups; your system is monitored constantly for any files that have been deleted, modified, created or moved and it updates accordingly in the background with no effort on your part.
How secure are my files when using an online backup service?
If you use a reputable, reliable provider, your files are extremely secure. Be sure to choose a service that encrypts the data not only as it's being transferred but also as it's stored in their cloud. You should also check to see how your encryption key is stored; if you've got serious concerns, pick a service that allows you to create your own private key (and don't lose it, because the service won't be able to recover your data if you don't have the key). Finally, it's worth asking where your provider's data centers are located; ones in the EU and US are preferred.
How long will it take for the initial backup of my computer?
That will depend on how much you're backing up and your internet speed. It could take as little as an hour or as long as a week.
What if I need help?
That's a frequent complaint among users of online backup services: difficulty in accessing support at all stages of the relationship (questions prior to signing up, during the initial backup process, several months into the service). Some providers have a better track record than others in this regard, so if you expect it to be less than smooth sailing because you're not tech-savvy, you should carefully choose an online backup service with a reputation for helpful, reliable customer support.

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See the Best Online Backup Services in Your State

Why You Should Backup Your Computer

It used to be that fire or flood could destroy an entire lifetime's worth of paper files and other personal items like photos, music, home movies, business records, and so on. This is still true. But now more and more valuable family and business documents exist primarily on hard drives in our computers, or as digital versions in smart phones or tablets. So in addition to fire, flood, or other environmental threat we can add hardware failure and computer theft to the list of threats that could remove these important items from us.

In the early days of personal computers, all PC files were recorded on floppy disks; hard drives were large, expensive devices only found in the clean, secure, and climate-controlled computer rooms of large companies or governments. This allowed the storage of personal files in cases on a shelf. Hardly more secure than paper files, but at least not susceptible to hardware failure. Now, if the hard drive in a computer fails, chances are that all the information stored there will be lost forever. This could include:

Individuals, families, small businesses, and even larger enterprises sometimes have no backup copies of these valuable and often irreplaceable files. Or they might occasionally copy them to a DVD. Or they might have an external hard drive attached to the computer. Any copy is better than no copy. But copies that are kept at the same location as the computer are subject to the same environmental threats as the computer. And an external hard drive is just as subject to failure as the one inside the desktop or laptop system. Copies on optical disks, like DVDs, are likely outdated in as short a time as a week or two. So files must be manually backed up again and again, in an ever-increasing stack of disks.

What are the characteristics of a solution to this dilemma? Consider a solution that would provide:

These statements all describe online computer backup systems.

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Note: I suggest you make an Image Backup (to an external USB drive) of your current version of Windows before you attempt the upgrade. Should anything go wrong during or after the upgrade you can use the backup to restore your previous version. See the end of my reply on more information on Image backup utilities.

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