Thursday, March 20th
2025 Online Backup Service Reviews
Acronis
- $49.99/year for Essentials
- $54.99/year for Advanced
- $125/year for Premium
- 50% student discount offered
- "A-” rated by the BBB
With offerings including cybersecurity, data loss recovery, email security, and even automation, Acronis' services are expansive as they are impressive. For the home or small business, however, Acronis' also offers some well-regarded online backup services with impressive customer support to boot.
Multiple, secure, supported backup options
Acronis also earns marks for its ease of use, and its combination of disk-imaging and cloud services. While disk-imaging is critical to ensure a complete backup of a specific SSD, hard drive, or your entire system, their cloud service provides easy and secure access to files you are actively working with. In addition, Acronis' integrated mobile app ensures that you can access your files from anywhere. In sum, we appreciate the convenience Acronis offers, even though cloud services are not included in their base plans. In addition, Acronis supports encryption, multi-factor authentication, and gives you control over the encryption key (just make sure you don't forget it).
Premium protection across all plans
Acronis offers 3 plans to meet their customer's online backup needs.
- The Essentials plan at $49.99 per year includes full image to file-level active disk cloning, quick recovery/universal restore services, and ransomware protection.
- The Advanced option at $54.99/year adds 50gb of cloud storage, ransomware and malware protection for both your PC and your backups, in addition to "cloud” backups that include replication of data in-cloud, and backups of any files or data stored in Microsoft 365.
- The Premium option is its most secure, and includes blockchain certification and an electronic signature of all your files, in addition to 1TB of cloud storage.
Extra cloud storage can be added to Acronis' Advanced and Premium plans for a fee. Keep in mind that their Essentials plan does not include their pricing for license updates, which will come at an extra cost. That being said, Acronis does offer a 50% student discount with proof of enrollment, which is well worth the cost for the student looking for some peace of mind regarding the security of their work.
Top notch security
For those individuals or businesses for whom security is a must, Acronis' Premium services could be an excellent choice, especially considering their block-chain and e-signature verification. While "blockchain” may conjure images of sweaty-palmed crypto-speculators, it has a verifiable - and valuable - use case as a permanent ledger confirming that your files belong to you. As such, we appreciate Acronis' integration of blockchain technology into their Premium offerings.
Well regarded, well reviewed
Acronis has earned many positive user reviews, and, with its diligent customer service, an "A-” from the Better Business Bureau. There is little more harrowing than the possibility of losing your files; as such, Acronis' proven record of reliable customer support as evidenced by their grade with the Better Business Bureau earns them high marks. While some customers on aggregate review sites have expressed frustration with Acronis, citing difficulty of use or billing complaints, Acronis is quick to respond to customer complaints. Phone, email, and chat support are offered across all of Acronis' plans. Premium customers receive priority support, which - depending on the sensitivity or financial importance of your files - may well be worth the price.
Impressive and worth the price
All-in-all, we are impressed by Acronis' palatable mix of reliable customer support and impressive affordances. Whether you simply need the peace of mind of a complete disk imaging of a crucial hard drive, or robust integration of cloud storage and security, Acronis offers the most security, and the most robust backup options, of any of the services we've reviewed. As such, whatever you need from a backup provider, Acronis is likely to have what you're looking for, with responsive support to boot.
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The 9 Best Online Backup Services
Which Online Backup Service is the Best?
When it comes to backups and cybersecurity, you can never be too safe, especially when it comes to your files. When we use our computers, everything we save feels permanent, but that permanence is - quite frankly - an illusion. Everything saved is saved somewhere on a physical drive, which means that far from existing in some ethereal cloud, your files can be lost.
Your computer could just break one day from wear, have water spilled on it, be dropped, or even locked-in with a ransomware attack. This isn't even to mention the fact that hard drives decay. In fact, every single hard drive and SSD WILL fail at some point - it's just a matter of when. All of these issues explain why online backup services have exploded in popularity over the last several years.
Online Backup Service FAQ
Continued from above...
Online backup services are super convenient. Gone are the days when users had to manually transfer data to external hard drives or rely on physical backups that could be lost or damaged. Online backup services automate the process, running in the background and ensuring that data is continuously backed up. This automation makes it easy on users and eliminates the need for manual backups, saving both time and effort.
Another reason why online backup services are so popular is they are an efficient and cost-effective solution for data management. Traditional backup methods often required substantial investments in physical hardware, such as extra hard drives, discs, and cables. These would have to be upgraded as technology (and storage limits) increased. Then, to prevent against environmental damage (such as fire or rain), the backup data needed to be physically moved and stored at another location. Online backup services, on the other hand, offer scalable, pay-as-you-go pricing models, require no additional equipment, and enjoy built-in offsite storage.
Furthermore, online backup services offer continuing technology improvements at no additional cost. Many providers offer advanced features like versioning, which allows users to retrieve previous versions of files, and continuous backup, which ensures that even the smallest changes are saved throughout the day. This not only enhances data integrity but also offers peace of mind, knowing that the data is always up-to-date and recoverable.
There are a host of services out there to help you save critical data and protect your computer from damage or malicious actors. However it can be a bit confusing when it comes to finding the right online backup service that meets your particular needs.
Here are some features to look for when comparing the various online backup services:
- Disk imaging. A full disk imaging compresses your entire computer into an easily-transported file. Disk imaging is a great choice for a full backup (including your OS and any virtual machines), but may be overkill for the casual user. Decide if you need something at this level before you start looking for an online backup service, so that you only pay for what you'll actually use.
- Cloud. A cloud service allows you to edit files hosted on an external server. This can be an excellent way to secure files and programs you are actively editing or sharing with others.
- Deletion policies. Keep in mind that most backup services have a 30-day deletion policy unless they explicitly say otherwise. This means that if your computer doesn't communicate with their servers for 30 days, or it detects that you've deleted a file on your hard drive, it will be deleted in their backup. That being said, the best services on our list do not auto delete your backups or files.
- Customer service. If you are going to be trusting a company to backup your data, responsive and robust customer service is a must. Be sure to check customer reviews before signing up for a backup service.
While some things involving computers can feel overwhelming, and saved files are in no way as permanent as they seem, some simple and prudent steps taken today can save you a host of headaches (or the pain of lost photographs, memories, or critical work) down the line. To that end, we've collected the best services we could find and rated them based on their reliability, price, and technical merits. We here at Top Consumer Reviews hope that our curated list can help you make an informed choice as you take steps to secure your critical files.
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