Our reviewers evaluate products and services based on unbiased research. Top Consumer Reviews may earn money when you click on a link. Learn more about our process.
Wednesday, March 26th
iBackup is a subsidiary of Pro Soft Net, and appears to only exist as an all-around bad deal to overcharge those who don't know any better. With poor reviews and ridiculous fees, there is very little to recommend about iBackup when compared to competitors: their offerings are standard, and their pricing is confusing and (if you're not careful) will come at a premium.
False promotion
iBackup is an excellent example of the "infinite” promotion. They present a fake amount of "low” storage that - luckily - you will not be getting due to their soon-to-be-ending promotion (of course, the promotion is the standard price, and is updated every week or so). Don't be fooled, as iBackup's offerings are simply overpriced, even with their promotion.
Expensive, sliding costs
iBackup has a sliding scale of pricing, which ranges from 500gb of backup for $9.95 per month, all the way to 25TB for a hefty $500 per month. Considering that other services offer unlimited backup space at a much lower price, iBackup's limited, high-priced backup space is disappointing to say the least. Users can also choose to pay at a discounted two-year rate, but it remains to be seen why you would want a two-year contract with a company that offers limited backup space, and charges you ridiculous fees should you exceed their limit. Even so, we do appreciate that - at the very least - iBackup does encrypt your files for security purposes, though they don't seem to support multi-factor authentication.
Ridiculous data fees
The real kicker with iBackup's overpriced services is the fact that if you accidentally back up more data to their service than your plan allows, they don't just disallow you from backing up that data: they charge you $2 per gigabyte per month. Considering that a normal cloud service will charge you only $0.0144 per gigabyte to store data, the fact that iBackup is charging $2 per gigabyte for accidental overages in backup is simply a ridiculous example of overcharging for a basic service. iBackup is just a bad deal all around.
Infrequent, poor customer reviews
While there are few customer reviews of iBackup, and they do not even have a rating with the BBB, what reviews there are are almost universally bad. Customer reviews on popular forums complain that iBackup's services are not robust, and that iBackup has often simply lost month's worth of backups.
Little to recommend
With low data limits and a ridiculous overcharge policy, there is little to recommend from iBackup. If you need budget online backup, do yourself a favor and check out some different services on our list.
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 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:
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.
Select any 2 Online Backup Services to compare them head to head