The Best Backup Software and Services for 2023

In previous years, we differentiated between local backup software and online backup services. The first makes a copy of your data that you store wherever you choose, such as on an external hard drive. The other encrypts your data for security and sends it to the backup company’s servers for off-site storage. Both methods have their merits, but more and more frequently, backup companies give you the option to choose. As a result, we now look at the best local backup software and online backup services in this one article.

What would you do if your hard drive crashed, you accidentally deleted important files, or your laptop was lost or stolen? Or what if a fire or flood meant the end of your digital media and documents? Backing up everything you care about is one of the best ways to protect yourself against these and other types of data loss.

Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks

ShadowProtect SPX Desktop

Best for Disk Imaging

4.5 Outstanding

Why We Picked It 

When it comes to backups nothing matters more than reliability, and ShadowProtect SPX Desktop is reliability incarnate. The software does one thing—make a complete image of a disk partition—and it does it extremely well. Our reviewer has depended on this software for more than 15 years without so much as a hiccup. That kind of track record is vanishingly rare.

Who It’s For

ShadowProtect SPX Desktop is for tech-savvy Windows and Linux users who want a local full-disk backup they can set up and then not think about. We recommend it for people who are at least a little bit tech savvy, as the setup can be slightly complicated, but it’s rock solid.

PROS

• The most reliable and mature image backup software for Windows
• Fast, reliable, and restores to the same or different hardware
• Boots backed-up systems as virtual machines
• One-term permanent license (subscription plans also available)

CONS

• Obscure interface for first-time users
• For Windows and Linux only

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ShadowProtect SPX Desktop Review

IDrive

Best Value

4.5 Outstanding

Why We Picked It

IDrive is by far the best bang for your buck when it comes to online backups. The affordable Personal plan gives you 5TB of storage space you can use to back up as many devices as you wish, including mobile ones. The software is reliable and simple to set up.

Who It’s For

With support for every major operating system and no limit on the number of devices you can back up, IDrive is great for anyone who has a lot of data spread across multiple devices. The low price also makes IDrive perfect for anyone who wants to back up multiple devices without breaking the bank.

PROS

• Easy setup
• Unlimited devices per account
• Free local backup
• Fully encrypted
• Fast upload speeds
• Excellent value

CONS

• Storage isn’t unlimited
• Limited Linux support
• Complete disk image backup only for Windows

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Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office

Best for Balance of Backup and Security

4.0 Excellent

Why We Picked It

A veritable feast of features and options—probably more than you’ll ever use—makes Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office the most flexible backup tool on the market. It offers local backups, cloud backups, full-drive imaging, individual folder syncing, and everything in between. There’s also protection from ransomware, a vulnerability scanner, and a pretty good antivirus.

Who It’s For

Power users who know exactly how they want their backups to work and will take the time to configure them. There are clients for every major platform, though most plans only accommodate a single device. If you need to back up multiple devices, look elsewhere.

PROS

• More backup tools than any other app
• Local and cloud backup options
• Full disk image backup and restore
• Includes file syncing
• Protects against ransomware and malicious URLs

CONS

• Some cutting-edge technology may be risky to use
• Disk-cloning feature didn’t work in our tests
• Performance issues with upload speed and mobile apps
• Poor phishing and middling malware blocking results

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$49.99 Acronis

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Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office Review

SpiderOak One Backup

Best for Privacy-Minded People

4.0 Excellent

Why We Picked It

Backing up your data to the cloud means trusting the company not to access that data—unless you use SpiderOak One Backup. The company’s no-knowledge policy means no one at the company can access your files, which are fully encrypted before you upload them and which remain encrypted on SpiderOak’s server.

Who It’s For

SpiderOak One Backup is for privacy-conscious people who want a cloud backup that’s fully encrypted and who are willing to put up with the inconveniences that brings. You can’t ask customer service to recover the password used to encrypt your files, but that also means customer service can’t access your data. There are clients for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

PROS

• Strong privacy features
• Supports an unlimited number of computers per account
• Excellent versioning capabilities
• Includes file-sharing and folder-syncing options
• Well-designed, full-featured desktop application

CONS

• Lacks multi-factor authentication option for web logins
• No longer offers mobile apps

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SpiderOak One Backup Review

Backblaze

Best for Backup Novices

3.5 Good

Why We Picked It

Backblaze can back up your entire computer to the cloud in a couple of clicks. There’s no limit to the amount of data you can upload, though each subscription only covers a single device. The company can physically mail you a hard drive with your data if online recovery would take too long.

Who It’s For

Backblaze is ideal for novice users who want a full backup of a single Windows or macOS computer without a lot of complicated options. Power users, who like to fine-tweak the way their backups perform, might find themselves frustrated.

PROS

• Unlimited storage
• Supports multi-factor authentication and private encryption keys
• Ability to back up or restore via mailed drive
• Fast upload speeds in our tests

CONS

• Single-computer licenses only
• Convoluted backup selection method
• No File Explorer or Finder integration
• Lacks folder syncing feature
• Very basic mobile apps

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Carbonite Safe

Best for Single-PC Backups

3.0 Average

Why We Picked It

Carbonite can do simple full-device backups, or you can configure it to back up your data exactly the way you want. You get some flexibility without giving up on simplicity. Licenses give you unlimited backup for a single device.

Who It’s For

Carbonite makes a compromise of sorts between power-user complexity and novice-user simplicity, meaning it’s best for novice users who nonetheless want to customize things. Anyone who wants to back up a single Windows or macOS computer to prepare for the occasional crisis will be well served.

PROS

• Unlimited online backup storage for one computer
• File Explorer integration
• Continuous backup option
• Plus and Prime plans include antivirus software

CONS

• Each computer protected incurs the full subscription price
• No real mobile app
• Private key encryption option limited to Windows
• Lacks file sharing, folder syncing, and disk imaging capabilities
• Base version doesn’t back up external drives

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$49.99 Per Year Carbonite

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Carbonite Safe Review

Livedrive

Best for Unlimited Storage

3.0 Average

Why We Picked It

LiveDrive is a straightforward backup app with unlimited storage for a single Windows or macOS computer. It handles the basics of backup just fine, and the optional Briefcase feature works to sync files between devices. Confusing pricing tiers hurt its rating, however.

Who It’s For

LiveDrive is suited to everyday people who want a simple backup choice, though with a few caveats. Its price is quite high compared with similar apps, and the lack of standard encryption features is going to disappoint security and privacy enthusiasts, though it does result in faster upload speeds.

PROS

• Unlimited storage
• Effective desktop and mobile apps
• Solid versioning and sharing capabilities
• Supports two-factor authentication

CONS

• Base tier protects only a single computer
• Lacks standard backup encryption options
• No continuous backup setting or disk imaging option

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OpenDrive

Best for Flexible Pricing

3.0 Average

Why We Picked It

OpenDrive is a viable online backup service with flexible pricing plans. The user interface is also pretty slick, meaning you can figure out how to use it without a lot of difficulty. Limited encryption options keep it toward the bottom of this list.

Who It’s For

OpenDrive is best for anyone who wants to save documents to the cloud, as well as syncing and sharing files across multiple devices. Plus, anyone with modest storage needs could potentially save money with the flexible Custom plans.

PROS

• Reasonable pricing and unlimited storage plans
• Continuous backup option
• Useful web interface
• Permanent free account

CONS

• Only Secure Folder can be encrypted with private key
• Disjointed desktop interface
• Unintuitive restore options

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Buying Guide: The Best Backup Software and Services for 2023

Why Should You Back Up Your Computer?

All technology is subject to sudden and unexpected data loss. Glitches happen, and so do hacks, theft, and physical damage to a device. And don’t get us started on ransomware. Your business documents and your files, photos, videos, and music all deserve to be protected. Backup software and services do just that.

Both Windows and macOS have beefed up their built-in backup tools in recent years. Windows 10 and Windows 11 include a File History feature and a full disk backup feature, and macOS includes its Time Machine software. Both also offer some cloud backup, with iCloud and OneDrive, as well. These features and services are all well worth using, but they have some limitations, lacking some of the extra benefits you get from running standalone backup software.

How Does Backup Software Work?

The concept behind backup software is pretty simple: Make a copy of your files on storage separate from your main hard drive. That storage can be another drive, an external drive, a network-attached storage device (NAS), a rewritable disc, or the cloud—meaning someone else’s servers. Should you lose the local files, either through disaster or simply by deleting or overwriting them, you can just restore them from the saved copies.

For this to work, the copies of your files must be updated regularly. Most backup software lets you schedule scans of your hard drive for new and changed files daily, weekly, monthly, or continually (or at least, say, every 15 minutes). Usually, you also have the option to tell the backup service to monitor your drive for changed or new files to back up as they occur.

More granular options include whether backups are full, incremental, or differential. The first should be obvious—all the data you’ve selected for backup is copied in its entirety. Incremental backup saves system resources by only backing up changes in files from the last incremental backup, and differential backup saves all changes from the last full backup. With incremental, you need the latest full backup and all the intermediary backup data to restore a file to its original state, whereas, with differential backup, all you need is the last set of differential backup data and the first full one.

What’s a Disk Image Backup?

A step further than the simple copying of files is copying the entire hard drive, including system files, as what’s called a disk image. A disk image contains every bit of data on the drive and offers stronger protection since it enables you to recreate the whole system after a hard drive failure. Some products can even update a disk image nearly continuously. But that extra protection comes at the price of more complexity in setting up and restoring. Usually, you’ll need to run a pre-boot environment from startup media to restore a system image, since doing so from within your main OS isn’t possible.

The Pros and Cons of Cloud Backup

As mentioned, you can make local backups or online backups, sometimes called cloud backups. Online backup services securely send your data over the internet and save it on remote file servers in encrypted form. The big plus of this option is that the data is off your premises, and therefore not susceptible to local disasters. The downsides are that these services tie you to annual fees and that uploading and downloading backups is slower than loading local copies.

Don’t confuse online backup with cloud storage and file syncing, which is what Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and OneDrive offer. Those services do store files in the cloud, but they aren’t designed to automatically protect all important documents and media files, let alone system files. Their strategy is generally to sync just one folder (and all its subfolders) to the cloud, and in some cases, offer collaborative document editing. Backup software and services do more.

(Credit: SpiderOak)

Home backup users have different needs than businesses. If you need a larger-scale cloud solution for your company, check out our roundup of the best online backup services for businesses. These plans typically cover many more devices and include better administration features, but at an increased cost.

Why You Should Create a Backup Set and Schedule Uploads

Backup services vary widely in how they set up and perform backups. For example, the totally hands-free Backblaze automatically encrypts and uploads all your important files without any input. IDrive and Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office (formerly Acronis True Image) let you choose specific files you want from a file tree. Note that some services restrict you from backing up specific file types or using particular sources, such as from an external or network drive. Make sure the backup solution you choose supports all your data sources.

There are three main practices for configuring when backups should occur. The most common option is on a fixed schedule, such as once a day, week, or month. The second, which we prefer, is to upload files whenever they’re changed and saved, otherwise known as continuous backup. Services only transfer the modified part of the file in this scenario, so as not to overburden your internet connection or take up unnecessary storage. A third way is simply to upload files manually. Some users may appreciate having such a fine degree of control, but this method is only effective if you remember to run the backups regularly.

(Credit: Acronis)

How Secure Are Online Backup Services?

Many online backup services let you encrypt your files with a private encryption key option (basically a password you choose and need if you want to decrypt your backup files). If you do choose to manage your own encryption key, know that it is your responsibility to remember it. The online backup app and company won’t be able to help you reset the password if you forget it. That may sound frightening, but it’s actually ideal from a privacy and security standpoint because it means no one—including employees at the company and law enforcement officials—except you can unlock your backups. Use a password manager to keep track of your private encryption key if you think you will forget it.

What Is Two-Factor Authentication?

What Is Two-Factor Authentication?

Some services go beyond file encryption. Acronis, for instance, includes security features such as active ransomware protection. A few backup applications, including IDrive, Backblaze, Livedrive, and OpenDrive, support multi-factor authentication.

We also prefer services with clear, easy-to-read privacy policies. If an online backup service says it sells your information to a third party, you may want to choose a more privacy-respecting one, so be sure to check the provider’s privacy policy.

Can You Restore Folders and Files With Backup Software?

A backup service isn’t much use if it doesn’t make the process of restoring or recovering your data quick and simple. Backup services should offer search tools for finding files in your backup, for example. It’s also desirable to be able to replicate an entire folder-tree structure so that it can help you recover from bigger data losses.

Keep in mind that if you buy a plan that covers just one computer, you may have to transfer the account to a new PC if you ever switch your main device or if you need to restore data from a damaged computer to a replacement.

Many services offer versioning, which saves incremental changes you make to files as recoverable snapshots of the file. It’s useful in case you need to get back information from an earlier version or if your latest file save becomes corrupted. How many versions are kept backed up and how long they’re saved varies. SpiderOak One Backup (formerly called SpiderOak One) is among the most generous in this regard and can save an unlimited number of file versions forever, but many services limit you to a set number of versions within a time limit such as 30 days.

A few backup companies offer bulk upload and restore services, sometimes also called courier services. When you need to restore your data, the company sends you an external drive with your data on it, so you can plug it into your machine and get your files back fast. IDrive, Backblaze, and Carbonite all offer courier services, but charge different rates for them.

Should You Use Web and Mobile Backup Apps?

One of the biggest advantages of having online backups is that you can access your files from anywhere. Most online backup providers let you view and download files from a web browser and mobile apps, but that should be the bare minimum. Many also include file-sharing options, the best of which even let you specify a password for access and an expiration date for the shared item.

The quality and utility of mobile apps vary widely. Some just offer simple document and media file downloads from your existing backups, but the most feature-complete options let you back up data on your mobile devices and even control backups on other systems remotely.

Those Who Back Up and Those Who Have Never Lost Data

There’s a saying that there are two kinds of people: those who back up their data and those who haven’t yet suffered a data loss. You don’t want the first time you think about backing up your data to be after a catastrophe.

For more information, read our guide on how to choose the best backup plan to determine which backup method works best for your needs. For instance, you might decide to use local backup software to protect your files on an external hard drive rather than—or in addition to—saving data in the cloud. You don’t necessarily have to choose, as several products here offer both online and local backup capabilities.