Which is the best backup software? A com­par­i­son

A backup program reliably protects you from data loss, whether it happens due to hardware failure, viruses or hacker attacks. When your data is backed up regularly, lost or damaged data can be easily restored. The various data backup programs differ mainly due to the different features included as well as how much storage space they offer and what they cost.

A com­par­i­son of the best backup software

The various data backup programs all come with different ad­van­tages and dis­ad­van­tages. We have sum­ma­rized the most important in­for­ma­tion for you so that you have an overview and can make your decision more easily.

In­for­ma­tion correct as of January 2025

What are the ad­van­tages of a backup program?

Backup programs are in­dis­pens­able when it comes to backing up your data and restoring it in the event of data loss i.e., caused by malware, a hacking attack or hardware failure. To do this, a backup saves data on a suitable data carrier, e.g. an external hard drive or even in a cloud. This process is always the same, re­gard­less of whether it’s a Mac backup or Ubuntu backup.

In addition to pro­tect­ing your vacation photos, documents and other important files, backup software also offers other benefits:

• Fast data recovery: In case data loss occurs, it can be quickly recovered from a backup.
• Saves costs: A data backup program is sig­nif­i­cant­ly cheaper than pro­fes­sion­al data recovery offered by a service provider. Depending on which features are required or how high the security level should be, you can also find suitable backup software free of charge on the internet.
• Data ver­sion­ing: Some backup programs give you the option to save different versions of files. This allows older versions to be restored when needed, which is es­pe­cial­ly useful if you want access to them.
• Restore flex­i­bil­i­ty: Data backup programs allow selective restora­tion. This means that you can select which files, folders or system elements to restore instead of restoring the entire backup.
• Data archiving: Backup programs can also be used for long-term data archiving. This allows important data to be stored for a longer period of time without leaving it on the primary storage medium where it could be lost.
• Un­re­strict­ed access: Online backup providers offer the ad­di­tion­al advantage that your data can be accessed from anywhere. In addition, your files are in a safe place in the cloud and are therefore protected from theft, fire or ran­somware, for example.

IONOS Cloud Backup

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IONOS Cloud Backup offers a variety of features that allow you to back up your data to all your devices and restore it quickly and easily when needed. For this purpose, in­di­vid­ual backup plans can be created with the help of the backup agent. You can decide when an automatic backup should be performed, how often and how long your data should be kept on the IONOS servers.

Other options include full image backup, ver­sion­ing, antivirus and anti-malware scanning, and reliable pro­tec­tion against ran­somware and cryp­to­jack­ing. For maximum security, data transfers to ISO-certified IONOS data centers are SSL-encrypted. This protects the data from unau­tho­rized access during transfer and when it’s in the cloud.

For fast data recovery, IONOS Cloud Backup offers several options, including selective recovery of in­di­vid­ual files or folders and full system recovery. This allows you to recover the exact data you need without wasting time on un­nec­es­sary and lengthy recovery processes.

Another advantage is that the cloud backup’s storage capacity can be adjusted as needed, so you can simply add ad­di­tion­al storage space as your data volume grows. In addition to plans with fixed amounts of storage space such as 50, 100 or 250 GB, you can choose the Flex plan, where you only pay for the storage space you actually need (per gigabyte) each month.

EaseUS Todo Backup Free

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The backup software can be down­loaded for free from the EaseUS man­u­fac­tur­er website. The various functions of the free version are perfectly adequate if you only want to create simple backups in Windows. These can be stored on external drives, in Network Attached Storage (NAS), in your Dropbox, in OneDrive or in Google Drive.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions for setting up backup jobs can be used to reliably back up in­di­vid­ual par­ti­tions or in­di­vid­ual files and folders. In addition, you can save time and storage space by backing up only the changes that have been made since the last backup. With the paid version of the backup software, which already includes 1 TB of cloud storage, you can ad­di­tion­al­ly transfer a system to another PC hardware. For a small extra charge, EaseUS Todo Backup Home can be purchased, which includes free upgrades.

Ashampoo Backup Pro 26

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With Ashampoo Backup Pro 26 you can easily create real-time backups of in­di­vid­ual files, folders or entire drives as a Windows user. The backup program works in a resource-con­serv­ing way and does its job unnoticed in the back­ground.

In addition, you have the option of creating a backup plan, e.g. using the 3-2-1 backup rule, where you can specify which files should be backed up to which storage location. Choices include local or external drives as well as cloud storage such as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Strato HiDrive. You can even set your own ownCloud, Nextcloud or WebDAV server as the location. This means that your backed-up data is always available. For added security, you can version, compress, encrypt or password protect your data.

To save time and disk space, the backup software only creates copies of new or changed files after a full backup. If there’s a complete system crash, a pre­vi­ous­ly created emergency USB stick can be used to restore your backup. Even carrying out a Windows 11 backup as a result of a system update is no problem for the program. Another advantage is that the backup software, which is fee-based, is regularly available at reduced pro­mo­tion­al prices.

Acronis Cyber Protect

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Acronis is another online backup provider that offers versatile backup options as well as real-time pro­tec­tion against viruses and other malware and a web filter. The paid backup program formerly known as “TrueImage” is also available for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android and offers numerous data backup functions. You can in­di­vid­u­al­ly specify whether you only want in­di­vid­ual folders or entire drives to be backed up and at what intervals the backups should take place. Older backups can be deleted au­to­mat­i­cal­ly to free up storage space.

You can back up your image or file-based backups either to local disks, network resources and FTP servers, or to the Acronis Cloud. However, the cloud option is only included with 50 GB. Here, manually started and scheduled backups run as a back­ground service. More cloud storage has to be purchased.

AOMEI Backupper

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Aomei Backupper is a com­pre­hen­sive backup program that is available free of charge in a standard version and a paid Pro version for Windows users. All important functions for data backup are already included in the backup software for free. This means that in­cre­men­tal backups and dif­fer­en­tial backups can also be created with the help of the easy-to-use user interface. With the help of a complete system backup, all boot-relevant partition or files needed to start Windows are quickly at hand to boot your PC in an emergency and then restore the backup again.

In addition to the actual backup function, the backup software can also be used for file syn­chro­niza­tion. This allows files in the source directory to be syn­chro­nized with the des­ti­na­tion directory, for example. So you au­to­mat­i­cal­ly get exact copies in real time as soon as you add, change or delete files. This ensures that the files in the source and des­ti­na­tion di­rec­to­ries are always the same.

iDrive

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iDrive is a backup program for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, which works ex­clu­sive­ly in the cloud. The big advantage is that the tool can be used si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly on multiple PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads and Android devices without the need for ad­di­tion­al licensing. The license only needs to be paid once for the cloud storage. If you need more than 5 GB of storage, which is already included in the free version of the tool, you can add on between 5 and 100 TB of cloud storage.

The backup software also lets you create backup schedules and ver­sion­ing. This allows you to restore files to any point in their version history. This is es­pe­cial­ly useful if a file has been corrupted or encrypted by malware. It also lets you restore files that have been deleted within the last 30 days. Another useful feature is that a syn­chro­niza­tion folder can be created. Files you collect in it are au­to­mat­i­cal­ly backed up and shared with all your devices.