This is a comparison of online backup services.
Online backup is a special kind of online storage service; however, various products that are designed for file storage may not have features or characteristics that others designed for backup have. Online Backup usually requires a backup client program. A browser-only online storage service is usually not considered a valid online backup service.
Online folder sync services can be used for backup purposes. However, some Online Folder Sync services may not provide a safe Online Backup. If a file is accidentally locally corrupted or deleted, it depends on the versioning features of a Folder Sync service, whether this file will still be retrievable.
Provider | Windows 1 | Linux 1 | Mac 1 | Android 1 | iOS 1 | Encrypted storage | Zero knowledge 2 | Secure Key Management 3 [1] | Limited MB plan 4 | Unlimited MB plan 4 | $/MB plan 4 | Unlimited BW 16 | Provider | Cloud hosted Net Drive 5 | Sync 7 | Autodetect changes 12 | Public file hosting 8 | Physical media restore 9 | Server location(s) 10 | Free online storage (non-trial) 13 | Maximum per-file size | External hard drive support 14 | Hybrid Option 15 | Green Hosting | OpenSaaS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Backblaze | Yes | B2 only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [2] | No [2] Company must be given passphrase (to private key) to restore any data. | No | No | Yes | No | No | Backblaze | Yes | Yes | Yes | United States, Europe | 10 GB [3] | No limit | Yes | No | ||||
Baidu Cloud | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [4] | No | ? | No | No | Yes | Baidu | Yes | Yes | Yes | China | 2000 GB | 4 GB (Non-member) 10 GB (Member) 20 GB (Super Member). [5] | ? | ||||||
Barracuda Backup Service | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [6] | No | ? | No fee per computer | No | Yes | Barracuda Backup Service | Yes[ citation needed ] | Yes | No | Yes | United States, Canada, APAC, Europe | No | ? | ||||||||
Box | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [7] | No [7] | ? | Yes | No | Box | Yes [8] | Yes [9] | Yes | United States | 10 GB | 250 MB (Free) 5 GB (Paid) | ||||||||
Carbonite | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial, optional for Windows only [10] | ? | Yes (Business only) | Yes (Home only) | No [11] | Yes [12] | Carbonite | Yes | Yes | Yes [13] | United States | No | 4 GB | Yes [14] | Yes | ||||
CloudMe | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, but 3rd party apps available[ citation needed ] | ? | No | Yes | CloudMe | Yes [15] | Yes | Yes | Sweden | 3 GB | 150 MB (Free Accounts) No limit (Premium Accounts) | No Limit | No | |||||||
Comodo Backup | Yes | No | No | Yes [16] | No | ? | Yes | No | Yes (5) | Comodo Backup | No | No | No | United States | No | ||||||||||
CrashPlan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [17] | Yes, except for web restore [18] | Yes | Yes, 10TB | No | No | Yes [19] | CrashPlan | No | No | Yes [20] | No | No | United States, Australia [21] | No | No Limit | Yes [22] | No | ||
Dropbox | Yes | Does not work on filesystems other than ext4 and btrfs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No [23] | ? | Yes | Dropbox | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2 GB | No Limit [24] | Yes [25] | No | |||||||
Dropmysite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | No | No | Yes | Dropmysite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Global | 2 GB | No limit | ? | |||||||
Egnyte | Yes | Yes | Yes | Optional [26] | Optional [26] | ? | Egnyte | Yes [27] | Yes | Yes | Yes | United States | No | No limit | ? | ||||||||||
ElephantDrive | Yes | Yes [28] | Yes | Yes [29] | Yes | Optional (off by default) [30] | ? | Yes | No | ElephantDrive | Yes [31] | Yes [32] | Yes | Yes [33] | United States | 2 GB | Yes | ? | No, Amazon AWS [34] [35] | ||||||
Google Drive | Yes | No, no provider-sanctioned Linux support. [36] [37] [38] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? | No, Limited to 5 TB per user. See comments for details. [39] | Yes | Yes | Google Drive | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | United States, Worldwide | 15 GB | 5 TB [40] | Yes: 78% (supplied) 100% (matched) [41] | No | ||||
iCloud | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Optional (off by default) [42] | ? | No | No | Yes | iCloud | ? | Yes | ? | ? | China for mainland China accounts; [43] unknown for others | 1 GB (everyone) [44] 5 GB (Apple users only) [45] | Yes, 94% [34] | No | |||||
iDrive | Yes | Yes, but one has to manually run perl scripts. [46] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [47] | Optional (excludes web interface) [48] | No | No | Yes [49] | iDrive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | unknown | 5 GB | Yes | |||||||
Infrascale | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Optional | Optional | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Infrascale | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica | No | No limit | Yes | Optional | ||
Jumpshare | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes [50] | Yes | No | No | Yes [51] | Jumpshare | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | United States, Europe | 2 GB | 250 MB on free, Unlimited on Jumpshare Plus | Yes: 75% (supplied) 100% (matched) [52] | ||||||
Jungle Disk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [53] | Yes [53] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Jungle Disk | Yes [54] | Yes | Yes | Yes | United States, Europe | No | No limit in Backup Vault | Yes | Partial, Amazon AWS [34] [55] or Rackspace Cloud Files. | |||||
KeepVault | Yes | No | No | Yes [56] | ? | Yes | No | Yes | KeepVault | Yes | United States | 20 GB | |||||||||||||
Livedrive | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | Online Backup only | No | Yes | Livedrive | Yes (paid-only) [57] | Yes [58] | Yes | Yes | Yes | United Kingdom | No | No limit | Yes | |||
MediaFire | Yes | Upload only | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | MediaFire | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | United States | 10 GB | No Limit | No | No | |||
MEGA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [59] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Mega Ltd. | No | Yes | Yes, using MEGA Desktop App | Yes | No | Europe, New Zealand | 20 GB | No limit | No | No | ||
MiMedia | Yes | No | No | Yes [60] | No | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | MiMedia | No [61] | No | Yes | No | No | United States | 7 GB | 3 GB | Yes | |||||
OneDrive | Yes | No, see note [62] | Yes | Yes [63] | Yes | Yes [64] | No | ? | Yes | No | OneDrive | No | Yes | 5 GB for new users, 25 GB for older users | 100 GB [65] | Yes: 75% sourced 100% matched | No | ||||||||
SpiderOak | Yes | Yes | Yes | Download Only | Download Only | Yes [66] | Yes [67] | ? | Yes | Business only (min 10 users) | Yes | Yes | SpiderOak | No [68] | Yes | Yes | Yes | (2 GB free for 60 days only) | No limit | Yes | Yes [69] | No | |||
SugarSync | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [70] | No [71] | ? | Yes | No | No | SugarSync | Yes | Yes | Yes (SugarSync account needed for folders) | No | 100 MB (web) No limit (client app) [72] | ||||||||
Syncplicity | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [73] | No [73] | ? | Yes | Syncplicity | Yes | Yes | Yes | United States | 10 GB | ||||||||||
Tarsnap | Yes via [WSL2](https://www.tarsnap.com/download.html#windows) or Cygwin | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes [74] | ? | No | No | Yes | Tarsnap | No | No | No, Amazon AWS [34] [75] | No | |||||||||
Tresorit | Yes | Yes [76] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [77] | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Tresorit | Yes [78] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Ireland, Netherlands [79] | 3 GB [80] | 0.5 GB (free), 10 GB (paid) [81] | Yes | No | ||
Unitrends Vault2Cloud | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [82] | No | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Unitrends Vault2Cloud | Yes[ citation needed ] | Yes | No | Yes | United States | No | |||||||||
Yandex.Disk | Yes | Yes [83] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No [84] | No | ? | Yes | Yandex.Disk | Yes [85] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Russia | 10 GB | 50 GB | ||||||||
Zmanda Cloud Backup | Yes | No | No | Optional [86] | Optional [86] | ? | Yes | Zmanda Cloud Backup | Yes[ citation needed ] | Yes | United States, Europe, Singapore, Japan | No limit | Yes | Yes | Partial, Amazon AWS or Google Cloud Storage [34] [87] |
Any changes can be undone, and files can be undeleted.
Other notable limitations or features.
File synchronization in computing is the process of ensuring that computer files in two or more locations are updated via certain rules.
A file-hosting service, also known as cloud-storage service, online file-storage provider, or cyberlocker, is an internet hosting service specifically designed to host user files. These services allow users to upload files that can be accessed over the internet after providing a username and password or other authentication. Typically, file hosting services allow HTTP access, and in some cases, FTP access. Other related services include content-displaying hosting services, virtual storage, and remote backup solutions.
Mozy was an online backup service for both Windows and macOS users. Linux's support was made available in Q3, 2014. In 2007 Mozy was acquired by EMC, and in 2013 Mozy was included in the EMC Backup Recovery Systems division's product list. On September 7, 2016, Dell Inc. acquired EMC Corporation to form Dell Technologies, restructuring the original Dell Inc. as a subsidiary of Dell Technologies. On March 19, 2018, Carbonite acquired Mozy from Dell for $148.5 million in cash and in 2019 shut down the service, incorporating Mozy's clients into its own online backup service programs.
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007 by MIT students Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi as a startup company, with initial funding from seed accelerator Y Combinator.
This is a comparison of notable file hosting services that are currently active. File hosting services are a particular kind of online file storage; however, various products that are designed for online file storage may not have features or characteristics that others designed for sharing files have.
Carbonite, Inc. is an American company that offers an online backup service, available to Windows and macOS users. In 2019 it was acquired by Canadian software company OpenText. It backs up documents, e-mails, music, photos, and settings. It is named after carbonite, the fictional substance used to freeze Han Solo in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Carbonite was the first such service to offer unlimited backup space for a fixed price. Previously, all online backup services were priced by the gigabyte; many other vendors have since changed to an unlimited model.
Gladinet, Inc. is an American corporation co-founded by Jerry Huang and Franklyn Peart in 2008 in Lake Worth, Florida. The company provides cloud computing software, including an on-premises, enterprise file synchronization and sharing (EFSS) platform. The on-premises version of the platform is available for service providers and enterprises. There is also a team edition.
Syncovery is backup and file synchronization software that allows backing up and synchronizing files to the same or different drives, to different media, or to a remote server.
GoodSync is a backup and file synchronization program. It is used for synchronizing files between two directories, either on one computer, or between a computer and another storage device or between a computer and a remote computer or server.
Dmailer was a French company which specialized in portable backup and synchronization software for devices, including USB flash drives, memory cards, external hard disk drives, MP3 players, embedded phone memories, SIM cards and flash-based memory cards for mobile phones.
Syncdocs is backup and file synchronization software for Google Drive. Syncdocs uses cloud computing to enable users to back up and synchronize Windows computer files to Google Documents and Google Drive accounts.
iCloud is a cloud service operated by Apple Inc. Launched on October 12, 2011, iCloud enables users to store and sync data across devices, including Apple Mail, Apple Calendar, Apple Photos, Apple Notes, contacts, settings, backups, and files, to collaborate with other users, and track assets through Find My. It is built into iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, macOS, and visionOS. iCloud may additionally be accessed through a limited web interface and Windows application.
Google Drive is a file-hosting service and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a web interface, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for Windows and macOS computers, and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, which are a part of the Google Docs Editors office suite that allows collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more. Files created and edited through the Google Docs suite are saved in Google Drive.
@MAX SyncUp is a free proprietary backup and file synchronization program developed by @MAX Software for Windows. It is targeted at individuals and small businesses. The software supports backup to locally writable folders, including attached USB devices, network drives and local directories. It also supports backup and synchronization to WebDAV servers, (S)FTP servers and the cloud storages such as Google Drive and Dropbox.
IDrive Inc. is a technology company that specializes in data backup applications. Its flagship product is IDrive, an online backup service available to Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android users.
Client-side encryption is the cryptographic technique of encrypting data on the sender's side, before it is transmitted to a server such as a cloud storage service. Client-side encryption features an encryption key that is not available to the service provider, making it difficult or impossible for service providers to decrypt hosted data. Client-side encryption allows for the creation of applications whose providers cannot access the data its users have stored, thus offering a high level of privacy.
Enpass is a freemium password manager and passkey manager available for MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android and Linux, with browser extensions for all major browsers, and pricing plans for both personal use and business.
Enterprise file synchronization and sharing refers to software services that enable organizations to securely synchronize and share documents, photos, videos and files from multiple devices with employees, and external customers and partners. Organizations often adopt these technologies to prevent employees from using consumer-based file sharing apps to store, access and manage corporate data that is outside of the IT department’s control and visibility.
MSP360, formerly CloudBerry Lab, is a software and application service provider company that develops online backup, remote desktop and file management products integrated with more than 20 cloud storage providers.
NordLocker is a file encryption software integrated with end-to-end encrypted cloud storage. It is available on Windows and macOS. NordLocker is developed by Nord Security, the Lithuania-based company behind the NordVPN virtual private network.
Web-only iCloud accounts are limited to 1GB of storage.