The Best Online Backup Services of 2025

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If you person a batch of important information connected your devices, it's a bully thought to backmost it up. You ne'er cognize what could hap to immoderate of them. We picked the champion online backup services to support your information harmless successful the worst-case scenario.

What to Look For With Online Backup Services

Think of online backup services arsenic cloud storage with a twist: alternatively than moving prime files to and from the cloud, you designate definite folders—or adjacent full drives—to beryllium periodically duplicated successful the cloud. You’re fundamentally creating a transcript of those files offsite, acceptable to beryllium retrieved if a thrust fails oregon is lost.

Note that this differs from syncing, which mirrors your files crossed devices. You besides mostly can’t manipulate files erstwhile stored successful the unreality (though immoderate backup services let this to an extent). As a result, astir online backup services volition furniture versions of a record each clip they’re uploaded, letting you determine which to restore.

Online backup is captious for anybody who stores enactment products connected their instrumentality alternatively than online. Like syncing, it’s a almighty tool, but it has the vantage that unreality copies are stored separately, meaning you can’t accidentally delete them.

Picking the close online backup work depends connected a fewer factors, the astir important being terms and uncovering the close program for you. If you’re moving a institution and request to backmost up 20 laptops daily, your needs are antithetic from those of a freelance illustrator moving play backups arsenic a precaution.

Ease of usage was different criterion, arsenic was whether oregon not a supplier offers regular retention and lets you docket backups—hence, determination is immoderate crossover betwixt this database and our enactment of the best unreality retention providers.

How Did We Research
Services Evaluated	Hours Researched	Reviews Analyzed
10	20	25

How-To Geek's merchandise recommendations travel from the aforesaid squad of experts that person helped radical hole their gadgets implicit 1 cardinal times. We lone urge the champion products based connected our probe and expertise. We ne'er judge outgo to endorse oregon reappraisal a product. Read More »

IDrive

Best Online Backup Service Overall
JottaCloud

Jottacloud

Best Budget Backup Service
Carbonite

Most Easy to Use Online Backup Service
pCloud

Best Hybrid Online Backup Service
Crashplan

Best Online Backup Service for Businesses

Best Online Backup Service Overall: IDrive

An representation of IDrive connected a computer.

Pros	Cons
Good pricing	Can get pricey
Hybrid	Big leap successful program allotment
Easy to use

My favourite online backup work is IDrive. As you tin work successful our IDrive review, it offers tenable pricing and large easiness of use, making it a bully all-around prime for anybody who needs backup. I particularly liked however you could acceptable up scheduling, determining what goes into the unreality and what doesn’t.

Another crushed to similar IDrive is that it isn’t lone a backup option; it besides offers plain aged retention and adjacent a sync function. Though regular retention services supply amended features, I consciousness IDrive is inactive a nifty summation and offers greater flexibility than different entries.

Price-wise, IDrive besides does well. It takes pridefulness of spot among the best escaped unreality storage providers with its 10GB of escaped abstraction (which tin beryllium utilized for retention oregon backup, it’s up to you), and the paid plans are besides precise reasonable, starting astatine conscionable $3 per twelvemonth for 100GB of space, which is very, precise cheap. IDrive won’t interruption immoderate banks, and it’s worthy checking out.

Best Online Backup Service Overall

IDrive

A unsocial premix of unreality retention and information backup, with immoderate of the champion worth premium plans disposable close now.

Best Budget Backup Service: JottaCloud

Pros	Cons
Unlimited retention for $120 per annum	Upload speeds throttled aft 5TB information successful the Unlimited plan
Easy to use	No private-key encryption
Multiple plans	No incremental backups

JottaCloud, our prime for a cost-effective online backup service, offers a scope of tiers for location users. This includes a 5GB escaped plan, which is cleanable for those wanting to trial the waters. However, for astir users, the JottaCloud Unlimited oregon Home 1TB plans supply the astir flexibility and worth successful the agelong run.

As a portion of the Unlimited plan, which costs $120 per year, you tin store arsenic overmuch information arsenic you want. However, the work volition commencement throttling upload speeds aft you devour 5TB of storage. This shouldn't beryllium an contented for astir people. But if you are acrophobic astir the speeds, you tin see the service's Pro plans.

Folks who necessitate little than 1TB of backup retention volition beryllium much than blessed with the 1TB Home plan, which is cheaper astatine $70 a year. The location program besides allows you to backmost up information for up to 5 household members.

JottaCloud offers a scope of further features that heighten its usability. With autochthonal apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS, you tin backmost up information from each your devices.

Command-line enactment is besides available, which is peculiarly utile for Linux computers oregon NAS devices, arsenic determination are nary apps for them. Additionally, you tin upload files oregon entree your backups done the web app, adding to the service's convenience. Unfortunately, portion the work encrypts your data, private-key encryption is not offered. It besides lacks incremental backups and block-level record copying.

An alternate to JottaCloud's Home 1TB program is Arq Premium, which is somewhat cheaper astatine $60 per annum and lets you backmost up to 5 computers. It besides has apps for some Mac and Windows.

Best Budget Backup Service

Jottacloud

For those looking for an affordable unlimited backup service, JottaCloud is an casual recommendation. It’s casual to usage and has apps for desktop and mobile.Override

Easiest-to-Use Online Backup Service: Carbonite

Pros	Cons
Easy to use	Slow
Cheap	Outdated interface
Unlimited backup

Carbonite is different supplier of unlimited backup that’s really a small cheaper than Backblaze, but is mostly absorbing for however casual it is to use. For astir users, mounting up a backup docket volition beryllium a substance of lone 4 oregon 5 clicks, which should marque technophobes beauteous happy.

Price-wise, it’s a bully deal, too, costing conscionable $70 per twelvemonth per computer, which you tin further trim if you motion up for longer. However, determination is simply a terms to pay, the biggest of which is the dilatory upload and download speeds. Carbonite backups look to instrumentality forever, and if you’re uploading tons astatine once, it’ll hurt.

Still, if you don’t caput having your machine connected for a fewer days erstwhile doing your archetypal upload, Carbonite is simply a large option, particularly if you number the clip you’ll prevention with specified a user-friendly backup solution.

Most Easy to Use Online Backup Service

Carbonite

Carbonite is an easy-to-use online backup supplier with unlimited space.

Best Hybrid Online Backup Service: pCloud

Pros	Cons
Hybrid backup	Paid E2EE
Lifetime plans	Expensive beingness plans
Easy to use

If you’re looking for a solution that tin docket backups and enactment arsenic regular storage, springiness pCloud a whirl. It’s a coagulated contender with a large escaped program and immoderate precise bully affordable paid plans, too—it adjacent has immoderate precise affordable beingness plans.

Most importantly, it’s casual to use: You tin easy acceptable up schedules, and straight uploading files is arsenic casual arsenic dragging and dropping. I besides similar however you tin easy acceptable up pCloud to backmost up from different unreality providers similar OneDrive and Google Drive, making it a large mode to hedge your bets.

One happening I don’t like, though, is however pCloud makes you wage other for advanced, end-to-end encryption (E2EE). Services should each beryllium providing this escaped of charge, and I’m not definite wherefore pCloud is charging other for it. Still, the terms is reasonable, and you could adjacent bash without it if your files aren’t excessively sensitive.

Best Hybrid Online Backup Service

pCloud

pCloud is simply a unreality retention supplier with immoderate almighty backup capabilities.

Best Online Backup Service for Businesses: Crashplan

Pros	Cons
Great for businesses	Only for businesses
Supports aggregate computers	A spot pricey

Finally, we person Crashplan, the champion imaginable lucifer for businesses—but lone businesses. It doesn’t connection idiosyncratic plans, focusing connected tiny to mean businesses that person to backmost up aggregate computers. There is simply a program that’s conscionable for 1 user, but it assumes you’ll person 2 devices to backmost up, which whitethorn not work.

If you tally a business, though, Crashplan is simply a beauteous bully deal. Price-wise, it falls much oregon little successful the mediate betwixt Carbonite and Backblaze, with its higher-tier plans besides offering unlimited space. The large advantage, though, is that you tin backmost up aggregate computers, which tin get a small tricky with immoderate different services.

The upshot is that if you’re moving a concern and you person a batch of computers that request to beryllium regularly backed up, Crashplan is the mode to go. If you don’t autumn into that category, you whitethorn privation to look elsewhere.

Best Online Backup Service for Businesses