# Every product here backs things up. What separates them is the day you actually need a restore — at volume, under pressure.

*Backup & Recovery — a TechBag decision guide. Last reviewed 2026-10-03.*

> A backup product is four decisions: what it can protect, where it runs, how fast and how granular the restore is, and what unit it bills by. Vendors compete on the first; buyers suffer on the third and fourth.

**The checkable fact:** Commvault publishes a SaaS list of $58.50–90 per TB per month. Veeam is reported at $250–450 per workload per year. Neither number includes the storage the backups sit on — and that is frequently the larger bill.

- Canonical: https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience/backup-recovery
- Category: [Backup & Cyber Resilience](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience)
- Products compared: 27

## What backup & recovery actually is

A product that copies your workloads — VMs, physical servers, databases, file shares, cloud instances, laptops — on a schedule, keeps the copies for a retention period, and can put them back: one file, one mailbox, a whole VM booted straight from the backup, or a thousand VMs in an afternoon. The copying is table stakes. **The restore is the product.**

Four things decide the purchase. **What it can protect** — the workload list varies more than you expect (Kubernetes, NAS at scale, Proxmox, endpoints). **Where it runs** — software you install, an appliance you rack, or a service with nothing to run. **Restore granularity and speed** — item-level, full VM, or instant recovery that boots from the repository. **The meter** — per workload, per TB front-end, per TB after dedupe, per socket, per device. SaaS data (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce) is its own purchase: the [SaaS backup guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience/saas-backup).

**The most common mis-purchase.** A backup that succeeds every night and a restore that fails the first time it is needed — because nobody tested it at volume, over the real network, from the real repository. **Buy the restore you have rehearsed, not the backup you have scheduled.**

## Backup vs replication vs snapshot vs archive

Four words sold by the same vendors and used as if they were tiers. They are not. Each answers a different failure mode — and a tool that handles one perfectly may be useless against another.

### Backup

An independent copy, on different storage, kept for a retention period, restorable to a point in time. Answers: something was lost, corrupted or deleted — days or months ago — and you need that version back. Slow relative to the others; the only one that survives the loss of the source system and its storage.

### Replication

A continuously updated second copy of a running system, ready to take over. Answers: the site or the server is down and you need to run elsewhere in minutes. Faithfully replicates corruption, deletion and ransomware — which is why it is the disaster-recovery guide, not this one.

### Snapshot

A point-in-time image held on the same storage as the source (hypervisor or array). Answers: roll back a change made an hour ago. Fast and cheap — and gone with the storage it lives on. A snapshot is not a backup, and every backup vendor's first slide says so.

### Archive

Data moved (not copied) to cheaper storage for retention and compliance, with an index. Answers: keep it for seven years and find it for the regulator. An archive is the only copy; it is not a recovery mechanism for the live system.

**These are not tiers of the same product.** Snapshots roll back, replication fails over, backup restores, archive retains. A product that handles accidental deletion perfectly can be useless against deliberate destruction — that sentence is the whole [cyber-recovery guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience/cyber-recovery). Most estates need at least two of the four; almost none need all four from one vendor.

## The decision variables

Six variables decide this purchase. The instrument tests the ones documentation can verify (workloads, delivery form, instant recovery, hypervisor, meter); restore speed at scale and immutability mode are prose because the honest answers are a PoC figure and a configuration, not a datasheet line.

**What it can protect.** Physical, virtual, cloud, SaaS, containers, databases, NAS, endpoints — the list varies more than the brochures admit. Write yours down first, including the workload you forgot (the NAS, the cluster, the database on the old box).

**Deployment model.** Software you install (you design the repository), an appliance you rack (capacity is in the price), a service with nothing to run (restore speed is your WAN), or cloud-managed agents through a partner.

**Restore granularity and speed at scale.** Item-level vs full VM vs instant recovery that boots from the backup — and then the number nobody publishes: VMs per hour over your network. The real differentiator, and the one to test.

**Licensing unit.** Per VM or workload, per TB front-end, per TB back-end, per TB deduplicated, per socket, per device, per GiB-month. The same estate can cost 3× more or less on unit choice alone.

**India data residency for backup copies.** SaaS services with a documented Mumbai / Central India region (Druva, Commvault Cloud, Acronis), or your own storage where residency is your design; flagged where not documented.

**Integration with the hypervisor and storage you have.** VMware and Hyper-V are universal; Nutanix AHV and Proxmox are not; storage-array snapshot integration decides backup windows at scale.

## The 27 products

Every product carries one stated limitation. Prices are USD with an indicative INR conversion, tier- and term-matched where the vendor publishes one.

### N-able Cove Data Protection — N-able

- **Who it's for:** MSPs backing up many small client sites who do not want a hardware conversation at each one. Cloud-first by design: no appliance to buy, size, rack, refresh — or lose alongside the site it protected. Servers, workstations and Microsoft 365 in one product and one dashboard, with DR and DRaaS alongside.
- **The honest limitation:** Restore speed follows BANDWIDTH rather than local disk — that is the honest cost of having no appliance, and it is entirely testable in a trial. Model a full-site restore against your largest client's data volume and connection, then compare it to the recovery time your contracts promise. If fast local recovery of very large datasets is the binding constraint, an appliance model still wins that race. No documented India backup region — and a backup is a complete copy of everything, so establish the storage region in writing.
- **Price:** Quote — Quote-only, and a separate product from N-able's RMM platforms. For backup the GROWTH terms matter more than the rate — how storage is charged as data accumulates, whether it is metered or capped, and what retention beyond the standard window costs. Model your data at three years, not today
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/n-able/n-able-cove-data-protection

### Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium) — Veeam

- **Who it's for:** The default for VMware and Hyper-V estates that want instant VM recovery, replication and a repository design they control — and now Nutanix AHV and Proxmox on the same licence.
- **The honest limitation:** Software you run: the repository, its hardening and the immutability mode are your design, not a default; Kubernetes is a separate product (Kasten) and SaaS is Veeam Data Cloud; no published list price.
- **Price:** ~$250–450 (≈ ₹20,750) — per workload (VUL) / year reported, by edition; list rose 4–8% in January 2026; storage is yours
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/veeam/veeam-data-platform

### Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes — Veeam

- **Who it's for:** Platform teams that need application-consistent backup, restore and mobility for Kubernetes namespaces — not a VM tool pointed at a cluster.
- **The honest limitation:** Kubernetes only — it protects nothing outside the cluster; priced per node on quote; immutability is whatever object-lock target you export to.
- **Price:** Quote — per worker node / year; Enterprise edition; free edition for small clusters
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/veeam/veeam-kasten

### Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud — Veeam

- **Who it's for:** Estates on Veeam that also run EC2, RDS, Azure VMs or GCE and want native snapshots plus cost-tiered backup under the same console.
- **The honest limitation:** Cloud-native workloads only, one appliance per cloud; the object-lock bucket and its mode are yours to configure; not a replacement for the on-prem product.
- **Price:** VUL / marketplace — a Veeam Universal Licence per cloud instance, or per-instance marketplace billing; runs inside your cloud account
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/veeam/veeam-public-cloud

### Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery — Commvault

- **Who it's for:** Mixed enterprises with the widest workload list — VMs, databases, NAS, Kubernetes, endpoints, cloud — that want one catalogue and a choice of software, appliance or SaaS.
- **The honest limitation:** Breadth is the product and the learning curve: a Commvault estate needs a Commvault administrator; the SaaS list is per TB and the on-prem price is a quote; the immutability mechanism depends on the target you choose.
- **Price:** $58.50–90 (≈ ₹4,856) — per TB / month SaaS list (VMs and Kubernetes → databases); on-prem by front-end TB on quote; HyperScale X appliance; SaaS available in India
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/commvault/commvault-backup-recovery

### Commvault Clumio (AWS) — Commvault

- **Who it's for:** AWS-first estates that want EC2, EBS, RDS, S3 and DynamoDB backed up outside their own account, with a published per-GiB meter instead of a licence.
- **The honest limitation:** AWS only; the meter is gentle at rest and real at restore time (per GiB restored plus transfer); an India region for the vault is not documented.
- **Price:** $0.010–0.045 (≈ ₹1) — per GiB-month of protected data by service, published — S3 $0.025 ($0.010 on the archive tier), EBS $0.045; restores from $0.020 per GiB plus AWS transfer; nothing to deploy
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/commvault/commvault-clumio

### Cohesity DataProtect — Cohesity

- **Who it's for:** Enterprises that want scale-out appliances with instant mass restore and one platform that also runs cyber vaulting (FortKnox) and search over the backups.
- **The honest limitation:** Capacity-tiered reported pricing, no published list; the appliance form carries the platform's value — the software-only and BaaS forms are narrower; an India BaaS region is not documented.
- **Price:** ~$150–400 (≈ ₹12,450) — per TB / year reported (licence, capacity-tiered); as-a-service $200–500+ per TB / year reported; appliance, software or BaaS
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/cohesity/cohesity-dataprotect

### NetBackup (Cohesity) — Cohesity

- **Who it's for:** Large, long-lived estates — mainframe to cloud — that already run NetBackup and want its workload list and operating model to continue under Cohesity.
- **The honest limitation:** Enterprise-priced per front-end TB on quote; the heaviest operating model on this page; Proxmox support is not documented.
- **Price:** ~$400–900 (≈ ₹33,200) — per front-end TB / year reported at enterprise tiers, declining with capacity; Flex appliances separate
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/cohesity/cohesity-netbackup

### Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition — Rubrik

- **Who it's for:** Enterprises that want backup and cyber recovery as one posture — append-only storage, anomaly detection and threat containment on the same platform.
- **The honest limitation:** Three-year, capacity-reviewed subscriptions with reported list around $130 per back-end TB per month — the most expensive meter here; an India data region is not documented.
- **Price:** ~$130 (≈ ₹10,790) — per back-end TB / month reported (premium support, prepaid); three-year minimums typical; appliance, partner hardware or cloud cluster
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/rubrik/rubrik-enterprise-edition

### Druva Hybrid Workloads — Druva

- **Who it's for:** Teams that want data-centre backup with no backup server, no repository and no patching — a SaaS service with an India region and an India engineering base.
- **The honest limitation:** No instant VM recovery from the cloud (restores and DRaaS instead); priced per deduplicated TB on quote; your data lives only in Druva's AWS — no on-prem copy.
- **Price:** Quote — per TB / month after deduplication (Business · Enterprise · Elite); AWS Mumbai region; built in Pune — nothing to run
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/druva/druva-hybrid-workloads

### Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure) — Druva

- **Who it's for:** AWS and Azure estates that want snapshot orchestration, cross-account copies and Data Lock from the same SaaS console as the data centre.
- **The honest limitation:** Native snapshots live in your account — your cloud root credential is the ceiling of their protection; cloud workloads only; quote-only.
- **Price:** Quote — per protected resource / month; snapshots stay in your cloud account, air-gapped copies in Druva's
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/druva/druva-cloud-workloads

### Druva Endpoints (inSync) — Druva

- **Who it's for:** Laptop fleets that need silent, deduplicated backup with legal hold, eDiscovery and remote wipe — the endpoint half of Druva.
- **The honest limitation:** Endpoints only — servers, VMs and SaaS are other Druva SKUs; reported pricing, not published; no on-prem copy.
- **Price:** ~$3 (≈ ₹249) — per user / month reported (legacy inSync list; now Business · Enterprise · Elite per user); AWS Mumbai region
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/druva/druva-endpoints

### Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup) — Acronis

- **Who it's for:** SMBs and MSP-run estates that want backup, anti-malware and patching in one agent, an India data centre and a per-workload or per-GB meter.
- **The honest limitation:** Sold and billed through partners — no public rate card; petabyte-scale estates are not where it is documented; immutability in Acronis Cloud defaults to governance mode (an admin can lift it) unless compliance mode is switched on.
- **Price:** ~$25 (≈ ₹2,075) — per workload / month reported (~$300 / year) or per GB, through partners; Acronis Cloud storage priced apart; Mumbai data centre
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/acronis/acronis-cyber-protect-cloud

### Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem) — Acronis

- **Who it's for:** Organisations that want the Acronis agent and console on their own hardware — image backup, bare-metal restore and anti-malware without a partner in the loop.
- **The honest limitation:** Your storage, your immutability target; a per-seat list that climbs quickly on servers and hosts; not documented at petabyte scale.
- **Price:** From $85 (≈ ₹7,055) — per device / year list (Standard, up to five devices; Backup Advanced from $109, Advanced from $129); servers and virtual hosts priced higher; your storage
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/acronis/acronis-cyber-protect

### Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud) — Barracuda

- **Who it's for:** Mid-market sites that want a backup appliance with LiveBoot recovery and a flat cloud replication price, sold through the channel.
- **The honest limitation:** VMware and Hyper-V only on the hypervisor side; an India region for Barracuda Cloud backup storage is not documented; the appliance's local copies are not the immutable ones — the cloud copies are.
- **Price:** $599 (≈ ₹49,717) — per socket or server / year list (Vx virtual appliance); hardware appliances from $17,698 list; replication to Barracuda Cloud $799 per TB / year
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/barracuda/barracuda-data-protection

### NinjaOne Backup — NinjaOne

- **Who it's for:** IT teams already on NinjaOne RMM that want endpoint and server backup from the same agent and console, with cloud copies locked by S3 Object Lock.
- **The honest limitation:** No hypervisor-level VM backup, no databases, no NAS — it protects the devices the agent sits on; the local copy is not immutable, only the Ninja cloud copy; an India storage region is not documented.
- **Price:** Quote — per device / month as a quoted add-on to the RMM (NinjaOne’s published $1.50–3.75 band is for the platform, not Backup); image, file and folder backup for Windows, macOS and servers; Ninja cloud storage priced apart
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/ninjaone/ninjaone-backup

### IDrive 360 — IDrive

- **Who it's for:** Small and mid-sized teams that want PCs, Macs, Linux machines and servers backed up to the cloud at a published per-device price, with immutable snapshots.
- **The honest limitation:** No storage country is named for IDrive 360 and there is no India region; whole-machine images are Windows-only; CVE-2026-1995 (CVSS 7.8) in the Windows client was fixed in 7.0.0.64 — keep agents updated.
- **Price:** $29.90 / device / yr — a year per device at renewal, sold in packs from 5 devices with 10 TB each; 25% off the first year; phones $5 a device a year extra
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/idrive/idrive-360

### Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR) — Datto

- **Who it's for:** MSP-managed laptops and servers that need image backup straight to the cloud with no appliance — and, on the DR tier, the ability to run a failed server in the Datto Cloud.
- **The honest limitation:** Only the “with Disaster Recovery” SKU virtualises in the cloud, and you cannot upgrade mid-disaster; plain Endpoint Backup keeps nothing after the subscription ends; no India data centre (nearest Singapore).
- **Price:** Quote — per licence through your MSP, with a pooled Datto Cloud storage allowance; also inside Kaseya 365 Endpoint (5 TB shared); only the “with Disaster Recovery” SKU can boot a machine in the Datto Cloud; Datto publishes no price
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/datto/datto-endpoint-backup

### NAKIVO Backup & Replication — NAKIVO

- **Who it's for:** Small and mid-sized IT teams protecting VMware, Hyper-V, Proxmox or Nutanix VMs and physical servers who want a published price and storage they choose.
- **The honest limitation:** CVE-2024-48248 is on CISA’s exploited list — run v11.0.2 or later; the Essentials editions cap at 50 workloads; NAKIVO publishes no ISO 27001 or SOC 2 statement.
- **Price:** $1.95–2.55 / workload / mo (≈ ₹162) — per workload a month on a 3-year subscription (on a 1-year term: $2.45 Pro Essentials, $3.20 Enterprise Essentials), sold in 5-workload packs from 5 to 50; perpetual from $229 per socket; Enterprise Plus by quote
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/nakivo/nakivo-backup-replication

### AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault) — AWS

- **Who it's for:** AWS estates that want one policy-based backup across EC2, EBS, RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, EFS, FSx and S3 — plus on-premises VMware — with copies kept in India.
- **The honest limitation:** Protects AWS services and on-premises VMware only — no Hyper-V, physical servers or Microsoft 365; Hyderabad lacks the VMware gateway, so use Mumbai; everything bills by consumption.
- **Price:** $0.055 / GB / mo — per GB-month of warm storage in Mumbai ($0.05 in US Regions), cold $0.011; EC2 and EBS backups bill as EBS snapshots; restore and restore testing are metered; Vault Lock is free; the air-gapped vault costs more per GB
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/aws/aws-backup

### Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium) — Arcserve

- **Who it's for:** Mid-sized IT teams backing up physical servers and VMware, Hyper-V, Proxmox or Nutanix VMs to storage they own, with standby VMs and immutable copies from the same console.
- **The honest limitation:** Edition-gated: Proxmox needs Advanced, Nutanix AHV, Assured Recovery and AI anomaly detection need Premium; the RPO is the backup interval; Gartner rates Arcserve a Niche Player.
- **Price:** $199 / front-end TB / yr (≈ ₹16,517) — per front-end TB a year for UDP Premium on Arcserve’s US e-store ($19.99 a month); Standard and Advanced, per-instance and per-socket licences are quoted; the store sells to the US, Australia and New Zealand only, so India is quoted
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/arcserve/arcserve-udp

### Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager) — Arcserve

- **Who it's for:** MSPs and small IT teams imaging Windows and Linux machines who want VirtualBoot, verified image chains and bare-metal restore at a low per-machine price.
- **The honest limitation:** Arcserve’s ShadowProtect DR cloud ended on 31 July 2024, so failover is to hardware or a hypervisor you run; server prices are quoted; it is a single-machine imaging tool, not a VM-estate platform.
- **Price:** $47 / desktop / yr (≈ ₹3,901) — per Windows desktop a year for ShadowProtect SPX Desktop on the StorageCraft store ($83.96 for 2 years); server licences are quoted; images go to storage you run, or to Cloud CRS bought separately
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/arcserve/arcserve-shadowprotect

### Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series) — Kaseya

- **Who it's for:** Mid-sized IT teams that want an all-in-one backup appliance or a virtual appliance on vSphere, Hyper-V or Nutanix AHV, with automated recovery testing that reports the actual RTO.
- **The honest limitation:** No published price; the cloud tier (Forever Cloud) has no India region; Gartner rated Unitrends a Niche Player in 2025 and dropped it from the 2026 backup Magic Quadrant.
- **Price:** Quote — quote-only: Recovery Series appliances are subscriptions licensed to the appliance’s usable capacity (15 models, 2–120 TB); the licensing metric for Backup Software comes on the quote; Forever Cloud and DRaaS are add-ons
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/kaseya/unitrends-backup

### OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads) — OpenText

- **Who it's for:** Mixed estates with physical servers, VMware, Hyper-V, AHV or KVM guests and large databases — SAP HANA, Oracle, DB2 — that still write to tape and dedupe appliances as well as disk and object storage.
- **The honest limitation:** Software you run: the Cell Manager, catalogue and targets are yours, immutability comes from Data Domain or StoreOnce locks or offline tape, and licence keys are tied to the Cell Manager’s IP. Gartner includes OpenText in its 2025 and 2026 backup Magic Quadrants.
- **Price:** Quote — quote-only: Premium per front-end TB, Express per hypervisor CPU socket, or feature-based keys — one model per Cell Manager; Data Protector for Cloud Workloads (Microsoft 365, Proxmox, Kubernetes) is licensed apart; a 90-day instant-on licence unlocks every feature
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/opentext/opentext-data-protector

### Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One) — Dell

- **Who it's for:** Enterprises protecting VMware, Hyper-V, databases and Kubernetes that want backup software and deduplicating Data Domain storage from one vendor, with anomaly detection in the backup flow.
- **The honest limitation:** Quote-only; strongest with Data Domain as the target; Gartner’s 2026 backup MQ reportedly puts Dell lowest of the six Leaders; Avamar and NetWorker estates need a migration plan.
- **Price:** Quote — licensed per front-end TB, protected capacity or socket and quoted; PowerProtect One (2026) bundles it with a DD6410 appliance; writes to PowerProtect Data Domain, where immutability is set
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/dell/dell-powerprotect-data-manager

### Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) — Dell

- **Who it's for:** Teams that want a deduplicating protection-storage target behind Data Manager, Veeam, Commvault, NetBackup or Oracle RMAN, on premises or as a virtual edition in a public cloud.
- **The honest limitation:** Storage, not backup software; data reduction is Dell’s ‘up to’ figure and varies with data; Retention Lock Compliance needs its own licence; prices are quoted, and CVE-2025-36594 (CVSS 9.8) needs the fixed DD OS.
- **Price:** Quote — appliance capacity (about 8 TB to 2.1 PB usable, including the all-flash DD9910F) or a DDVE capacity licence, quoted; Retention Lock Governance and Compliance are licensed separately; a 0.5 TB DDVE evaluation exists
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/dell/dell-powerprotect-data-domain

### NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — NetApp

- **Who it's for:** ONTAP shops that want snapshot-based backup of volumes, SQL Server, Oracle, VMware and Kubernetes run from NetApp Console, with a published per-GB price and copies kept on their own object storage.
- **The honest limitation:** Built for data on NetApp ONTAP; no Microsoft 365 backup (the old SaaS Backup is legacy); priced on used source capacity, so large volumes cost more than the VMs you care about.
- **Price:** $0.05 / GB / mo (≈ ₹4) — per GB of used source capacity a month pay-as-you-go ($0.0475 on 12 months, $0.0425 on 36), billed per TiB-hour, 30-day trial; SnapCenter itself is in ONTAP One; copies can go to StorageGRID or ONTAP S3 on your premises
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/netapp/netapp-backup-and-recovery

## Why each constraint rules out what it does

The full narrowing logic, as prose. Nothing here is hidden behind an interaction.

**Virtual machines.** Rules out Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360 and Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR) — does not protect virtual machines. That leaves N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter).

**Public-cloud workloads.** Rules out Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Druva Endpoints (inSync), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — does not protect public-cloud workloads. That leaves N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium) and Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series).

**Databases.** Rules out N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR) and Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager) — does not protect databases with application consistency. That leaves Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter).

**NAS and file shares.** Rules out N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One) and Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) — does not protect NAS / file shares. That leaves Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter).

**Kubernetes.** Rules out N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Hybrid Workloads, Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series) and Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) — does not protect Kubernetes. That leaves Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter).

**Laptops and desktops.** Rules out Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — does not protect endpoints. That leaves N-able Cove Data Protection, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Druva Endpoints (inSync), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager) and Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series).

**Backup as a service.** Rules out Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One) and Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) — you run the backup server, repository or appliance. That leaves N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Hybrid Workloads, Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter).

**An appliance.** Rules out N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Hybrid Workloads, Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — software or a service, not an appliance. That leaves Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series) and Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE). It flags Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery — Software first; also sold as an appliance (HyperScale X / Flex) and NetBackup (Cohesity) — Software first; also sold as an appliance (HyperScale X / Flex) — marked, not removed.

**Software on your hardware.** Rules out N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Cohesity DataProtect, Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — an appliance or a service, not software you install. That leaves Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, NetBackup (Cohesity), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads) and Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One).

**Instant recovery.** Rules out N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Hybrid Workloads, Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — no documented instant recovery; restores copy data back first. That leaves Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series) and Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One).

**Nutanix AHV.** Rules out N-able Cove Data Protection, Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — Nutanix AHV not documented; Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360 and Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR) — does not protect virtual machines. That leaves Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series) and OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads).

**Proxmox VE.** Rules out N-able Cove Data Protection, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault), Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — Proxmox VE not documented; Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360 and Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR) — does not protect virtual machines. That leaves Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium) and OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads).

**Copies in India.** Rules nothing out on published terms. It flags N-able Cove Data Protection — India region for the service's storage not documented, Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium) — Your storage, Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes — Your storage, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud — Your storage, Commvault Clumio (AWS) — India region for the service's storage not documented, Cohesity DataProtect — India region for the service's storage not documented, NetBackup (Cohesity) — Your storage, Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition — India region for the service's storage not documented, Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem) — Your storage, Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud) — India region for the service's storage not documented, NinjaOne Backup — India region for the service's storage not documented, IDrive 360 — India region for the service's storage not documented, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR) — India region for the service's storage not documented, NAKIVO Backup & Replication — Your storage, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium) — Your storage, Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager) — Your storage, Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series) — Your storage, OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads) — Your storage, Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One) — Your storage, Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) — Your storage and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — Your storage — marked, not removed.

**Per workload, not per TB.** Rules out Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect, NetBackup (Cohesity), Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Druva Hybrid Workloads, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium), Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series), OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads), Dell PowerProtect Data Manager (+ PowerProtect One), Dell PowerProtect Data Domain (appliances · DDVE) and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — priced per TB (front-end or deduplicated). That leaves N-able Cove Data Protection, Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Commvault Clumio (AWS), Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure), Druva Endpoints (inSync), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem), Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud), NinjaOne Backup, IDrive 360, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR), NAKIVO Backup & Replication, AWS Backup (Vault Lock · logically air-gapped vault) and Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager).

**Above a petabyte.** Rules nothing out on published terms. It flags N-able Cove Data Protection — Unverified at petabyte scale, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup) — Unverified at petabyte scale, Acronis Cyber Protect (on-prem) — Unverified at petabyte scale, Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud) — Unverified at petabyte scale, NinjaOne Backup — Unverified at petabyte scale, IDrive 360 — Unverified at petabyte scale, Datto Endpoint Backup (and Endpoint Backup with DR) — Unverified at petabyte scale, NAKIVO Backup & Replication — Unverified at petabyte scale, Arcserve UDP (Standard · Advanced · Premium) — Unverified at petabyte scale, Arcserve ShadowProtect SPX (with ImageManager) — Unverified at petabyte scale, Unitrends Backup (Backup Software · Recovery Series) — Unverified at petabyte scale, OpenText Data Protector (Premium · Express · for Cloud Workloads) — Unverified at petabyte scale and NetApp Backup and Recovery (+ SnapCenter) — Unverified at petabyte scale — marked, not removed.

**Restore speed at scale.** Instant recovery is documented for Veeam, Commvault, Cohesity, NetBackup, Rubrik, Acronis and Barracuda — booting or mounting from the backup. What no datasheet documents is the number that matters: how many VMs per hour come back over your network from your repository. That is a PoC figure; TechBag's delivery figures per platform are [TechBag to confirm].

**Where immutability is enforced.** Three patterns on this page. Target-enforced (Veeam, Commvault, NetBackup, Acronis on-prem, Kasten, Veeam public cloud): the product writes to object lock, a hardened repository or WORM hardware that you configure — as strong as your configuration. Vendor-controlled (Druva, Clumio, Acronis Cloud, Barracuda Cloud, NinjaOne cloud): the service's storage, locked by the vendor — read the mode (governance vs compliance). Software-enforced on the platform (Cohesity DataLock, Rubrik's append-only filesystem with Retention Lock). The cyber-recovery guide tabulates this per SKU; here it is a note because every product on this page can be made immutable — and most are not, by default.

**Licensing units.** Per workload (Veeam VUL, Acronis), per TB front-end (Commvault on-prem, NetBackup), per TB back-end per month (Rubrik), per TB after deduplication (Druva), per socket (Barracuda Vx), per device (NinjaOne), per GiB-month (Clumio), per node (Kasten). The same estate can cost 3× more or less depending only on which unit the vendor chose — model your own VM count, front-end TB and growth before comparing quotes.

**Storage is not in the licence.** Every line on this page excludes the storage the backups sit on — appliance capacity, object storage, cloud tiers, a second copy off-site. It is frequently larger than the licence (see the cost section). Druva, Clumio and Acronis Cloud bundle or meter storage differently; ask which.

**Under 10 TB.** Rules nothing out on documentation: Acronis, NinjaOne, Barracuda Vx and Veeam Community / Foundation are sold to small estates; Commvault, Cohesity, Rubrik and NetBackup are enterprise-positioned but publish no floor. Which ones are a poor fit below 10 TB is delivery judgement: [TechBag to confirm].

## Eight situations, eight shortlists — with the restore named

Each shortlist names what the restore will look like in that estate, not only which products back it up. If your hypervisor is changing, start from that row.

### VMware or Hyper-V, 50–500 VMs, one or two sites — the common case

**Shortlist:** Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup)

**Why:** Veeam is the default for this estate — instant VM recovery, replication and a repository you design; Commvault Cloud covers the same VMs with SaaS or software and a wider catalogue; Acronis brings the agent with backup and security in one, through a partner, with a Mumbai data centre.

**Trade-off:** Veeam makes you the storage architect; Commvault makes you learn Commvault; Acronis makes you pick a partner.

### Leaving VMware for Nutanix AHV or Proxmox

**Shortlist:** Veeam Data Platform (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect

**Why:** Veeam and Commvault document both AHV and Proxmox; Cohesity documents AHV. The backup product is the one thing that should not also change mid-migration.

**Trade-off:** Proxmox support is newer everywhere — test the restore, not the backup, on the new hypervisor before the cut-over.

### Nothing to run — no backup server, no repository, no patching

**Shortlist:** Druva Hybrid Workloads, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup)

**Why:** Druva is SaaS-only with an AWS Mumbai region and a Pune engineering base; Commvault Cloud's SaaS form is available in India; Acronis runs from its Mumbai data centre through partners.

**Trade-off:** No local copy means restore speed is your internet line — size the WAN before the contract; instant VM recovery is not what SaaS backup does.

### An enterprise appliance with instant mass restore

**Shortlist:** Cohesity DataProtect, Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition, Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud)

**Why:** Cohesity's scale-out appliances document instant mass restore; Rubrik's appliances document Live Mount on append-only storage; Barracuda's appliances document LiveBoot with a flat cloud price for the smaller estate.

**Trade-off:** Appliances bundle capacity into the price — you buy the next shelf, not the next TB; three-year terms (Rubrik) and capacity tiers (Cohesity) are the real negotiation.

### AWS-heavy estate — EC2, RDS, S3 are most of the data

**Shortlist:** Commvault Clumio (AWS), Veeam Backup for AWS · Azure · Google Cloud, Druva Cloud Workloads (AWS · Azure)

**Why:** Clumio backs up outside your account on a published per-GiB meter; Veeam Backup for AWS runs inside your account on VUL or marketplace billing; Druva orchestrates snapshots and air-gapped copies from the same console as the data centre.

**Trade-off:** Native snapshots in your own account are only as safe as your root credential; an outside-the-account copy costs at restore time (per GiB and transfer).

### Kubernetes is production now

**Shortlist:** Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Cohesity DataProtect

**Why:** Kasten is built for namespaces and application consistency; Commvault and Cohesity protect Kubernetes inside the same platform as the VMs.

**Trade-off:** A Kubernetes-native tool is a second backup product to run; the platform route is one product with shallower Kubernetes depth — decide which team owns the restore.

### MSP-run SMB — laptops, a few servers, no backup administrator

**Shortlist:** Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (backup), NinjaOne Backup, Barracuda Backup (appliance · Vx · cloud)

**Why:** Acronis and NinjaOne are the agent-based, RMM-adjacent options priced per workload or device through partners; Barracuda Vx puts an appliance in the rack at $599 per socket per year list.

**Trade-off:** Device-level backup does not protect the hypervisor layer; if a host dies, you rebuild and restore guests one by one.

### Large estate already on NetBackup or Commvault

**Shortlist:** NetBackup (Cohesity), Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery, Rubrik Security Cloud — Enterprise Edition

**Why:** NetBackup continues under Cohesity with its workload list intact; Commvault is the like-for-like alternative with the widest catalogue; Rubrik is the posture-led replacement when cyber recovery is the reason to move.

**Trade-off:** Switching at this size is a retention-tail project: the old product stays read-only until its last backup expires. Price the overlap.

## At scale

Backup scales by data volume and by the number of things to protect — and the two meters diverge exactly here. The bill follows the unit; the backup window follows the network.

### 10 TB TB front-end — The agent and the admin are the constraint

- Any product here protects it; the question is who runs it — Acronis, NinjaOne and Barracuda Vx are built for the estate with no backup administrator.
- A single repository or a SaaS target is enough; instant recovery is a convenience, not a requirement.
- Per-device and per-workload meters are cheapest at this size.

**The test:** Restore one full VM to a different host and time it. If nobody has ever done it, that is the finding.

### 100 TB TB front-end — The repository and the meter are the constraint

- Backup windows start to depend on storage-snapshot integration and changed-block tracking — VMware and Hyper-V are universal, AHV and Proxmox are not.
- The licence unit flips: per-TB products overtake per-workload ones if VMs are large; model both.
- A second, immutable copy off-site becomes a line item larger than the licence — object storage at $14–24 per TB per month.

**The test:** Ask for the dedupe ratio on your data, not the datasheet's, and the VMs-per-hour restore figure from a reference at your size.

### 1 PB TB front-end — Mass restore and the operating model are the constraint

- Scale-out appliances (Cohesity, Rubrik) and enterprise software (NetBackup, Commvault) document petabyte estates; Acronis, NinjaOne, Barracuda and Druva Endpoints are flagged unverified here, not ruled out.
- Restore orchestration — boot order, dependencies, hundreds of VMs — is the difference between a bad week and a bad quarter.
- Capacity-tiered subscriptions and three-year terms are the negotiation; the list price is a starting point nobody pays.

**The test:** Run a mass-restore rehearsal of 50 VMs from the immutable copy. The hours it takes is the only number the board should hear.

Veeam, Commvault, Cohesity, NetBackup, Rubrik, Clumio and Druva’s data-centre products document petabyte estates; Acronis, NinjaOne, Barracuda and Druva Endpoints are flagged unverified at that size. Where a specific product strains for your estate: [TechBag to confirm].

## Leaving a backup product is a retention-tail project

Backup formats are proprietary. Switching does not migrate the old backups — it leaves them behind, readable only by the old product, until the last one expires.

**The retention tail** — Every backup taken by the old product stays in its format. Keep the old product licensed (or at least installed and read-only) until the longest retention expires — seven years for some regulated data. *(Overlap for the retention period)*

**Re-seeding** — The new product takes a full first backup of everything: the network and the repository feel it. Plan a seeding window; for SaaS targets, plan the WAN. *(First full backup, again)*

**Agents and plugins** — Application agents (databases, Exchange, SAP) are per product and must be replaced and re-tested for consistency; hypervisor integration is re-done per host. *(Re-deploy, re-test)*

**The immutable copy** — If the old product's immutable copy was the ransomware plan, it stops being refreshed on day one of the switch. The new product's immutable copy must exist before the old one is the only one. *(No gap in immutability)*

**Retention tail, seeding weeks and overlap cost for your estate:** [TechBag to confirm] — TechBag scopes it from your retention policies and data volume.

## Per workload or per TB — and then the storage

What you may already hold, the products priced on their own meters at three estate sizes in USD and INR, and what the licence line leaves out — which, for backup, starts with the storage the backups sit on.

### Do you already own one?

Four places a backup may already seem to exist. Only one is.

- **Hypervisor-native snapshots — No.** A snapshot lives on the same storage as the VM and dies with it. Useful for rollback; not a backup, not retention, not a restore from another site.

- **Storage-array replication — No.** A second array that faithfully replicates corruption, deletion and encryption. That is disaster recovery’s half, not backup’s — and only if the array is elsewhere.

- **Your cloud provider's backup service — Partly.** AWS Backup and Azure Backup are real backup for their own cloud, with vault lock / immutable vault. They do not reach your data centre or each other; a multi-cloud estate needs one catalogue.

- **Backup inside the RMM you run — Partly.** NinjaOne Backup and Acronis through an MSP protect the devices the agent sits on — servers and laptops — not the hypervisor, the database or the NAS.

If a copy you already pay for is enough for your failure modes, we say so. It costs us a sale and saves you one.

### What the rest actually cost

Published and reported meters (INR for scale), then worked at three estate sizes — each product on its own unit, so the grid shows what the unit does to the bill. Storage is a separate block below it, on purpose.

### What isn't in the licence price

- **The storage.** Object storage, appliance capacity, a second copy off-site — see the block above. At 100 TB the second copy alone is $16800 ≈ ₹13,94,400–$28800 ≈ ₹23,90,400 a year at vault list prices, before the hardware under the first.

- **Egress and restore fees.** Per-GiB restore charges (Clumio $0.08), hyperscaler transfer out, and the WAN upgrade a SaaS restore turns out to need. Price a full 10 TB restore, not a file.

- **Restore testing, in hours.** A quarterly full-VM restore, an annual mass-restore rehearsal, and a person to own the results. Vendors automate verification (Veeam SureBackup, Commvault, Cohesity, Rubrik); the rehearsal is still yours. Your hours: [TechBag to confirm].

## What goes wrong

Documented behaviour and cost curves, cross-checked against TechBag engagements before any becomes a named case. Each is cheaper to read here than to discover on the day.

- **Backups that succeed and restores that fail.** Green dashboard every night; the first real restore hits a corrupt chain, a missing agent or an untested application-consistency step. Nobody had restored at volume. Rehearse it.

- **Per-TB pricing scaling in a way nobody modelled.** Front-end TB grew 40% a year; the licence followed; the budget did not. Model the meter on your growth curve to year three before signing.

- **Agent coverage gaps on the one workload that mattered.** The NAS, the old database server, the Proxmox cluster — outside the product's list or never licensed. Write the workload list down, including the one you forgot.

- **Restore times that meet the SLA on paper and not on the network.** Instant recovery boots the VM; full performance waits on data migrating over a 1 Gbps link from a repository built for writes. Measure VMs per hour, not seconds to boot.

- **Backup windows that stop fitting.** Full backups that used to finish by 6am now run into the working day — no storage-snapshot integration, no changed-block tracking on the new hypervisor. The window is a design, not a setting.

- **Storage larger than the licence, discovered at renewal.** The licence was negotiated hard; the object storage, the second appliance shelf and the egress were not in the business case. They were most of the bill.

- **A snapshot mistaken for a backup.** The array died, or the hypervisor datastore was encrypted — and every snapshot went with it. Snapshots roll back; they do not restore from elsewhere.

- **Immutability assumed, never enabled.** The product supported object lock; the bucket was created without it. Support is not a default — the cyber-recovery guide is the checklist.

## Questions this guide answers

### What is the difference between backup, replication, a snapshot and an archive?

Backup is an independent copy on different storage, kept for a retention period and restorable to a point in time — it survives the loss of the source. Replication is a continuously updated second copy of a running system for fast failover — it faithfully copies corruption and ransomware too. A snapshot is a point-in-time image on the same storage as the source — fast rollback, gone with the storage. An archive moves data to cheaper indexed storage for retention — it is the only copy, not a recovery mechanism. They answer different failure modes and are not tiers of one product.

### Per workload or per TB — which backup licensing is cheaper?

It depends only on your estate's shape. Per workload (Veeam VUL, Acronis) is cheap for few large VMs and expensive for hundreds of small ones; per front-end TB (Commvault on-prem, NetBackup) is the reverse and grows with data regardless of VM count; per back-end or deduplicated TB (Rubrik, Druva) rewards compressible data. Model your own VM count, front-end TB and three-year growth on every unit before reading a quote — and add storage, which is priced apart from the licence everywhere.

### Which backup products keep copies in India?

Druva (AWS Mumbai region, engineering in Pune), Commvault Cloud's SaaS form (available in India) and Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (Mumbai data centre) document India-resident copies. Veeam, NetBackup, Kasten and Acronis on-prem are software — residency is your storage design. Cohesity's BaaS, Rubrik, Clumio, Barracuda Cloud and NinjaOne cloud storage do not document an India region; the guide flags them rather than ruling them out.

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*Vendor-neutral. Nothing gated. Figures marked [TechBag to confirm] are team-owned and deliberately not guessed.*
*TechBag — India-based software reseller and advisory. https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience/backup-recovery*