# Microsoft’s shared-responsibility model says they keep the service running. Securing your data is explicitly your job.

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

> A SaaS backup product copies your Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce or Entra ID data out of the platform on a schedule and can put it back — an item, a mailbox, a site, an org’s metadata — after the recycle bin and the retention window have passed, or after an admin or an attacker emptied them.

**The checkable fact:** Microsoft’s own Service Agreement recommends third-party backup. Commvault publishes $1.70–4.50 per user per month; Barracuda $3.40 with unlimited storage. Microsoft’s native Microsoft 365 Backup is $0.15 per GB per month — real backup, inside the same tenant.

- Canonical: https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience/saas-backup
- Category: [Backup & Cyber Resilience](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience)
- Products compared: 20

## What saas backup actually is

Your mail, files, chats, CRM records and directory live in someone else’s cloud. That vendor promises uptime, redundancy and security of the service — and in the same contract says that **the data is yours to protect**. A SaaS backup product takes an independent copy out of the platform every day, keeps it for as long as you decide, and restores it in place: one item, one mailbox, one SharePoint site, one Salesforce object’s metadata, one Entra ID group with its members and policies.

Four things decide the purchase. **Which platforms are covered at depth** — Microsoft 365 beyond mail, Google Workspace, Salesforce with metadata, Dynamics, and Entra ID, which almost nobody offers and everyone needs. **Restore granularity** — in-place restore versus export. **Where the copy lives** — vendor storage, your storage, and whether India is documented. **Seat behaviour** — what a dormant or departed user costs. The data-centre half of this decision is the [backup and recovery guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience/backup-recovery); the directory, when it is the incident, is on both.

**The most common mis-purchase.** Assuming a retention policy is a backup. Retention keeps what exists from being deleted before a date; it does not give you back a mailbox an admin purged, a site an attacker encrypted, or the tenant’s state as of last Tuesday. **Governance control, not recovery control.**

## Recycle bin vs native retention vs true backup — and the shared-responsibility model

Four things that get called “backup” in a Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant. They answer different failure modes; only one of them is an independent copy.

### Recycle bin and versioning

Deleted items wait 30–93 days (platform and workload dependent) and files keep versions. Answers: a user deleted something last week. Fails: an admin emptied it, a retention window passed, an attacker encrypted the versions too, or the account itself is gone.

### Native retention policies

Microsoft Purview retention, Google Vault holds. Keep content from being destroyed until a date, for compliance. Answers: the regulator asks for this in three years. Fails: point-in-time restore of a mailbox or site, bulk recovery after ransomware, anything after the policy ends — Google states Vault is not a backup; Microsoft recommends third-party backup.

### True backup

An independent, scheduled copy held outside the production tenant (or in a separate, locked store), restorable in place to a point in time — item, mailbox, site, org, directory. Answers: it is gone, or corrupted, or encrypted, and you need last Tuesday back. Microsoft's own Microsoft 365 Backup ($0.15 per GB per month) is real backup too — inside the same tenant.

### The shared-responsibility model

The platform vendor is responsible for the service — uptime, infrastructure, security of the platform. You are responsible for the data — access, retention, backup, recovery. Microsoft's Service Agreement says it in plain words. Answers: whose fault is it? Yours, contractually, unless you bought the copy.

**These are not tiers of the same product.** The recycle bin rolls back a mistake; retention satisfies a regulator; backup restores after loss; the shared-responsibility model says who is holding the bag. A tenant with perfect retention and no backup handles accidental deletion and fails at deliberate destruction — which is the [cyber-recovery guide](https://www.thetechbag.com/browse/backup-cyber-resilience/cyber-recovery)’s subject.

## The decision variables

Six variables decide this purchase. The instrument tests the ones documentation can verify (platforms and depth, Entra ID, Salesforce metadata, storage ownership and inclusion, India); restore granularity, leaver pricing and the Teams API are prose because the honest answer is a contract line or a configuration.

**Which SaaS platforms are covered at depth.** Microsoft 365 (mail is easy; Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive are where products thin out), Google Workspace, Salesforce, Dynamics 365 and Entra ID are different engineering problems. A product that does one well may do another at export-only depth.

**Retention period and the cost curve.** Unlimited retention at a flat price (Barracuda, AvePoint) versus storage metered or licensed separately (Rubrik, Cohesity's capacity option, Microsoft per GB). Retention is where seven-year mailboxes live.

**Restore granularity.** Item, mailbox, site, channel, org metadata — restored in place, or exported to a file you then re-import. Export-only is the tell.

**Where the backup is stored and India residency.** Vendor-held (most), your own storage (Veeam self-hosted, Commvault and AvePoint bring-your-own, Cohesity on your cluster), and whether an India region is documented (Druva, Barracuda, Commvault, Acronis, Veeam).

**Entra ID / directory object backup.** Users, groups, roles, conditional-access policies and app registrations — the blast radius of a compromised admin. Offered by few; needed by everyone; sometimes a separate SKU.

**Seat-based pricing with dormant and departed users.** Per-user pricing meets seven-year retention when a leaver's mailbox must be kept. Capacity pricing (Cohesity) and unlimited-storage models (AvePoint, Barracuda) answer it differently; the rest is contract language.

## The 20 products

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

### Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium) — Veeam

- **Who it's for:** Microsoft 365 tenants that want the most-deployed M365 backup engine either as Veeam-hosted SaaS with storage included or self-hosted on storage they own.
- **The honest limitation:** Microsoft 365 only in this SKU (Salesforce and Entra ID are siblings — Entra ID also listed at $14.10 per user per year); Google Workspace is not offered; Premium is the tier with unthrottled restore.
- **Price:** $2.63–3.50 (≈ ₹218) — per user / month Foundation list by volume (251+ → 10–50 users); Advanced adds Entra ID; Central India Azure region; self-hosted Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is the bring-your-own-storage form
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/veeam/veeam-microsoft-365

### Veeam Backup for Salesforce — Veeam

- **Who it's for:** Salesforce estates that want records and metadata backed up into storage they control, with compare-and-restore into the org and sandbox seeding.
- **The honest limitation:** Salesforce only; you run the server and own the database; quote-only — and immutability is whatever your storage enforces.
- **Price:** Quote — per Salesforce user / year; software you deploy (Linux + PostgreSQL) in your own cloud or data centre — the data never leaves your storage
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/veeam/veeam-salesforce

### Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce) — Commvault

- **Who it's for:** Organisations that want Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Salesforce backed up by the same platform that protects the data centre — with a published list price and included immutable storage.
- **The honest limitation:** Entra ID is a sibling SKU (Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID), not this one; Google Workspace is not offered; the lowest list tier is mail-centric — read which workloads each tier includes.
- **Price:** $1.70–4.50 (≈ ₹141) — per user / month published list for Microsoft 365 by tier; Salesforce $3.60 per user / month; Azure storage (Air Gap Protect) included; SaaS available in India; bring-your-own storage optional
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/commvault/commvault-saas-backup

### Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID — Commvault

- **Who it's for:** Estates where the directory is the blast radius: Entra ID and Active Directory objects backed up, compared and restored — including a full forest rebuild.
- **The honest limitation:** Identity only — mail, files and Teams are the sibling SaaS SKU; quote-only; Okta is not in this product.
- **Price:** Quote — per user / object, on quote; on-prem AD forest recovery and Entra ID objects, attributes, groups, roles and policies
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/commvault/commvault-active-directory

### Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce) — Druva

- **Who it's for:** Organisations on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace — often both — that want one SaaS console for mail, files, Teams, Drive and Salesforce with an India region and no infrastructure.
- **The honest limitation:** Reported not published pricing; Dynamics 365 is not covered; Entra ID protection is a separate Identity Resilience SKU rather than in the per-user SaaS price; no bring-your-own storage.
- **Price:** ~$3 (≈ ₹249) — per user / month reported (Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace; Salesforce ~$3.50 reported); AWS Mumbai region; Entra ID, AD and Okta are the separate Identity Resilience plans
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/druva/druva-saas-apps

### AvePoint Cloud Backup — AvePoint

- **Who it's for:** Estates with the widest SaaS surface — Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Google Workspace, Salesforce, Azure — that want one backup contract across all of it, with unlimited storage.
- **The honest limitation:** Indicative partner pricing rather than a public list; AvePoint’s own data-centre list (Azure and Google Cloud) has no India region; how immutability is enforced on the included storage is not established from documentation — marked unknown, not assumed.
- **Price:** ~$2–3.50 (≈ ₹166) — per user / month indicative through partners (UK G-Cloud lists £1.50 per user / month for Microsoft 365); unlimited storage; bring-your-own Azure / AWS storage optional
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/avepoint/avepoint-cloud-backup

### Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup — Acronis

- **Who it's for:** MSP-run organisations that want Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace backup from the same partner, console and India data centre as their endpoint backup and security.
- **The honest limitation:** Sold and priced through partners only; Salesforce and Dynamics are not covered; Entra ID object backup and whether storage is inside the per-seat price are not established from documentation — flagged, not assumed.
- **Price:** Quote — set by the MSP — Acronis publishes no end-customer price, only per-workload or per-GB licensing for service providers (agentless for Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Gmail, Drive, Contacts, Calendar); Mumbai data centre
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/acronis/acronis-cyber-protect-cloud

### Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup — Barracuda

- **Who it's for:** Microsoft 365 tenants that want a flat per-user price with unlimited storage, Entra ID included, and the data held in India.
- **The honest limitation:** Microsoft 365 only — no Google Workspace, Salesforce or Dynamics; storage is Barracuda's, with no bring-your-own option.
- **Price:** $3.40 (≈ ₹282) — per user / month list; unlimited storage and retention; Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams and Entra ID; India regional data centre (2022)
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/barracuda/barracuda-data-protection

### Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition) — Rubrik

- **Who it's for:** Enterprises already on Rubrik Security Cloud that want Microsoft 365 under the same posture — anomaly detection, sensitive-data discovery and threat hunting on the tenant's data.
- **The honest limitation:** Backup storage is a separate licence on top of the per-user price; an India data region is not documented; Entra ID is a separate product.
- **Price:** ~$3.80 (≈ ₹315) — per user / month Foundation list reported (premium support, prepaid) plus a backup-storage licence; Rubrik-hosted in Azure; Entra ID is the separate Identity Resilience product
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/rubrik/rubrik-enterprise-edition

### Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta) — Rubrik

- **Who it's for:** Estates where a hijacked directory is the incident: Entra ID, AD and Okta objects backed up, compared, and restored object-by-object or as a forest.
- **The honest limitation:** Identity only; quote-only; an India data region is not documented.
- **Price:** Quote — per identity / year on quote; Entra ID, on-prem AD forest recovery and Okta objects with risk posture
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/rubrik/rubrik-identity-resilience

### Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster) — Cohesity

- **Who it's for:** Cohesity estates that want Microsoft 365 in the same platform, with the option of capacity pricing instead of per user — which stops departed-user seats from costing anything.
- **The honest limitation:** Quote-only; an India BaaS region and Entra ID coverage are not documented; how immutability is enforced on the BaaS storage is not established from documentation — marked unknown.
- **Price:** Quote — per user / month or per TB of protected capacity (Cohesity documents ~6 GB per user on average); Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams and Groups; Cohesity-managed cloud or your own cluster
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/cohesity/cohesity-dataprotect

### Axcient x360Cloud — ConnectWise

- **Who it's for:** MSPs backing up both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for clients, from the vendor that already runs their RMM and PSA.
- **The honest limitation:** One backup a day (up to three attempts), storage in the US, Canada and Europe with no India region, Teams chats export rather than restore — and ConnectWise also sells Cloud Backup (ex-SkyKick) for Microsoft 365, which adds Entra ID.
- **Price:** Quote — per seat, quoted; each seat adds 100 GB to a fair-use pool shared across an MSP’s clients; retention up to 10 years; 14-day trial
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/connectwise/axcient-x360cloud

### IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup — IDrive

- **Who it's for:** Small and mid-sized teams backing up Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Salesforce from one console at a published per-seat price.
- **The honest limitation:** Only Microsoft 365 has an India region (Google Workspace, Box and Dropbox do not); retention and immutability are not published; encryption is IDrive-managed, so the private-key option does not apply.
- **Price:** $20 / seat / yr — a year per seat, the same at renewal (Entra ID $10); Box and Dropbox include 10 TB per seat, then $5/TB a month; Microsoft 365 backups can be stored in India since May 2026; 7-day trial
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/idrive/idrive-cloud-to-cloud-backup

### Datto SaaS Protection — Datto

- **Who it's for:** MSP clients on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace that want up to three backups a day and infinite retention, managed by the same MSP that runs their Datto backup.
- **The honest limitation:** No Asian storage region at all — backups sit in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Iceland or Australia; quote-only through an MSP; Entra ID and SaaS Defense are separate add-ons.
- **Price:** Quote — per licence through your MSP, with a fair-use storage allowance; also inside Kaseya 365 User (60 GB per user, minimum 50 licences); billed on a committed minimum since December 2025; Entra ID backup is a separate licence; Datto publishes no price
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/datto/datto-saas-protection

### NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 — NAKIVO

- **Who it's for:** Teams that want Microsoft 365 backup kept on their own storage — in their own data centre or cloud region — at a published per-user price.
- **The honest limitation:** You run and pay for the backup server and the storage; Microsoft 365 only, with no Entra ID, Google Workspace or Salesforce; NAKIVO hosts nothing, so there is no vendor-managed option.
- **Price:** $0.95 / user / mo (≈ ₹79) — per user a month on a 1-year term ($0.85 on 3-year), minimum 10 users; the backup sits on storage you run — on-premises, a NAS or your own cloud bucket — so it can stay in India
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/nakivo/nakivo-microsoft-365

### Arcserve SaaS Backup — Arcserve

- **Who it's for:** Teams that want Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, Dynamics 365 and dev tools such as Jira backed up by one hosted service, with immutable copies kept by the vendor.
- **The honest limitation:** No India region and no bring-your-own storage; the US store price is not sold in India; backup frequency is not published; it runs on Keepit infrastructure, per Arcserve’s docs.
- **Price:** $47.95 / user / yr (≈ ₹332) — per user a year for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace on Arcserve’s US e-store ($129.95 for 3 years), storage included; Entra ID is a separate $18 per user a year; Salesforce, Dynamics and the other apps are quoted; regions are Denmark, the US, the UK, Australia, Germany and Canada — none in India
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/arcserve/arcserve-saas-backup

### Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce) — Kaseya

- **Who it's for:** Teams that need Salesforce data and metadata backed up beside Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, with self-service restores and sandbox seeding at no extra cost.
- **The honest limitation:** No India region; one daily automated backup plus on-demand runs; no Entra ID backup listed; the Microsoft 365 region choice is permanent.
- **Price:** Quote — per user on a single all-inclusive plan with unlimited retention, quoted (Spanning says 30% below rivals); the old $48 figure is not current; regions are the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Australia and South Africa — none in India
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/kaseya/spanning-backup

### OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly) — OpenText

- **Who it's for:** Teams backing up Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce with metadata, Box and Dropbox from one account, up to three times a day, with immutable copies kept without a time limit.
- **The honest limitation:** No published figures, Entra ID objects are not listed, and India is not among the storage countries on the product pages. OpenText classes its SMB and consumer security line, which includes this backup, as non-core and is divesting non-core units — ask about the roadmap.
- **Price:** Quote — quote-only, model published: Microsoft 365 files per 10 GB per service, Microsoft Complete and Google Workspace per user, monthly or annual with no minimums; unlimited retention on OpenText’s AWS S3 or your own storage; product pages list no India region, though a CloudAlly-era support note lists India — confirm
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/opentext/opentext-cloudally-backup

### Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered) — Dell

- **Who it's for:** Dell customers who want Druva’s SaaS backup bought, supported and billed through Dell, alongside PowerProtect on premises.
- **The honest limitation:** It is Druva’s platform sold by Dell, so compare it with buying Druva directly; the storage region for SaaS apps and endpoints is not listed — get it in writing; a 99.5% availability objective with no service credits described.
- **Price:** $48 / user / yr (≈ ₹332) — per user a year on AWS Marketplace ($480 per 10 users for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or Salesforce; endpoints $960 per 10 users; hybrid workloads $30,000 per 10 TB), 1- to 5-year terms paid upfront; runs on Druva’s platform; hybrid workloads can be stored in AWS Mumbai or Azure Central India
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/dell/dell-powerprotect-backup-services

### TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup) — TitanHQ

- **Who it's for:** MSPs that already sell TitanHQ email security and want Microsoft 365 and Entra ID backup in the same console and bundle.
- **The honest limitation:** Microsoft 365 and Entra ID only, with no Google Workspace or Salesforce. Priced on storage rather than per user, and no India storage region is documented, so an Indian tenant’s backups may sit offshore.
- **Price:** Quote — quoted and storage-based, with no upfront fee and retention included; Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and OneNote plus Entra ID users, groups, roles and conditional-access policies, on the backup platform that came from Redstor
- **Details:** https://www.thetechbag.com/titanhq/titanhq-microsoft-365-backup

## Why each constraint rules out what it does

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

**Microsoft 365 beyond mail.** Rules out Veeam Backup for Salesforce, Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID and Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta) — does not back up Microsoft 365. That leaves Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition), Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster), Axcient x360Cloud, IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Datto SaaS Protection, NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365, Arcserve SaaS Backup, Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly), Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered) and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup).

**Google Workspace.** Rules out Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Backup for Salesforce, Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition), Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta), Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster), NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup) — does not back up Google Workspace. That leaves Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Axcient x360Cloud, IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Datto SaaS Protection, Arcserve SaaS Backup, Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly) and Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered).

**Salesforce with metadata.** Rules out Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition), Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta), Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster), Axcient x360Cloud, Datto SaaS Protection, NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup) — does not back up Salesforce. That leaves Veeam Backup for Salesforce, Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup, IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Arcserve SaaS Backup, Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly) and Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered).

**Entra ID objects.** Rules out Veeam Backup for Salesforce, Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition), Axcient x360Cloud, NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 and Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce) — Entra ID objects not covered by this SKU. That leaves Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID, Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta), Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster), IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Datto SaaS Protection, Arcserve SaaS Backup, OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly), Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered) and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup). It flags Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup — Entra ID object backup not documented for this product, Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster) — Entra ID object backup not documented for this product, OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly) — Entra ID object backup not documented for this product and Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered) — Entra ID object backup not documented for this product — marked, not removed.

**Dynamics 365.** Rules out Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Backup for Salesforce, Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID, Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition), Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta), Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster), Axcient x360Cloud, IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Datto SaaS Protection, NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365, Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly), Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered) and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup) — does not back up Dynamics 365. That leaves Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup and Arcserve SaaS Backup.

**Storage you own.** Rules out Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition), Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta), Axcient x360Cloud, IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Datto SaaS Protection, Arcserve SaaS Backup, Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered) and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup) — vendor-held storage only, no bring-your-own option. That leaves Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Veeam Backup for Salesforce, Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID, AvePoint Cloud Backup, Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster), NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 and OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly).

**Storage in the seat price.** Rules out Veeam Backup for Salesforce, Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition), Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta), Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster), NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup) — storage is licensed or metered apart from the per-user price. That leaves Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID, Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Axcient x360Cloud, IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Datto SaaS Protection, Arcserve SaaS Backup, Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly) and Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered). It flags Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup — Whether storage is inside the seat price is not documented and IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup — Whether storage is inside the seat price is not documented — marked, not removed.

**Backups in India.** Rules nothing out on published terms. It flags Veeam Backup for Salesforce — Your storage, AvePoint Cloud Backup — India data region not documented, Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition) — India data region not documented, Rubrik Identity Resilience (Entra ID · Active Directory · Okta) — India data region not documented, Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster) — India data region not documented, Axcient x360Cloud — India data region not documented, Datto SaaS Protection — India data region not documented, NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 — Your storage, Arcserve SaaS Backup — India data region not documented, Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce) — India data region not documented, OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly) — India data region not documented, Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered) — India data region not documented and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup) — India data region not documented — marked, not removed.

**Above 10,000 seats.** Rules nothing out on published terms. It flags Veeam Backup for Salesforce — Unverified above 10,000 seats, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup — Unverified above 10,000 seats, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup — Unverified above 10,000 seats, Axcient x360Cloud — Unverified above 10,000 seats, IDrive Cloud-to-Cloud Backup — Unverified above 10,000 seats, Datto SaaS Protection — Unverified above 10,000 seats, NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 — Unverified above 10,000 seats, Arcserve SaaS Backup — Unverified above 10,000 seats, Spanning Backup (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce) — Unverified above 10,000 seats, OpenText Cloudally Backup (formerly CloudAlly) — Unverified above 10,000 seats, Dell PowerProtect Backup Services (Druva-powered) — Unverified above 10,000 seats and TitanHQ Microsoft 365 Backup (with Entra ID Backup) — Unverified above 10,000 seats — marked, not removed.

**Dormant and departed users.** Every per-user product bills per protected user; what happens to a leaver whose mailbox you must keep for seven years is the question that doubles a bill. Cohesity's capacity option and AvePoint's and Barracuda's unlimited-storage models are documented answers from different directions; whether a product charges for an unlicensed, retained user is contract language at Veeam, Commvault, Druva, Acronis and Rubrik rather than a datasheet line — ask, in writing, before the price.

**Teams private chats and the paid API.** Teams channel messages are in every product; private chats and meeting chats go through Microsoft's Teams Export APIs, which Microsoft meters. Whether a vendor includes that cost, passes it through or skips private chats is documented unevenly — confirm for the product you shortlist.

**Restore granularity.** In-place restore of a mailbox, item, site or channel is documented across the Microsoft 365 products here; export-only restore is the tell of a cheap product. For Salesforce, restoring metadata (fields, page layouts, workflows) is a different capability from restoring records — Veeam, Commvault, Druva and AvePoint document both.

**Immutability, per product.** Vendor-controlled immutable storage is documented for Veeam Data Cloud, Commvault (Air Gap Protect), Druva, Acronis Cloud (governance mode by default — compliance mode must be switched on), Barracuda and Rubrik's M365 service; Veeam Backup for Salesforce inherits whatever your storage enforces; AvePoint and Cohesity's BaaS are marked unknown because the mechanism is not established from documentation.

**Under 50 seats.** Rules nothing out on documentation: Acronis, Barracuda, AvePoint, Veeam and Commvault all sell to small tenants; the floor is usually a minimum seat count or an annual minimum — [TechBag to confirm] for current minimums by product.

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

Each shortlist names which platform the product covers at depth in that situation. If the directory is the worry, start from the second row.

### Microsoft 365 only, 100–2,000 seats — the cheapest honest list

**Shortlist:** Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium)

**Why:** Commvault publishes $1.70–4.50 per user per month with storage included and an India SaaS region; Barracuda lists $3.40 flat with unlimited storage, Entra ID and an India data centre; Veeam's Foundation lists $2.63–3.50 by volume from a Central India region.

**Trade-off:** Read which workloads the lowest tier includes — the cheapest line is often mail-only — and ask what a departed user costs.

### Microsoft 365 and the directory — Entra ID must be restorable

**Shortlist:** Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), AvePoint Cloud Backup, Commvault Cloud Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID

**Why:** Barracuda includes Entra ID in the per-user price; Veeam's Advanced tier adds it (or $14.10 per user per year standalone); AvePoint covers it in the widest SaaS list; Commvault's Active Directory & Entra ID product restores objects and rebuilds a forest.

**Trade-off:** Directory backup restores objects, attributes, groups and policies — not passwords or sessions; the identity products (Rubrik, Commvault) go deeper than the M365 bundles.

### Google Workspace, or Google and Microsoft together

**Shortlist:** Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup

**Why:** Druva, AvePoint and Acronis are the three here that document Google Workspace — Druva and AvePoint alongside Microsoft 365 in one console, Acronis through an MSP from a Mumbai data centre.

**Trade-off:** Google Vault is not backup (Google says so); these three are; Veeam, Commvault, Barracuda and Rubrik do not offer Google Workspace at all.

### Salesforce — records and metadata, with sandbox seeding

**Shortlist:** Veeam Backup for Salesforce, Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup, Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce)

**Why:** All four document metadata as well as records; Veeam keeps it in your own storage, Druva and AvePoint in theirs, Commvault at a published $3.60 per user per month.

**Trade-off:** Veeam means running a server; the SaaS three mean the backup lives outside your org's cloud — pick the control you want.

### The backup must live in storage we own

**Shortlist:** Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium), Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), AvePoint Cloud Backup, Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster)

**Why:** Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (self-hosted), Commvault's bring-your-own storage, AvePoint's Azure/AWS storage option and Cohesity on your own cluster keep the copy under your control.

**Trade-off:** Your storage means your immutability configuration and your restore bandwidth; the vendor-storage products include both in the price.

### Backups must stay in India

**Shortlist:** Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce), Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Advanced · Premium)

**Why:** Druva's AWS Mumbai region, Barracuda's India data centre, Commvault's India SaaS availability, Acronis's Mumbai data centre and Veeam's Central India region are all documented.

**Trade-off:** AvePoint, Rubrik and Cohesity's BaaS are flagged, not ruled out — ask for the region in writing.

### MSP-run SMB on Microsoft 365 or Google

**Shortlist:** Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud — Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace backup, Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup, AvePoint Cloud Backup

**Why:** Acronis and AvePoint are built for partner delivery; Barracuda's flat per-user price with unlimited storage is simple to resell and to budget.

**Trade-off:** Partner pricing hides the list — ask the MSP what the vendor charges them per seat, and what happens to the backup if you change MSP.

### Enterprise — SaaS data under the same platform as the data centre

**Shortlist:** Commvault Cloud SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365 · Dynamics 365 · Salesforce), Rubrik Microsoft 365 (Foundation · Business · Enterprise Edition), Cohesity DataProtect for Microsoft 365 (BaaS or on your cluster), Druva SaaS Apps (Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Salesforce)

**Why:** Commvault, Rubrik, Cohesity and Druva each protect Microsoft 365 from the same console and posture as their data-centre products — one catalogue, one anomaly view.

**Trade-off:** Platform pricing is per user plus storage (Rubrik) or per capacity (Cohesity) — the per-user list tells you less than the total.

## At scale

SaaS backup scales by seat count and by data per seat — and the seat count includes the people who left. The bill follows the seat; the restore follows the API.

### 100 seats — Inclusion is the constraint

- Any product here covers the tenant; the question is what the per-user price includes — storage, Entra ID, Teams private chats — and the minimum seats or annual floor.
- Flat unlimited models (Barracuda, AvePoint) are simplest to budget; published lists (Commvault, Veeam, Barracuda) are simplest to compare.
- An MSP often holds the contract: ask what the vendor charges them per seat.

**The test:** Restore one mailbox and one SharePoint site in place, and one Teams channel. If the third needs an export, you have learned the product.

### 1,000 seats — Leavers and the directory are the constraint

- Retained leavers become a visible share of the bill — the seat-pricing contract line matters now; capacity pricing (Cohesity) starts to compete with per-user.
- Entra ID restore stops being optional: one compromised admin can remove every conditional-access policy. Include it (Barracuda, Veeam Advanced, AvePoint) or buy the identity product (Commvault, Rubrik).
- Restore throughput is API-throttled by Microsoft and Google; premium tiers (Veeam Premium) buy unthrottled restore.

**The test:** Ask for a documented restore rate (items per hour) for a tenant your size, and price the leaver seats for the retention term.

### 10,000 seats — Throughput and platform are the constraint

- Bulk restore after an incident is an API-throughput problem; vendors that resell Microsoft 365 Backup for speed inside the tenant plus their own copy outside it are the honest enterprise shape.
- One platform for SaaS and the data centre (Commvault, Rubrik, Cohesity, Druva) gives one anomaly view and one catalogue — and one negotiation.
- Per-user lists matter less than the total: storage licences (Rubrik), capacity (Cohesity), Export API pass-through, and the India region in writing.

**The test:** Run a 1,000-mailbox restore rehearsal. The hours it takes, and whether Microsoft throttled it, is the only number that matters.

Veeam, Commvault, Druva, AvePoint, Rubrik and Cohesity document very large tenants; Acronis and Barracuda are flagged unverified above 10,000 seats, not ruled out. Where a specific product strains for your tenant: [TechBag to confirm].

## Leaving a SaaS backup product means leaving the history behind

The old product’s backups stay in its storage, in its format, readable only through it. Switching starts a new history from day one; the old history lives until its retention ends — if you keep paying.

**The retained history** — Seven years of mail and files in the old vendor's storage. Keep the contract (often at reduced seats) until the retention ends, or export what the regulator may ask for — exports are per mailbox and slow. *(Overlap or export)*

**The first full backup** — The new product's first pass through a large tenant is API-throttled by Microsoft and Google — days to weeks. Plan the gap. *(Seeding is throttled)*

**The directory and the metadata** — Entra ID objects and Salesforce metadata history start again; a restore to a point before the switch needs the old product alive. *(History resets)*

**Bring-your-own storage** — If the copy was in your own storage (Veeam self-hosted, Commvault, AvePoint, Cohesity), the data stays yours — readable only through the product that wrote it. *(Yours, still proprietary)*

**Retention tail, seeding time and overlap cost for your tenant:** [TechBag to confirm] — TechBag scopes it from your retention rules and seat count.

## Per user per month — and the seat that left

What you may already hold, the products priced per user at three tenant sizes in USD and INR, and what the per-user line leaves out — starting with the storage and the leavers.

### Do you already own one?

Four things already in the tenant that get called backup. One is.

- **Microsoft 365 retention policies — No.** Governance, not recovery. Retention keeps content from destruction until a date; it does not restore a purged mailbox, an encrypted site or last Tuesday’s tenant. Microsoft recommends third-party backup.

- **Recycle bin and versioning — No.** 30–93 days for a user’s own deletions. An admin purge, an expired window, a deleted account or an attacker versioning over the files ends it.

- **Microsoft 365 Backup (the paid service) — Partly.** Real backup at $0.15 per GB per month, restores free, inside the tenant — Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint. Not a copy outside the tenant, not Teams or Entra ID, not Google or Salesforce.

- **Google Vault — No.** An eDiscovery and retention tool. Google’s own FAQ answers “is Vault a backup?” with no.

If what is already in the tenant covers your failure modes, we say so. It costs us a sale and saves you one.

### What the rest actually cost

Published and reported per-user prices (INR for scale), then worked at 100 / 1,000 / 10,000 seats per year. Storage and the directory add-on are stated apart, on purpose; where a product is quote-only the line says so.

### What isn't in the licence price

- **Storage, where it is not included.** Rubrik’s backup-storage licence, Cohesity’s capacity, Microsoft’s per GB — and the Export API Microsoft meters for Teams private chats, passed through or absorbed depending on the vendor. Ask for the total, not the seat.

- **The seats that left.** Retained leavers on a strict per-user contract: by year seven of a seven-year retention rule at 10% attrition, 1.7× the live seat count. The contract line that decides the five-year bill.

- **Restore time, throttled.** Microsoft and Google throttle restore APIs; a 1,000-mailbox restore is hours to days on standard tiers. Premium tiers and the in-tenant Microsoft 365 Backup buy speed. Your rehearsal figure: [TechBag to confirm].

## What goes wrong

Documented behaviour and contract lines, cross-checked against TechBag engagements before any becomes a named case. Each is cheaper to read here than to discover at the point of loss.

- **Assuming native retention is backup.** The retention policy was set; the mailbox was purged by an admin; the policy kept nothing because nothing existed. Retention is a governance control; backup is a recovery control.

- **Departed-user licences still being paid for.** Seven-year retention on a per-user contract: the leavers accumulate until they outnumber the staff. Ask what a retained, unlicensed user costs before signing.

- **Teams and SharePoint coverage shallower than mail.** Channels were backed up; private chats were not (Microsoft's Export API was never enabled); the SharePoint site's permissions came back wrong. Test the non-mail workloads first.

- **Restore that needs a support ticket.** The console showed the backup; the restore was an export file and a ticket to the vendor. In-place, self-service restore is the product — rehearse it before the incident.

- **Salesforce metadata not covered, only records.** Records were restored into an org whose fields, flows and layouts had been deleted with them. Metadata is the org; records are the rows.

- **Entra ID not in the backup.** A compromised admin removed the conditional-access policies and the groups; the M365 backup had mail and files. Directory objects are a separate capability — and usually a separate SKU.

- **Google Vault mistaken for backup.** Vault held the mail for compliance and restored nothing when the Drive was encrypted. Google says it is not backup; three products here are.

- **The region assumed, not documented.** The contract said cloud; the data sat in a region the regulator did not accept. Druva, Barracuda, Commvault, Acronis and Veeam document India; ask the rest in writing.

## Questions this guide answers

### Is a Microsoft 365 retention policy a backup?

No. Retention is a governance control that keeps content from being destroyed until a date; backup is a recovery control that restores a mailbox, site, item or the tenant's state to a point in time after deletion, corruption or ransomware. Microsoft's shared-responsibility model makes the data your responsibility and its Service Agreement recommends third-party backup. Microsoft's own paid Microsoft 365 Backup service ($0.15 per GB per month) is real backup inside the tenant; third-party products hold an independent copy outside it.

### Which SaaS backup products cover Entra ID?

Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup includes Entra ID in its per-user price; Veeam Data Cloud covers it in the Advanced tier or standalone at $14.10 per user per year; AvePoint includes it in its SaaS list; Commvault (Backup for Active Directory & Entra ID) and Rubrik (Identity Resilience, with Okta and AD) sell dedicated identity products; Druva's Identity Resilience plans are a separate SKU; TitanHQ sells Microsoft 365 and Entra ID backup as one pricing line. Acronis and Cohesity's M365 services do not document it; the guide flags them rather than ruling them out.

### Which SaaS backup products keep data in India?

Druva (AWS Mumbai region), Barracuda (India regional data centre, opened 2022), Commvault Cloud (SaaS available in India), Acronis (Mumbai data centre) and Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 (Central India Azure region) document it. Veeam Backup for Salesforce is self-hosted in your storage. AvePoint, Rubrik and Cohesity's BaaS do not document an India region; ask in writing.

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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/saas-backup*