With over 258 million monthly active users, Microsoft 365 is one of the most popular cloud productivity services used by businesses.
It’s true that Micorosft provides advanced security features and DLP policies, but these are available only for Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Enterprise (E3 & E5) subscribers. Additionally, these services do not cover data loss incidents due to user errors and outages. Microsoft does not take responsibility for user-level data loss incidents. Don’t take our word for it; here is the link to their Services Agreement.
Note: We have focused only on cloud backup apps and left out vendors that back up Microsoft 365 data on-premise at customer locations or those using specialized hardware.
Available search options to locate files in the backup archive.
The choice to archive data in your own or preferred country.
The data center in which the backup is stored.
The ability to inspect backup archives to identify ransomware or compliance risks.
The apps supported by the vendor for backup.
The availability of backup dashboard customizable reports.
The security of the files archived by the backup solution.
The various features available for IT administrators and end-users to backup, restore, and export files.
Feature | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | AFI | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Advanced Archive Search | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Data Archive Location | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Backup Data Insights | 10 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Information Management | 14 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
Backup Security | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Feature Set | 18 | 18 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 12 |
Overall Score | 60 | 60 | 45 | 43 | 41 | 32 | 31 |
Category | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | Afi | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
User Search | 1 | Administrators can easily locate files in the backup archives for each user. | Admins can search by the user in the restore tab. | Administrators can easily locate files in the backup archives for each user. | Administrators can easily locate files in the OneDrive backup archives for each user. | CloudAlly supports a user-level search for all apps. Go to recovery, search active-backup accounts by the user. | Admins can search the backup archives by username, in the User section. |
Keyword Search | 2 | Locate files in the archives using identifiers such as the doc name, doc ID, create date, folder name, shared with me/owned by me. | The advanced search option in the Restore Tab shows different criteria to search the archive content. Users can search using filters like content type, owner, date created, file size, parent list name, parent folder name, and more. | Keyword search in the meta description available at an account level. | Users can use advanced filter options to locate files in the backup archive. | Not available. | There is no filtered search option, with only keyword search options in the metadata available. |
Content Search | 3 | Locate files in the archives using the keywords in the content of the document. | Not available. | Not available. | Not available. | Not available. | Not available. |
Total | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Category | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | Afi | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Archive Location | 4 | SysCloud allows customers to choose between the US, Canada and UK regions to store their archive data. | AvePoint provides an option for customers to choose between the USA, EU, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, LATAM, Taiwan. | Backupify offers geo-redundant storage. Customers can choose between the US (Pennsylvania), Canada (Toronto), United Kingdom (London), Germany (Munich), and Asia Pacific (Sydney) during onboarding. The storage location cannot be changed after configuration. | Customers can choose between the US and Europe. | Customers can choose between the US, Canada, European Union, Australia, UK, and Germany. | Customers can choose between the US and Europe. |
Category | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | Afi | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ransomware Ability to identify ransomware in OneDrive archives. | 5 | SysCloud scans for ransomware in the backup archives and flags potential ransomware threats via the dashboard. | Not available. | Not available. | Afi scans for ransomware in the backup archives and flags the ransomware threat in the reports. \n It also displays the last clean snapshot unaffected by attacks for the user to perform restore. | Not available. | Not available. |
Privacy and Compliance Ability to identify sensitive data like PCI, HIPAA, in the backup archives. | 5 | SysCloud scans for any sensitive data in the backup archives and notifies the administrator. This feature is available only for premium customers. | Admins can set automatic privacy and security programs across archive content to satisfy the ‘Right to Be Forgotten and Data Subject Access’ requests. They can then delete this data to stay compliant. | Not available. | Not available. | Not available. | Not available. |
Total | 10 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
Category | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | Afi | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Backup Status | 2 | The dashboard provides a complete backup health report for the past 30 days. Admins can drill down to see the number of in-progress and completed backup jobs for the domain. | There is a dashboard that shows the status of the backup in progress. | Displays the number of backups in progress. | Afi provides an overview tab that displays backup status for the past week, with the number of successful and failed backups, and backup warnings. | Not available. | The dashboard has a tab that shows the daily backup status of individual users. |
Restore Status | 2 | The dashboard provides a complete restore health report for the past 30 days. Admins can drill-down to see the number of in-progress and completed restore requests. | There is a job monitor tab that shows the status of the restore progress. | Displays the number of restores in progress. | Not available. | Partially available, CloudAlly has no dashboard facility but it does show restore progress on a separate tab. | Not available. |
Export Status | 2 | The dashboard provides a complete health report on export requests for the past 30 days. Admins can drill-down to see the number of in-progress and completed export requests. | There is a job monitor tab that shows the status of the export in progress. | Displays the number of exports in progress. | Not available. | Partially available, CloudAlly has no dashboard facility but it does show download progress on a separate tab. | Not available. |
Total | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Category | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | Afi | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. of Items Backed up | 2 | Admins can see the number of items backed up in each service all on one page. | The Dashboard displays the number of items backed up for the last 4 days. The total number of items backed up for each service in the past month is available on the Job Analytics page. | Backupify displays the number of files backed up for each Microsoft 365 app. | The dashboard shows the number of items backed up in each service, along with the percentage of increase in the usage. | Not available. | Not available. |
Total Backup Size | 2 | The dashboard displays the total storage consumed by each service in the domain. | Not available. | Displays the total size of the backup archives for each app or for the whole domain. | Admin can see the total storage the backup occupies in each domain. | Partially available, CloudAlly provides the total size of each backup for each user on the backups tab. The size is available only on the user level. | Not available. |
Total | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
Category | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | Afi | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In-Depth Audit Logs | 2 | Admins can configure audit reports for all the backup, restore, and export events. | Audit reports will be sent to the admin through email and they can track administrative activity and has a System Auditor tab. | Admins can configure and download audit reports, restore and export alerts. | There are separate task and audit reports available for download. | Admins can export audit reports that cover users deactivated, sign-in info, permission, and setting changed, notifications, backup, restore, and export activities. | Spanning provides downloadable audit reports. |
Reports | 2 | Admins can access app-level reports on restore & export. | Not available. | Provides app level restore and export reports. | Not available. | Provides app level restore and export reports. | Not available. |
Total | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Feature | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | AFI | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SOC II Type 2 Audited | 2 | ||||||
Virtual Private Cloud | 2 | ||||||
AES Encryption | 2 | ||||||
TLS Security Encryption | 2 | ||||||
Total | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
Category | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | Afi | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3x Backup/Day Ability to backup 3 times a day and access multiple snapshots. | 2 | SysCloud provides 1x/day backup by default. Admins can raise a ticket to configure a 3x/day backup. | Backups run up to 4 times a day, every day. | Admins can configure 3x/day backup. | Admins can configure different backup frequencies for every user. AFI provides 3x/day, 1x/day, 1x/day on weekdays, and manual backup. | Not available. CloudAlly only provides automatic 1x backup daily, every 3 days, or weekly. | Provides only 1x/day backup by default. |
Content-based Inclusion/Exclusion Filter data based on content format or file size before starting the backup. | 2 | Admins can exclude data to be backed up based on the file type or size. | Admins can configure daily 1x or 3x backup. | Not available. | Not available. | Not available. | Not available. |
Auto Backup New Users Automatically identify and backup new Microsoft 365 users. | 1 | Admins have the option to automatically protect new users added to Microsoft 365. | There is an auto-discovery option available. | Admins have the option to enable auto backup for new users added in the Microsoft 365 domain. | Admins have the option to ‘automatically protect new resources’. | Admins can choose to activate the auto-backup in the domain settings to automatically backup new users. | Not available. |
Hold Backup for Suspended Users Retain the backup archive of a user deleted or suspended from Mic. | 2 | Admins can define the retention period for deleted/suspended users as unlimited or customized periods. | AvePoint offers long-term retention policies. | Admins can hold the backup for suspended users with no additional cost. | Admins can retain data for archived (suspended or deleted) users with no additional licensing cost. | There is an option to retain auto-archived accounts indefinitely or for a specific number of days. | Spanning holds the suspended and deleted user data as long as a license is assigned to the user. |
Configurable Retention Period Configure data retention periods based on users. | 1 | Admins can configure unlimited or customized data retention periods. | The app provides unlimited configurable retention periods. | Admins have the flexibility to configure unlimited or custom retention periods. | The app provides an unlimited retention period for all the Service Level Agreements (SLA) by default and they are not configurable by the customer. | Not available. CloudAlly provides unlimited retention periods by default. No configurable options are available. | Admins can configure data retention. |
Total | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
Category | Maximum Score | SysCloud | AvePoint | Backupify | Afi | CloudAlly | Spanning |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Point in Time Restore | 2 | Admins can restore multiple versions of the OneDrive files from the archives. | The app provides version history for OneDrive. | Backupify supports PIT restore for OneDrive files. | Admins can restore a point-in-time version of a file for OneDrive. | Admins can restore the latest version of a file. | Admins can restore a point-in-time version of a file for OneDrive. |
Restore with Sharing Permissions | 1 | Admins can restore OneDrive files without affecting the sharing permissions. | Admins can restore files and folders without losing the original sharing permissions. | Admins can restore OneDrive files without affecting the sharing permissions. | Admins can restore OneDrive files with sharing permissions intact. | Not available. | Not available. |
End-User Self-Service Recovery | 2 | Admins can authorize users to restore their own files. | Admins can authorize users to restore their own files. | Admins can authorize users to restore their own files. | Admins can authorize users to restore their own files. | Admins can authorize users to restore their own files. | Admins can authorize users to restore their own files. |
Offline Export | 1 | SysCloud sends emails with links with download links so that customers can access the exported data without logging into the account. | Offline export is available. | Offline export is available. | Offline export is available. | Offline export is available. | Offline export is available. |
Restore with Nested Folder Structure | 2 | Admins can restore OneDrive files with their folder-structure intact. | Admins have the option to restore files back to their original location without losing the original folder structure. | Admins can restore files keeping the folder structure intact. | Afi keeps the OneDrive folder structure intact in their backup archives for easy restores. | CloudAlly replicates the OneDrive folder structure in the archives. | Spanning has adopted the OneDrive folder structure for the archives for easy access and restoration from the backup archives. |
Cross-User Restore | 1 | Admins can restore the data to the same user or a different user in the domain with sharing permissions and folder structure intact. | Admins can restore data to the same user or a different user in the same domain. | Admins can restore data to the same user or a different user in the same domain. | Admins can restore data to the same user or a different user in the same domain. They can also choose to enable this feature for other users in the domain. | Admins can restore files to the same user or another user in the same domain | Admins can restore files to the same user or another user in the same domain. |
Restore to Custom Folder | 1 | SysCloud provides the option to restore OneDrive files to a custom folder. | Admins have the option to restore files back to their original location or to a separate restore folder. | The backup data is restored to a separate folder by default. | Users have a choice to recover files to a seperate folder or overwrite existing data. | The files are automatically restored to a separate folder. | Admins have the option to restore files to their original folder and overwrite existing data or restore them to a separate folder. |
Total | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
SysCloud performed the best with advanced feature sets and backup data protection features for OneDrive. AvePoint came second with comprehensive backup features and compliance regulation features for backup archives.
The other apps fell short because they had limited feature sets and lacked the flexibility demanded by IT administrators to back up OneDrive files.
To read a more comprehensive review of the Microsoft 365 cloud backup provided by all the vendors included in this study, click here.