Acronis Advanced Backup vs. SpiderOak

Acronis Backup Cloud is suited for backing up Windows Servers. Downtime is greatly decreased by using their virtualization options. You will need a Hyper-V enabled computer to virtualize, though, but this can be one of your general-use workstations. A Windows 10 Pro machine with 16 GB of RAM would do it for you. Or, if you have Macs that need to be backed up, you can do that as well. You can grab either full volume images, or files/folders. I can't really think of a scenario that you would not want Acronis Backup Cloud, except pre-Server 2012 OS's, since virtualization isn't supported on those older systems.

SpiderOak is well suited for local backups of the computer the client resides on. It is well suited for local area storage backups. It is less suited for remote backups, over a VPN or wide area where the data is continually changing. For data that continually changes, like in our document management system, the client needs to be on the same network as the data.

• Single pane of glass for managing customer tenants
• Quick and reliable backup recovery
• Both onsite and offsite backup destinations are supported

• Versions Files meaning it makes multiple copies of the same files as it is updated
• Zero Knowledge meaning our storage is complete secure and private

• No option for on premises hardware BDR. This means recovery restorations rely on self-supplied hardware performance.
• License per machine can get costly if large number of computers or servers.

• The Software Client sometimes fails and the only resolution is to uninstall/reinstall
• Support meanig there is no number to call, you do everything over email

The cost savings we realized from moving to this software has us hooked - it does everything we need it to do on a very high level (virtualization, for example) and is very low cost for us.

We seldom make use of Acronis support, but when we have they have been brilliant. All our engineers are Acronis certified, if they not able to resolve an issue, we touch base with our local Acronis supplier, Synapsys, who resolve issues 90% of the time.

While I gave them a 7, it is in regards to the access to support. This is a business application and not being able to call them can sometimes be a problem especially when you need immediate support. They still tend to manage their support on a consumer line model and not a business grade model. With that said, I will say they are very knowledgeable of the product and how to resolve most any issue when I contact them.

We went with Acronis Backup Cloud because we're able to backup all platforms, not just PCs. And the price was good when it comes to all those options. It's a hard sell to clients, but when explained properly, the understand the cost of a good solution. It's like having good car insurance.

In regards to overall performance SpiderOak is not as customizable as Unitrends, but based on the annual cost for SpiderOak and how we use the product, for a "Backup" to our primary backup solution, it is a welcomed option to our backup strategy when you consider the versioning, zero knowledge, share features and unlimited data.

• It's been a great investment especially knowing our data is protected.
• We no longer worry about upgrade storage hardware or devices.

• ROI is positive when you consider unlimited data for the annual cost.
• Versioning when you consider backing up documents that continually change and need to restore a previous version.