Top 10 backup solutions for small business in 2026: honestly ranked

The best backup software for small business in 2026 is Veeam Backup Essentials for on-premise and hybrid workloads, Backblaze Business Backup for the simplest endpoint coverage at $9 per computer per month, and a dedicated SaaS backup product (not your provider’s recycle bin) for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace data. Most SMB owners do not realize their cloud productivity suite is not backed up by default. Microsoft and Google protect their own infrastructure. They do not protect your data from your own admins, your own ransomware incident, or your own retention mistake. The ten picks below cover endpoint, server, SaaS, and object-storage backup, with honest pricing and the operational caveats vendors do not put on the landing page.

This is part of a Helix Stax software-listicle series for SMB owners and COOs. We do not resell backup software, we do not take vendor commissions, and we configure backup as part of every operations advisory engagement. We use Backblaze B2 for our own infrastructure backups and restic for our own server backups, so the picks below are tested, not theoretical.

How we picked these

The ranking is for small businesses, not enterprise IT departments and not consumer households. The pool is 5 to 150 employees, the buyer is the owner-operator or the COO, and the protected surface ranges from laptops to file servers to M365 mailboxes to a handful of cloud VMs. We weighted seven criteria.

• Coverage of the surface that actually matters, endpoints, servers, virtual machines, SaaS data, and cloud workloads
• Ransomware resistance through immutability, air-gapping, or write-once storage
• 3-2-1 rule support out of the box, so backups exist on at least two media types with one off-site copy
• Recovery time for the realistic SMB disaster, single-file restore, full-machine restore, full-tenant restore
• Pricing transparency with published rates and no “contact sales” gates for fewer than 100 endpoints
• Operational burden: how many hours per month a non-specialist has to spend keeping it healthy
• Compliance posture for the regulated SMB tier (HIPAA, CMMC, SOC 2, PCI DSS)

Two of the ten entries below are object-storage services, not backup software. They show up because they are the most common cold-storage target SMB backup software writes to. We flag the distinction.

Quick comparison table

Use this as a fast-scan reference; the per-service sections cover the nuance.

Rank	Logo	Service	Best for	Price (entry tier)	Coverage	Notable feature
1	Veeam	Veeam Backup Essentials	Servers, VMs, mixed environments	~$1,500 per socket per year	VMs, physical servers, M365 add-on	Per-VM replication, instant recovery, immutability
2	Acronis	Acronis Cyber Protect	Backup + endpoint security in one console	~$85/workload/year	Endpoints, servers, M365, EDR included	Backup integrated with anti-ransomware
3	Backblaze	Backblaze Business Backup	Simplest endpoint backup	$9/computer/month unlimited	Windows, macOS endpoints	Unlimited storage, set-and-forget
4	Backblaze B2	Backblaze B2 (object storage)	Cheapest cold-storage target	$0.005/GB/month	Any S3-compatible workload	One-tenth the cost of AWS S3
5	Carbonite	Carbonite Safe Backup Pro	Long-tenured brand, endpoint focus	$24/computer/month for unlimited	Endpoints, external drives	25+ year vendor stability
6	IDrive	IDrive Business	Value play, multi-device	$99.50/year for 250 GB	Endpoints, servers, mobile	One subscription covers unlimited devices
7	MSP360	MSP360 (CloudBerry)	Cloud-target-agnostic, flexible	$30/month per agent	Endpoints, servers, S3/B2/Azure targets	Bring-your-own cloud bucket
8	Datto	Datto SIRIS	MSP-heavy, full BCDR appliance	MSP-priced; contact for quote	On-prem appliance + cloud replication	Instant virtualization on the appliance
9	AWS Backup	AWS Backup	AWS-native workloads only	Pay-as-you-go per GB stored	EC2, RDS, EFS, S3, DynamoDB	Native to the AWS console
10	restic / Borg	Restic / Borg (open source)	Self-hosted, technical operators	$0 software + storage cost	Any Linux/macOS/Windows system	Encrypted, deduplicated, scriptable

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Veeam

1. Veeam Backup Essentials: the SMB-tier enterprise pick

Veeam Backup Essentials is the right pick when you have on-premise servers, virtual machines, or a hybrid environment that needs more than endpoint backup. Essentials is the SMB-licensed version of Veeam’s full Backup and Replication suite, capped at 50 workloads (sockets, VMs, or instances). The product has been the default in mid-market and SMB backup for over a decade for a reason.

• Price: roughly $1,500 per CPU socket per year for Essentials Standard, with Universal Licenses available per workload. Verified May 2026 on veeam.com pricing pages.
• Best for: Businesses with VMware or Hyper-V hosts, physical Windows servers, or a mix of cloud and on-premise infrastructure.

Pros

• The recovery story is the strongest in the category: instant VM recovery, file-level restore from inside a VM backup, granular Active Directory or Exchange item recovery
• Immutable backup targets supported on Linux-hardened repositories and S3-compatible object lock (this is the ransomware-resistance feature that matters)
• The Veeam Community Edition is free for up to 10 workloads, which lets technical SMBs prove the workflow before paying
• Strong partner ecosystem, almost every cloud storage provider integrates as a target

Cons

• Licensing complexity is real, and Universal License vs socket-based pricing depends on the deployment shape
• The product surface is large; a non-specialist owner-operator will not configure it well without help
• Workstation backup is possible but not where Veeam shines, pair it with Backblaze or Acronis for endpoints

Who should pick this? Businesses with on-premise servers, VMs, or a hybrid setup who want the strongest recovery story available at SMB pricing. Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is a separate product and is the most credible third-party M365 backup on the market.

Acronis

2. Acronis Cyber Protect: backup and security in one console

Acronis Cyber Protect bundles backup, anti-ransomware, EDR, and patch management in a single agent. For SMBs who do not want to manage three different security and backup tools, the integration is the selling point. The backup engine is mature, the security layer is credible, and the licensing model is per workload.

• Price: roughly $85 per workload per year for the Cyber Protect Essentials tier. Higher tiers add EDR, DLP, and email security.
• Best for: SMBs without a dedicated IT person, businesses already running Acronis, and teams who want backup and anti-ransomware managed from one console.

Pros

• The integration between backup and security is real, Acronis can detect a ransomware encryption pattern on the endpoint and automatically restore the affected files from the most recent clean backup
• Covers endpoints, servers, VMs, and M365 from one agent and one license
• Image-based backup with bare-metal restore for full-machine recovery
• Anti-ransomware behavior detection has measurable independent test scores

Cons

• Pricing climbs quickly past the entry tier as you add the security modules that make the bundle attractive
• The agent footprint on Windows endpoints is larger than backup-only alternatives
• Recovery from the Acronis cloud is slower than from a local appliance; configure local + cloud, not cloud-only

Who should pick this? SMBs who want one vendor for endpoint backup and endpoint security, and who are willing to pay a premium for the consolidation.

Backblaze

3. Backblaze Business Backup: the simplest endpoint pick

Backblaze Business Backup is the easiest backup product on the market for laptops and desktops. Install the agent, sign in, and the entire user-data partition backs up to Backblaze’s storage continuously, with unlimited storage at a flat $9 per computer per month. There is no storage tier to estimate, no exclusion list to maintain, and no quota panic during a project crunch.

• Price: $9 per computer per month, billed annually ($99 per year per machine). Verified May 2026 on backblaze.com.
• Best for: Owner-operators, knowledge-worker teams, and any SMB whose laptops hold work that cannot be easily reconstructed from the cloud.

Pros

• Unlimited storage at a flat per-machine price is genuinely rare in this category
• The agent is the least intrusive in the category, most users will forget it is running
• Restore-by-mail option ships a USB drive with up to 8 TB of recovered data when you cannot wait for a multi-day download
• Helix Stax uses Backblaze B2 (the object-storage sibling) for our own infrastructure backups, so we have skin in the game on the vendor’s reliability

Cons

• Endpoint only, Backblaze Business Backup does not cover servers, VMs, or SaaS data (use B2 or a different product for those)
• Backs up user data and the user folder by default; system images and full bare-metal restores require third-party tooling
• Versioning defaults to 30 days; extending to 1 year or forever costs extra

Who should pick this? SMBs who want laptop and desktop backup configured in 20 minutes per machine and never thought about again. Pair with Veeam or Acronis for servers, and a dedicated M365 backup product for SaaS data.

Backblaze B2

4. Backblaze B2: the cheapest cold-storage target

Backblaze B2 is not backup software, it is the storage destination most backup software writes to. S3-compatible object storage at $0.005 per GB per month, or about one-tenth the cost of AWS S3 Standard. Veeam, MSP360, restic, Synology HyperBackup, and most of the rest of the backup ecosystem treat B2 as a first-class target.

• Price: $6 per terabyte per month for storage, with $0.01 per GB for downloads (and free up to 3× your stored data each month).
• Best for: Anyone running a backup tool that needs an off-site cloud target on a budget, and anyone with terabytes of cold archive to park somewhere reliable.

Pros

• The cheapest credible cloud storage in the SMB tier by a meaningful margin
• S3-compatible API means almost any backup tool can target it without extra integration work
• Object Lock support enables write-once immutable backups, which is the ransomware-resistance feature you want for off-site copies
• Free egress allowance up to 3× monthly storage makes B2 unusually affordable to restore from compared to other cloud providers

Cons

• This is storage, not backup, you still need a backup tool that knows how to write to it
• Restore speed depends on your internet pipe; large restores are still slow even with free egress
• The console is functional but not friendly for non-technical operators

Who should pick this? Any business already running a backup tool (Veeam, MSP360, restic, Duplicati, Synology HyperBackup) that needs an off-site target. See our companion guide on top cloud storage for business for storage-tier comparison.

Carbonite

5. Carbonite Safe Backup Pro: the long-tenured brand

Carbonite has been doing online backup since 2005, and Safe Backup Pro is the SMB-tier product. The product is competent, the brand is recognized, and the pricing is predictable. The trade-off is a feature set that has not evolved as quickly as the competition.

• Price: roughly $24 per computer per month for unlimited backup, billed annually ($288 per year per machine), with discounts at higher seat counts.
• Best for: SMBs who want a recognizable brand for compliance documentation and do not need the newest features.

Pros

• The brand recognition matters in some regulated verticals where “Carbonite” passes an auditor’s smell test without further explanation
• Endpoint-focused, with optional external-drive and server modules
• Mature product with a track record measured in decades
• Customer support is US-based and responsive

Cons

• Pricing per endpoint is roughly 2.5× Backblaze Business Backup for similar coverage
• The web console feels dated compared to Acronis or Backblaze
• Carbonite changed hands several times (acquired by OpenText in 2019); product investment has slowed visibly

Who should pick this? Risk-averse SMBs who prioritize vendor stability and brand familiarity over feature parity or pricing efficiency.

IDrive

6. IDrive Business: the value play

IDrive Business is the value pick for SMBs who want one subscription covering many devices. Unlike per-endpoint pricing models, IDrive sells by storage capacity, $99.50 per year for 250 GB across unlimited devices, scaling up to multiple terabytes at proportionally lower per-GB rates.

• Price: $99.50 per year for 250 GB (Business plan), $499.50 per year for 1.25 TB, $999.50 per year for 12.5 TB.
• Best for: Small teams with many devices but modest per-device storage needs, especially if some devices are mobile or external.

Pros

• The storage-bucket pricing model is genuinely cheaper than per-endpoint models for teams with many low-data devices
• Covers Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, plus servers and external drives from one account
• IDrive Express ships a physical drive for the initial backup or a full restore, free once per year
• Block-level incremental backup keeps subsequent runs fast

Cons

• The single shared storage pool means one heavy-data device can starve the others
• The web console handles the volume of devices most SMBs throw at it, but cleanly managing 50+ endpoints requires discipline
• Versioning is generous (up to 30 versions retained), but the policy is not as configurable as enterprise products

Who should pick this? Cost-sensitive small teams with under 1 TB of total data across many devices, including phones, tablets, and external drives.

MSP360

7. MSP360 (formerly CloudBerry): bring your own cloud

MSP360 Backup is the right pick when you want backup software that writes to a storage target you control. The agent supports Backblaze B2, Wasabi, AWS S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, and on-premise file shares as destinations. Pricing is per agent, and the cloud-storage bill is yours, paid directly to the storage vendor.

• Price: $30 per month per agent (Managed Backup), with workstation, server, and VM tiers. Storage is separate, paid directly to your chosen cloud provider.
• Best for: Technically-confident SMBs and MSPs who want backup software decoupled from storage pricing.

Pros

• The bring-your-own-storage model means you negotiate storage pricing directly with B2, Wasabi, or your provider of choice
• Strong feature set: image-based backup, block-level deduplication, file-level restore, hybrid backup with local cache plus cloud copy
• Encryption keys stay with you (client-side encryption with customer-managed keys)
• Suitable for SMBs internally, with no MSP overhead required to use it

Cons

• The split between software pricing and storage pricing makes total cost harder to estimate
• The UI carries some legacy CloudBerry awkwardness that newer competitors have polished off
• Initial setup requires picking a storage target, configuring credentials, and tuning retention policies, not a 20-minute install

Who should pick this? SMBs with a technical operator on staff who want to control storage costs and storage location, and any business already on Backblaze B2 or Wasabi looking for a backup agent that targets them well.

Datto

8. Datto SIRIS: the BCDR appliance

Datto SIRIS is a hybrid backup and disaster recovery appliance, primarily sold through MSPs. The on-premise appliance takes image-based backups of servers and VMs, replicates to Datto’s cloud, and can spin up a virtual replica of any backed-up machine on the appliance itself within minutes of a disaster.

• Price: MSP-tier pricing; expect $200 to $800 per month per appliance depending on capacity, plus per-agent backup licenses. Direct-to-customer pricing requires contacting Datto or a partner.
• Best for: SMBs with on-premise infrastructure who want a turnkey disaster-recovery story with instant virtualization.

Pros

• The “instant virtualization” feature is the strongest recovery-time story available to SMBs, a failed server can be running as a VM on the appliance in minutes
• The Datto cloud copy provides the off-site half of a 3-2-1 backup automatically
• Hardware-software bundle removes the design work of sizing your own backup server
• Used heavily in MSP-supported environments, so finding operators who know the product is easier than for niche tools

Cons

• Sold primarily through MSPs, so direct-to-customer purchase is uncommon and pricing is opaque
• The appliance is dedicated hardware, adds physical, power, and rack-space requirements
• Acquired by Kaseya in 2022; product investment continues but the integration story has had bumpy moments

Who should pick this? Mid-market SMBs with on-premise servers and a willingness to work through an MSP, who need fast recovery and have the budget for a dedicated appliance.

AWS Backup

9. AWS Backup: for AWS-native workloads

AWS Backup is a managed backup service inside the AWS console, covering EC2, EBS, RDS, EFS, FSx, S3, DynamoDB, and several other AWS services. It is the right answer when your workload already lives in AWS and you want a single backup configuration across the services.

• Price: pay-as-you-go per GB stored, with rates varying by service (EBS snapshots run roughly $0.05 per GB per month; warm tier and cold tier reduce that significantly).
• Best for: Businesses with material AWS spend who want native, audit-friendly backup of their cloud workloads.

Pros

• Native AWS integration means IAM, tagging, and compliance reporting work the way the rest of your AWS environment does
• Cross-region and cross-account backup are first-class features, which matters for any serious DR plan
• Vault Lock provides immutable storage (WORM) for compliance scenarios where regulators require it
• The audit story is strong, every backup operation appears in CloudTrail, every policy change is logged

Cons

• Only useful for AWS workloads; on-premise servers, endpoints, and non-AWS clouds need a different product
• Restore from cold-tier storage is slow (hours, not minutes)
• The pricing model is line-by-line per service, which adds up faster than a flat per-workload product

Who should pick this? Businesses with EC2, RDS, or other AWS-native workloads where centralizing backup inside AWS is preferable to bolting on a third-party tool.

restic / Borg

10. Restic / Borg: open source, self-hosted

Restic and Borg are the open-source backup tools used by people who back up their own servers and laptops without paying a per-endpoint vendor fee. Both encrypt and deduplicate at the client side, target any storage destination from a local drive to an S3 bucket, and run as command-line tools with cron-friendly invocation.

• Price: $0 in software. Storage cost is whatever you pay for the destination (a B2 bucket, an SSH server, a local NAS).
• Best for: Technical operators, founders with Linux skills, civic-tech nonprofits, and any business where the operator can name DMARC, SSH, and cron without checking.

Pros

• No per-endpoint or per-workload cost, you pay for storage, not for licensing
• Client-side encryption with a strong key model; the storage provider never sees plaintext
• Restic and Borg are both mature, widely audited, and reliable, Helix Stax uses restic for our own server backups
• The deduplication is genuinely good; multi-machine fleets see 60 to 90 percent storage savings on shared OS and library files

Cons

• Command-line only, no GUI console, no admin dashboard, no SMTP alerting unless you build it
• Restoring a machine you have not used in a year requires remembering how the backup was configured (operator knowledge is the dependency, not the software)
• M365, Workspace, SaaS data, and image-based VM backup are out of scope, these tools back up files and directories, not application state

Who should pick this? Technical SMBs who want their backups to live on infrastructure they control, and who accept that the operational burden is now theirs. Helix Stax recommends this route as proof, not pitch, we run it ourselves on infrastructure where vendor lock-in is unacceptable.

What about Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace: are they backed up?

No. This is the single most common SMB backup blind spot we audit. Microsoft and Google back up their own infrastructure against their own disasters. They do not back up your data against your mistakes. The shared-responsibility model is explicit in the contracts, but vendors do not put it on the marketing page.

What that means in practice:

• If an admin in your tenant deletes a SharePoint site and the deletion ages past the 93-day retention, the data is gone
• If a ransomware actor compromises a M365 account and encrypts everything synced through OneDrive, Microsoft’s recycle bin gives you 30 days of recovery, then the encrypted versions are all you have
• If an ex-employee’s mailbox is purged six months after they leave, the litigation hold you needed for the wrongful-termination case is gone
• If a Workspace admin runs a misconfigured retention rule and the rule deletes 18 months of email, Google’s support team will tell you the data was deleted by your own policy

The fix is a third-party SaaS backup product that copies your M365 or Workspace data to a separate provider on a daily schedule, with its own retention policy and its own restore path. The credible options in 2026 are Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (with the M365 module), Backupify, Spanning, AvePoint Cloud Backup, and Datto SaaS Protection. Pricing typically runs $3 to $5 per user per month, separate from your M365 or Workspace seat license.

This is non-optional for any business in a regulated vertical (HIPAA, CMMC, SOC 2, financial services). Auditors who know what to ask will ask for the SaaS backup contract and the restore-test evidence.

The 3-2-1 backup rule explained

The 3-2-1 rule is the operational baseline every SMB backup setup should meet. It is older than the cloud and still right.

• 3 copies of every piece of important data
• 2 different media types (so a single failure mode does not lose everything)
• 1 off-site copy (so a fire, flood, or ransomware event in one location does not erase the backup)

A modern SMB implementation typically looks like: production data on a server or laptop (copy 1), local backup on a NAS or backup appliance (copy 2, different media), and off-site cloud backup on Backblaze B2 or AWS S3 (copy 3, off-site). For ransomware resistance, the modern extension is 3-2-1-1-0: three copies, two media, one off-site, one immutable, and zero verification failures on the last restore test.

The verification step is the one most SMBs skip. A backup you have never restored is not a backup, it is a hope. Test a restore every quarter, minimum.

Common backup mistakes Helix Stax sees in SMB setups

Most of the backup problems we fix in operations advisory engagements are not product problems, they are configuration and process problems. Here are the six failure modes we audit on day one of any engagement.

• No backup of M365 or Workspace data. Owners assume the provider does it. The provider does not. This is the single most common gap, and it is the gap most likely to cost you actual money in a real incident.
• No off-site copy. Local backup to a NAS in the same building protects against drive failure. It does not protect against fire, theft, or ransomware that finds the NAS share. The off-site copy is the one that matters in the worst case.
• No immutability. Modern ransomware specifically hunts for backup repositories before triggering encryption. If your backup destination is a writable SMB share or a writable cloud bucket, the attacker erases the backups, then encrypts the production data. Object Lock on B2 or S3, or a hardened Linux repository, makes this attack fail.
• No restore tests. SMBs configure backup, watch the green checkmarks for a few weeks, and never restore anything until they need to. By then, three things have drifted: the agent version, the credentials, and the operator’s memory of how the product works. A quarterly restore test catches all three.
• Backups encrypted with a key only the IT vendor knows. When the relationship ends or the vendor folds, the encrypted backups become useless. Customer-managed keys, written down somewhere you control, are non-negotiable.
• No retention policy aligned to the business. Backing up forever costs money. Backing up for 30 days fails the litigation-hold test. The right retention policy depends on your vertical (HIPAA suggests 6+ years, CMMC requires specific durations, financial services has its own rules). Generic defaults are usually wrong.

Helix Stax sets all of this up as part of any operations advisory engagement. For regulated SMBs, the CMMC readiness program covers the specific backup controls required by NIST 800-171 and CMMC Level 2, including the immutability and restore-test evidence auditors will ask for. The IT audit reviews the existing backup posture before any change.

How to choose: a four-question framework

The single most useful filter is asking what surface you are protecting. If you are deciding between three vendors and spending more than thirty minutes, this framework is what we use on Helix Pulse calls.

1. What surface are you protecting first? Laptops and desktops -> Backblaze Business Backup. Servers and VMs -> Veeam Essentials. M365 or Workspace -> a dedicated SaaS backup product (Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is the most credible). AWS workloads -> AWS Backup. Mixed -> Acronis Cyber Protect or Veeam plus an endpoint product.
2. Do you have a technical operator? Yes -> MSP360 with B2 or restic with B2 saves real money. No -> Backblaze and Acronis hide complexity well; pay the premium.
3. Is ransomware resistance a stated concern? Yes -> require Object Lock or immutable repository on your off-site copy, regardless of vendor. Most modern backup products support it; you have to enable it explicitly.
4. Are you in a regulated vertical? HIPAA, CMMC, SOC 2, PCI DSS, financial services -> add the BAA or attestation, document the retention policy, and run the quarterly restore test with evidence. Compliance is the documentation, not the software.

Two filters that should not drive the choice: the marketing-page feature comparison (everyone has the same checkboxes) and the per-GB price in isolation (your time configuring a bad product costs more than the storage difference).

Frequently asked questions

What is the best backup software for small business in 2026? For most small businesses, the right answer is Veeam Backup Essentials for servers and VMs, Backblaze Business Backup at $9 per computer per month for endpoints, and a dedicated SaaS backup product (Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is the most credible) for M365 or Workspace data. Acronis Cyber Protect is the strong consolidated alternative if you want backup and endpoint security from one vendor.

Is cloud backup safer than local backup? Neither is safer in isolation; the correct answer is both, which is what the 3-2-1 rule is for. Local backup is fast to restore and free to keep many versions of. Cloud backup survives fire, theft, and on-site ransomware. SMBs who pick only one tend to pick local and then lose the data in a building incident, or pick cloud-only and then wait three days to restore a server.

What is the 3-2-1 backup rule? Three copies of your data, on two different media types, with one copy off-site. The modern extension is 3-2-1-1-0: three copies, two media, one off-site, one immutable copy that ransomware cannot encrypt, and zero failures on the last restore test. This is the operational baseline every SMB should meet.

How do I protect backups from ransomware? The strongest defense is immutability on the off-site copy, Object Lock on a Backblaze B2 or AWS S3 bucket, or a hardened Linux repository in Veeam. Immutable storage cannot be overwritten or deleted until a retention timer expires, even by an admin with valid credentials. Modern ransomware specifically targets backup repositories before encrypting production, so non-immutable backups are routinely lost in an incident.

Is Veeam worth it for small business? Yes, if you have on-premise servers, virtual machines, or a hybrid environment. Veeam Backup Essentials starts at roughly $1,500 per socket per year, and the recovery story (instant VM recovery, granular item restore, immutable repositories) is the strongest in the category. For laptop-only SMBs, the answer is no, Backblaze Business Backup or Acronis Cyber Protect is the better fit.

What is the difference between backup and disaster recovery? Backup is the copy of your data. Disaster recovery is the plan, process, and infrastructure that gets your business running again after an incident. A backup answers “do we still have the data?” Disaster recovery answers “how fast can the company operate again?” The Datto SIRIS appliance blurs the line by virtualizing a failed server on the backup appliance itself. Most SMBs need both, a backup product plus a documented DR plan, even if the DR plan is two pages of runbook.

Should I use immutable backup? Yes, for any off-site copy. Object Lock on B2 or S3 is straightforward to enable and adds no meaningful cost. Without immutability, your off-site backups are deletable by anyone who compromises your cloud credentials, which is exactly what modern ransomware attackers do before triggering encryption.

How much should I budget for backup per month? A reasonable SMB rule is 0.5 to 1.5 percent of revenue, depending on regulated-data exposure. For a 10-person knowledge-worker business: $9 per endpoint per month on Backblaze ($90), plus $4 per user per month for M365 backup ($40), plus a few terabytes of B2 cold storage ($30 to $60). Total in the range of $160 to $200 per month for credible coverage. Add Veeam if you have servers (~$125 per month amortized).

Do you help businesses set up backup? Yes. Helix Stax configures backup as part of every operations advisory engagement, with specific controls for regulated SMBs covered under CMMC readiness. We also run IT audits that review the existing backup posture and find the gaps before they become incidents. Book a free Helix Pulse and we will tell you what is missing in your current setup, in plain English.

Is M365 or Workspace backed up by default? No, and this is the most expensive misconception in SMB IT. Microsoft and Google back up their own infrastructure to recover from their own outages. They do not back up your data against your mistakes, admin errors, ransomware encryption, retention misconfigurations, or compromised accounts. The shared-responsibility model is in the contract, but vendors do not put it on the marketing page. You need a third-party SaaS backup product running daily to a separate provider.

What about backing up SaaS data beyond M365? The same shared-responsibility model applies to almost every SaaS product. Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, QuickBooks Online, Slack, none of them back up your data for you against your own mistakes. Most have a paid export feature; few have a true backup-and-restore product. For business-critical SaaS data, look at SaaS-backup vendors (Spanning, Backupify, AvePoint, Druva, Rewind), and verify the restore path before you need it.

Should I encrypt my backups? Yes, with a key you control. Almost every credible backup product encrypts data in transit and at rest by default; the meaningful question is who holds the key. Vendor-managed keys are operationally easier but mean the vendor can read your backups, and a vendor compromise becomes your compromise. Customer-managed keys (with the key written down in a place you control) are non-negotiable for regulated verticals and best practice for everyone else.

Need help choosing?

The right backup setup depends on what surface you are protecting, whether you have a technical operator, and what compliance posture you need to maintain. Book a free Helix Pulse, 60 minutes with the founder, your top three IT gaps named in plain English, and an estimated Helix Score from the CTGA Framework. No pitch deck, no follow-up cadence.