How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- IDrive is the household default: 5TB across unlimited devices, renewing at 99.50 dollars per year, with unlimited file versions included.
- Backblaze is the simplest service ever sold: 99 dollars per year for unlimited backup of one computer, with version history at 30 days unless you pay 2 dollars a month to extend it to a year.
- Acronis True Image adds full disk images and security tools, from 49.99 dollars per year, with cloud storage on the 72.99 dollar Advanced tier and up.
- Carbonite and CrashPlan serve set and forget home users and business endpoints respectively, CrashPlan from 2.99 dollars per user per month.
- Judge renewal prices, not first year offers, and version history above headline storage: the backup you need is the clean copy from before the problem started.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 IDrive | Many devices on one storage pool | $99.50 per year (5TB renewal) | Yes |
 Backblaze | Unlimited backup of one computer | $99 per year | No |
 Acronis True Image | Disk images plus backup and security | $49.99 per year | No |
 Carbonite | Set and forget home backup | From $6.33 per month | No |
 CrashPlan | Business endpoints, unlimited per user | From $2.99 per user/month | No |
 SpiderOak One | Zero knowledge encrypted backup | See website | No |
 Arq Premium | Bring your own storage backup | See website | No |
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The best online data backup services
#1IDrive
Best for: Many devices on one storage pool4.4/5 on
G2 (2,048 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit idrive.com
Starting price$99.50 per year (5TB renewal)
Free planYes
IDrive wins households. Two laptops, a desktop and two phones under one 99.50 dollar renewal beats five per computer licences at almost any rival's price, and its unlimited version history quietly removes the nastiest risk in backup: discovering in month three that the clean copy aged out in month one.
Budget by the renewal, and watch the pool. Five terabytes sounds endless until a family's photo and video archive meets a couple of virtual machines. Higher tiers run to 100TB for those who need them, priced accordingly.
What we like- One 5TB pool covers unlimited PCs, Macs and phones, renewing at 99.50 dollars per year after first year promotions that run near 70 to 84 dollars, unlimited file versioning at no extra cost, which matters when corruption or ransomware is discovered late, a physical Express drive service ships your data for large first backups and restores, free 10GB tier, plus optional Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace backup at 20 dollars per seat per year
Watch out for- The pool is finite: a household of video hoarders can outgrow 5TB, first year pricing is heavily promoted, so the renewal jump surprises people who did not read ahead, interface carries many features and feels busy, server and business features sit in separate plan tiers
#2Backblaze
Best for: Unlimited backup of one computer4.4/5 on
G2 (38 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit backblaze.com
Starting price$99 per year
Free planNo
Backblaze is the backup for people who will not configure anything. Its whole product philosophy is a single unlimited plan with sensible defaults, and for one main computer it remains hard to beat on value per terabyte.
Two details deserve attention before buying. Extend the version history: the extra 24 dollars a year is the difference between shrugging off a month old infection and losing to it. And check the cloud folder reporting if you keep files in synced folders, because exclusions decide what unlimited actually covers.
What we like- Unlimited storage for one computer at 99 dollars per year, 9 dollars monthly or 189 dollars for two years, famously simple: install it and it backs up nearly everything by default, version history of one year available for 2 dollars per month extra, restore by download, mailed drive or file level web access, private encryption key option for personal accounts
Watch out for- Per computer pricing multiplies across a household, default version and deleted file history is only 30 days, which the ransomware scenario punishes, an October 2026 buyer's guide reports personal plans no longer back up files held only in OneDrive or Dropbox folders, no free tier, phones are not covered
#3Acronis True Image
Best for: Disk images plus backup and security4.3/5 on
G2 (71 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit acronis.com
Starting price$49.99 per year
Free planNo
Acronis is the choice when backup means recovery of the machine, not only its documents. A disk image rebuilds your system, applications and settings onto new hardware; a file backup makes you reinstall everything by hand. For a work machine you cannot afford to rebuild, that difference is the product.
Price it at the Advanced tier or above, since that is where the cloud lives, and compare its storage against your real data. Acronis sells protection depth; rivals sell capacity. Know which one your risk actually needs.
What we like- Full disk imaging: restore a whole system, not just files, after a crash, tiers are published: Essentials 49.99 dollars per year for local backup, Advanced 72.99 dollars with 250GB of cloud storage, Premium 124.99 dollars with 1TB, anti ransomware and endpoint security tools ride along on paid tiers, local, cloud and hybrid targets in one product
Watch out for- The entry tier includes no cloud storage, so the online part starts at 72.99 dollars, storage amounts are modest next to IDrive's pool or Backblaze's unlimited, the suite does many jobs, and the interface shows it, per computer licensing applies
#4Carbonite
Best for: Set and forget home backup4.0/5 on
G2 (198 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit carbonite.com
Starting priceFrom $6.33 per month
Free planNo
Carbonite built this category's consumer market and still does the simple job: install, forget, restore when needed. For a single home computer and a user who wants no decisions, it remains a reasonable, conservative purchase.
The honest context is momentum. Multiple 2026 comparisons place it behind the leaders on price, features or both, so treat it as the incumbency pick: fine if you already run it and restores have worked, less compelling as a new purchase against IDrive's pool or Backblaze's price.
What we like- One of the oldest names in consumer backup, with automatic continuous backup as the default experience, unlimited storage on consumer Safe plans from about 6.33 dollars per month, courier recovery options on higher tiers, business plans add compliance friendly features, clear, narrow product that non technical users can run
Watch out for- Reviewers increasingly rate it behind IDrive and Backblaze on value and pace of development, a long time buyer's guide in October 2026 dropped it from recommendations on price and stagnation grounds, per computer model like Backblaze without the same pricing edge, versioning and retention are limited on cheaper plans, check the tier
#5CrashPlan
Best for: Business endpoints, unlimited per user4.9/5 on
G2 (273 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit crashplan.com
Starting priceFrom $2.99 per user/month
Free planNo
CrashPlan is the fleet answer. An IT admin covering fifty laptops cares about unlimited per user storage, central control and retention measured in months, and CrashPlan's pricing undercuts the security bundled suites in this role.
Its history explains its shape: it left the home market to concentrate on business endpoints, and it shows in the admin console first design. A small business gets a professional tool; a home user should look up the list.
What we like- Unlimited storage per user on business endpoint plans, with entry pricing from 2.99 dollars per user per month on its essential tier and around 8 dollars on fuller business plans in comparisons, long version retention options suited to compliance and slow discovered incidents, central administration for fleets of laptops, small business Microsoft 365 backup add on reported at 4 dollars per user per month
Watch out for- Business focused since it exited the consumer market years ago, endpoint only: it does not back up servers, pricing tiers and names change often enough that quotes need checking, restore speeds draw mixed comments in reviews, less simple for a solo user than Backblaze
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
SpiderOak sells a promise the others do not: it cannot hand over your files because it cannot read them. For journalists, lawyers and anyone whose threat model includes the provider itself, that architecture is the deciding feature, worth more than terabytes.
Understand the bargain fully. The same design that blocks SpiderOak blocks you after a forgotten password, and there is no support path around mathematics. Keep your credentials in a password manager and a printed recovery record somewhere safe.
What we like- Zero knowledge design: encryption keys stay with you, so SpiderOak cannot read your files, backup, sync and sharing across devices under one account, point in time recovery of folders, a long history in the privacy focused corner of this market
Watch out for- Current plan prices were not consistently published in the sources we verified, so this field says See website, zero knowledge means zero rescue: lose your password and the data is unrecoverable by design, smaller company and slower feature pace than the leaders, capacity is a purchased pool, not unlimited
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Arq closes the list for the control minded. Separating the backup software from the storage means no provider holds both your data and the keys to it, and you can move storage without changing tools. It is how many engineers back up their own machines.
That control is also the cost: two bills, two accounts, and your own responsibility for the storage side. Households wanting one subscription should stay with IDrive or Backblaze; Arq rewards the users who prefer it this way.
What we like- Backs up to storage you control: your own cloud accounts, S3 compatible storage, or Arq's bundled cloud on the Premium subscription, encryption happens on your machine before upload, with your password, works across Mac and Windows with strong versioning and scheduling controls, one licence covers multiple computers on its terms, a favourite of technical users who distrust all in one providers
Watch out for- Premium pricing needs checking on its site, so this field says See website, bring your own storage means paying a storage bill elsewhere and owning that relationship, setup expects a technical user
- It is not an install and forget consumer product, restores to new hardware are file based, not full system images
How we chose
We compared online backup services a home or small business buyer can subscribe to in October 2026. Pricing comes from vendor pages and current comparison reporting, with renewal prices preferred over first year promotions and both noted where they differ. We weighted version history and retention as heavily as storage, because recovery from slow discovered corruption is the scenario that separates backup from sync. We did not run restore tests for this guide; speed and reliability notes reflect published reviewer findings, labelled as such.
Backup rules that matter more than the brand
Follow 3-2-1 in some form: three copies of what matters, on two different kinds of storage, one of them off site. An online backup service supplies the off site copy. A local drive supplies the fast one. Either alone leaves a scenario, fire, theft, ransomware with cloud reach, that takes everything.
Test a restore before you need one. Download a folder, restore an old version, and time it. Services fail quietly: excluded folders, stalled agents, a pool that filled in March. A five minute restore drill each quarter is the cheapest insurance in this entire category.
Mind the version window. Ransomware and silent corruption are usually discovered weeks later. A 30 day history can mean every copy you hold is already encrypted or damaged. Unlimited or year long version history, IDrive's and Backblaze's paid extension respectively, is the feature to buy first.
Remember backup is not archive. These services mirror your current data with history; delete a file everywhere and, after the retention window, it is gone everywhere. Anything you must keep for years deserves a separate, deliberate archive copy as well.
Frequently asked questions
How much does online backup cost in 2026?
Mainstream prices: Backblaze 99 dollars per year per computer unlimited; IDrive 99.50 dollars per year renewal for 5TB across unlimited devices; CrashPlan from 2.99 dollars per user per month for business endpoints; Acronis cloud tiers from 72.99 dollars per year. First year discounts are common, so compare renewals.
What is the difference between backup and sync?
Sync services such as OneDrive mirror your current files, including deletions and ransomware encryption, to every device. Backup services keep dated versions you can roll back to. Serious setups use backup as the safety layer, whatever sync they also use.
How long does the first backup take?
A large library over a home connection can take days to weeks of continuous upload. IDrive's Express service ships a drive for the first backup to skip that wait. After the initial upload, only changes move, and daily use feels instant.
Is unlimited backup really unlimited?
At Backblaze and CrashPlan, effectively yes for the covered computer or user, within fair use terms. Read what is covered: external drives, network storage and cloud synced folders have rules, and Backblaze's were reported to tighten for synced folders in 2026.
Can backup protect me from ransomware?
Yes, if your version history reaches back before the infection and the backup account itself is protected with a strong password and two factor sign in. That is why retention length, not storage size, is the first specification to check.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.