Compare Online Backup Services

Online Backup Service Comparison Review

This Online Backup Service comparison table features vendor offerings that we feel are most appropriate for home and family use or perhaps an individual work computer.

We have a separate comparison review for business online backup (including server backup).

Every vendor has a little bit different focus and our goal is to best match up your online backup needs and budget with the service that best fits you. Three different areas of differentiation in this space are:

  1. Backup vs. Backup AND Storage – Backup just duplicates what is on your computer; storage allows items NO LONGER ON YOUR COMPUTER
  2. Mobile device support – iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and others. Some vendors support nearly all, others few or none
  3. Synchronization – Some users want data synchronized among several computers or devices, for others this is not important
  SugarSync Online Backup Service Mozy Home Online Backup Service Carbonite Online Backup Service LiveDrive Online Backup Service ElephantDrive Online Backup Service IDrive Online Backup Service
OnlineBackupSpot Rating OnlineBackupSpot SugarSync Rating OnlineBackupSpot Mozy Home Rating OnlineBackupSpot Carbonite Rating OnlineBackupSpot LiveDrive Rating OnlineBackupSpot ElephantDrive Rating OnlineBackupSpot IDrive Rating
Plan Size (GB)  30, 60, 100, 250, 500 50, 125  Unlimited    100, 500  
 File Size Limits  No  No; Large files ignored1     Free Plan: 100MB
Personal: 1GB
Family: 2GB
Enterprise: 5GB
 
No. of Devices  unlimited  1, 3 (more available $)  1    2 Personal, 5 Family  
 OS Support*  W, M, L  W, M, 64 W, M (Limited)   W, M  
 External Drive Support    Yes  No   Yes  
Network Drive Support    No, see Mozy Pro  Unclear, doubtful   Enterprise Plan  
Local Backup  No  Yes  No   No  
Synchronize Devices Yes  Yes, as of Q2 2011  No      
Share Online Files**  Yes  New  No      
Public Links  Yes  No  No      
Mobile Support:            
 – Mobile Website Yes  No  No      
 – iPhone, iPad Stream  Yes  Yes      
 – Android Stream  Yes  Yes      
 – Blackberry Stream  No  Yes      
 – Windows Mobile Yes  No  No      
 – Symbian Yes  No  No      
Online Editing of Files Yes  No  No      
Online Storage + No  No  No4      
Versioning 5 Versions  30 Days  Schedule3      
Recycle Bin No  No  No      
Backup Types:            
 – Scheduled    Yes  Yes   Yes  
 – Manual    Yes        
 – Continuous  Yes  “Near Continuous2

 Yes

  Enterprise Only  
 – Open Files    Yes     Enterprise Only  
 – Locked Files    Yes     Enterprise Only  
 – User Bandwidth Throttle   Yes        
 – Vendor Bandwidth Throttle     Yes, after 200GB      
 – Ship Media            
Restore Types:            
 – Software            
 – Website            
 – Ship Media   Yes        
Play Media from Cloud Yes  No  No      
Integration #    Yes        
Encryption (Transfer/Cloud) SSL / 128 AES  SSL / Mozy 448 Blowfish
or User Key 256 AES
SSL / 128 Blowfish
(User Key Optional,
Disables Mobile Support)
     
Geo Diversified Servers Yes       Yes (Not Free Plan)  
Access Cloud as Drive Letter No  No  No      
Firewall Friendly    Yes        
Pricing
GB Month Year
30 $4.99 $49.99
60 $9.99 $99.99
100 $14.99 $149.99
250 $24.99 $249.99
500 $39.99 $399.99
GB Month 1 Year
50 $5.99 $65.89
120 $9.99 $109.89
 $59 /year per device      
Discounts 2 months free
with 1 year prepay
1 month free : 1 year
2 months free : 2 year
None      
Free Trial 30 Day Free Trial MozyFree – 2GB Limit 15 Day Free Trial
No Credit Card
Required
     

* OS Support: (W)indows, (M)ac, (L)inux, (64) Bit

** We don’t consider attaching a file to an email as “sharing”

+ Online Storage: Store files online that do NOT exist on your computer; hence, not “Online Backup” but “Online Storage

# Integration: Windows Explorer integration

1 Large files appear to be not automatically backed up in “near continuous” mode

2 Backup may be delayed significantly if computer is not idle

3 Carbonite keeps old versions of your files for up to three months. It keeps one version of the file for each day of the past week, one version for each of the previous three weeks, and one version for each of the previous two months that the file has been backed up.

4 Files deleted from cloud 30 days after disappearing from device.

Help Make This The Best Online Backup Comparison

Getting all of this information out of the vendors of online backup services is not easy, and some of it is a moving target as providers one up each other and try to improve their service to gain market share. Consider it a continuous work-in-progress to give you the best comparison, feature to feature, of each option available to you for the protection of your important data.

Naturally, most companies only tell you what they really want you to know. We want you to be able to know EVERYTHING about the service, though, to make sure it really is what you want and what you think you are paying for.

If you see a feature in the comparison table above that is not filled in or incorrect, please contact OnlineBackupSpot and let us know!