Public cloud backup solutions are secure data backup services operated by remote, third-party cloud service providers. These solutions enable organizations to securely store, manage, and recover data in the event of hardware failure, accidental deletion, or other loss scenarios. They are a scalable and cost-effective alternative to on-premise backup solutions.
Public cloud backup is the most widespread form of cloud data storage today, with many cloud backup solutions available for organizations to store data from a range of sources, including SaaS applications such as O365, Google Workspace, Jira, and Salesforce. With public cloud backup, the third-party provider operates all backup resources and takes responsibility for protecting your data, which is typically accessible via web browser. Public cloud backup providers will rely on storage from AWS and Microsoft Azure, the most commonly used public cloud backup providers.
Backing up data to a public cloud service reduces the risk of data loss and enables quick and efficient recovery of data when required. These services use encryption to protect data, both during transmission and when stored in the cloud. This ensures that unauthorized users cannot access it. Choosing a reliable and comprehensive public cloud backup solution is vital to mitigate risk and maintain business continuity.
In this guide, we will explore the top public cloud backup services available today, based on factors such as storage capacity, pricing, security features, ease of use, third-party integrations, and customer feedback.
Acronis Cyber Protect is an AI-powered solution that combines cloud-backup and protection. The solution features cloud backup and endpoint protection, including vulnerability assessments, patch management, remote desktop access, and drive health monitoring. Its full-stack antimalware capabilities provide next-generation AI-based protection, along with URL filtering, and automated backup scanning. Acronis Cyber Protect ensures fast and reliable recovery of apps, systems, and data on any device and from any incident.
Acronis Cyber Protect eliminates complexity by offering one license, agent, management console, vendor support line, and source of shared information about protected systems. This streamlined approach increases efficiency by cutting costs and delivering better protection with existing resources. Acronis Cyber Protect’s proactive, active, and reactive layers of protection include backup vulnerability assessments, patch management, malware removal, continuous data protection, real-time malware defenses, self-defense capabilities, integrated disaster recovery, and forensic backups.
Acronis Cyber Protect simplifies protection efforts, reduces total cost of ownership, and proactively prevents costly downtime while inspiring customer confidence and trust. The integration of data protection and cybersecurity brings unique capabilities, making Acronis Cyber Protect a comprehensive solution for delivering an unparalleled level of cyber protection.
Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup is a user-friendly and comprehensive backup solution specifically designed for Microsoft 365 data, such as Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, and OneNote. The solution offers a fully cloud-based approach with no software or hardware for users to manage. This results in an improved performance and instant scalability. Users can quickly find and recover their data through an intuitive global user interface, with detailed reporting and customizable email notifications.
Flexible and extensive support for Microsoft 365 is a key feature of Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup. It enables users to restore Teams, Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and OneNote data fully or at a granular level. The platform also provides comprehensive SharePoint support, ensuring that all site templates, custom lists, permissions, and metadata are backed up and easily restorable. The SaaS solution also supports multi-factor authentication, role-based access control, and multi-tenant management.
Barracuda’s offering is also highly secure, with data encrypted both in transit and at rest. Multiple external copies of backup files ensure redundancy and data protection. The cloud-first backup solution allows users to quickly sign up and run their first backup in just five minutes. As a cloud-native platform, it offers a total of 13 regional storage locations globally, meeting various data storage and residency requirements.
Cohesity DataProtect is a secure backup and recovery solution designed to protect data from various sources, including cloud-native, SaaS, and traditional data sources. It combines multiple-point products into a single software that can be deployed on-premises or used as a service (BaaS). Built on zero-trust principles, it offers extensive protection for various data sources including virtual and physical servers, traditional and containerized applications, databases, NAS, and SaaS workloads.
Cohesity DataProtect provides multi-layered security features, such as immutability, WORM, data encryption framework, multifactor authentication, and granular role-based access control to prevent unauthorized access and modification of data. It also ensures fast recovery with near-zero RPOs and near-instant RTOs, meeting business SLAs. Additionally, Cohesity DataProtect reduces downtime by instantly mass restoring numerous virtual machines, large volumes of unstructured data, and any size Oracle database. This, ultimately, reduces data protection costs by 70% or more.
With DataProtect, businesses can take advantage of the public cloud’s elasticity and economics by eliminating the need for on-premises hardware. With the SaaS option, organizations can configure their backup jobs and quickly start protecting mission-critical data and applications without on-premises hardware requirements. Hosted in AWS and Microsoft Azure, Cohesity BaaS delivers flexibility and choice in meeting various business requirements.
Druva Data Resiliency Cloud is a cloud-native backup platform built on Amazon Web Services (AWS). It offers centralized data protection and management for various data sources such as endpoints, virtual data centers, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, and AWS infrastructure. Serving as a single, consolidated data repository, it simplifies backup and disaster recovery while enhancing data visibility for legal and compliance purposes. The platform is designed to reduce administrative complexity and provide better control over data governance.
The Druva platform’s key features include global source-side deduplication, which ensures efficient bandwidth usage and minimizes data transfer across servers, cloud applications, and end-user devices. It is also designed with a strong focus on security, employing multiple layers of protection for data both in transit and at rest. With its data centers distributed globally, the platform boasts 99.99999% data availability, ensuring compliance with regional data residency requirements, while facilitating workload mobility.
Druva Data Resiliency Cloud’s centralized management makes it easier for IT teams to manage data at scale, with flexible, policy-based management to customize rules and ensure continuous data protection. Comprehensive legal and compliance capabilities such as legal hold, federated search, compliance monitoring, and audit trails offer visibility into data activities. The platform is built on AWS, eliminating the need for on-site hardware, software, or dedicated resources. With on-demand scalability, global deduplication, and storage tiering, Druva Data Resiliency Cloud can provide up to 50% better total cost of ownership.
NAKIVO Backup & Replication is a comprehensive data protection solution designed for SMBs, enterprises, and managed service providers (MSPs). It provides backup, replication, instant restore, disaster recovery, and infrastructure monitoring capabilities in a single interface. The solution supports virtual, cloud, physical, and SaaS platforms and is compatible with various virtualization and storage technologies.
NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers a wide range of features, including 9+ recovery options for operational resilience, such as instant VM boot, instant P2V, instant object recovery, bare metal recovery, and recovery across virtual platforms. The solution is highly scalable and flexible, suitable for single and multi-tenant deployment models, with some customers protecting over 8,000 VMs across 300+ locations.
For enhanced cyber resilience, NAKIVO Backup & Replication provides advanced immutability in multiple storage targets and the ability to scan backups before recovering data. The solution is MSP-ready and designed to help deliver reliable and profitable BaaS, DRaaS, and other data protection services. With a lightweight footprint, NAKIVO Backup & Replication can be easily deployed on Windows or Linux systems, as a VMware or Nutanix virtual appliance, or as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI).
Rubrik is a data management company that offers a single software platform designed to simplify and automate backup and recovery capabilities for enterprises. The platform covers data centers and cloud environments, while also providing API-first automation, cloud mobility, and protection against cyber attacks and data breaches.
Key products in Rubrik’s portfolio include Rubrik Cloud Data Management Platform, offering backup, recovery, data archival, and disaster recovery for various environments. Rubrik Polaris SaaS Platform, delivering a unified system of record for data management with added services such as AI-driven ransomware recovery and data intelligence. Rubrik Mosaic, aimed at streamlining application-consistent backup and recovery for NoSQL databases.
Important principles behind Rubrik’s technology involve being a software-defined platform that consolidates disparate components, offering simplicity at scale, cloud mobility for cross-environment protection, an API-first architecture that supports automation tools, end-to-end security, and a broad ecosystem support.
Rubrik takes a comprehensive approach to security by implementing a multi-layered security framework, which includes data-at-rest encryption, data-in-flight encryption, flexible key management, user authentication, data integrity, and centralized compliance reporting. The platform integrates with ServiceNow to provide self-service data management options that automate data protection, reduce recovery times, and offer customized reporting and analytics.
Veeam’s Hybrid Cloud Backup Solution offers a comprehensive data protection platform for hybrid cloud environments. As the number one hybrid cloud backup solution, Veeam Data Platform offers protection and management of cloud data across various environments, addressing the growing need for native backup and centralized management in a world of rapid cloud adoption.
Veeam’s platform supports major public cloud providers, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, and assists in protecting exabytes of cloud data. With features like policy-based management, immutability, and proactive cost calculation, it enables organizations of all sizes to store and manage their cloud data securely and cost-effectively. The platform encompasses cloud-native backup, cloud mobility, Kubernetes backup, and SaaS backup for services like Microsoft 365 and Salesforce. In addition, it offers disaster recovery, ransomware protection, and data migration capabilities.
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Veeam is a market leading with over 450,000 customers worldwide, including 82% of the Fortune 500 and 73% of the Global 2000.
Everything You Need To Know About Public Cloud Backup Solutions (FAQs)
What Are Public Cloud Backup Solutions?
Public cloud backup solutions are cloud-based data backup services operated by cloud service providers in a public cloud infrastructure. These solutions allow organizations and individuals to securely store copies of their data, applications, and systems in remote cloud data centers.
Typically delivered on a SaaS model basis (with monthly or annual per user billing), public cloud backup solutions provide a secure and reliable way to protect data from various threats, including hardware failures, data corruption, accidental deletion, and cyberattacks.
Popular public cloud backup services are offered by companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and numerous third-party providers that specialize in backup and disaster recovery services.
What Are The Benefits Of Using A Public Cloud Backup Solution?
Using a public cloud backup is typically more scalable and cost effective than using a private backup solution or a solution hosted on premises. Some of the key advantages of public cloud backup include:
- Cost-Effective: Public cloud backup eliminates the need for significant upfront investments in hardware and software. Instead, it follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where you only pay for the storage and resources you actually use. This cost-effectiveness is especially beneficial for small and medium-sized businesses.
- Scalability: Public cloud backup solutions can easily scale to accommodate your growing storage needs. Whether you have a small amount of data or vast amounts of data to protect, the cloud can expand or contract to match your requirements.
- Accessibility: Data stored in the public cloud is accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. This ensures that you can access and recover your data even if your primary infrastructure is unavailable due to issues like hardware failure, natural disasters, or other disruptions.
- Automation: Most public cloud backup services offer automated backup schedules, which reduce the need for manual intervention. This streamlines the backup process and ensures that data is consistently backed up as per your defined schedule.
- Data Versioning: Many cloud backup solutions support data versioning, allowing you to restore previous versions of files or data. This can be crucial for recovering from accidental data changes or corruption.
- Redundancy and Reliability: Public cloud providers typically have multiple data centers across different geographic regions. This redundancy enhances data availability and reliability by minimizing the risk of data loss due to data center outages or hardware failures.
- Security: Cloud providers invest heavily in security measures, including encryption, access controls, and compliance certifications. Your data is protected in secure data centers, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.
- Compliance and Regulations: Many cloud providers offer services designed to help organizations meet specific compliance requirements, such as HIPAA for healthcare, GDPR for data privacy, or PCI DSS for payment card industry security standards.
- Maintenance and Updates: Cloud providers handle the maintenance and updates of the infrastructure, which reduces the burden on your IT staff. This allows your team to focus on more strategic tasks rather than managing backup infrastructure.
- Geographical Distribution: Cloud providers have data centers in multiple regions, which can be valuable for businesses that operate in different locations. Data can be backed up to and restored from data centers closest to your users or business locations.
What Features Should You Look For In Public Cloud Backup Solutions?
When implementing a public cloud backup solution, it’s important to carefully plan your backup strategy, choose the appropriate storage class, and consider data retention policies to ensure that your data is adequately protected and recoverable when needed. Key features to consider when choosing a solution include:
- Data Security: Data security is paramount. Ensure the solution offers strong encryption both in transit and at rest. Look for compliance with industry standards, and check if the provider offers features like data loss prevention and access controls.
- Data Retention and Versioning: Ensure the solution offers data retention policies that allow you to define how long data is retained. Versioning is also valuable, enabling you to recover previous versions of files.
- Backup Frequency and Automation: Look for backup solutions that support automated, regular backups. Frequent backups minimize data loss in the event of a disaster.
- Recovery Options: Verify the ease of data recovery. The solution should provide flexible recovery options, including full system recovery, file-level recovery, and the ability to restore to specific points in time.
- Cost Structure: Understand the pricing model. Many providers offer pay-as-you-go or tiered pricing based on the amount of data stored or the frequency of backups. Make sure it aligns with your budget.
- Compliance and Certification: If your organization operates in a regulated industry, check if the solution is compliant with industry-specific regulations and has relevant certifications (e.g., HIPAA, SOC 2).
- Monitoring and Reporting: Ensure that the solution provides monitoring tools and generates reports on backup status and performance. This is essential for tracking the health of your backup process.
- Geographic Presence: Depending on your global operations, consider whether the provider has data centers in regions that align with your compliance or latency requirements.
