Best online backup 2023: Carbonite, iDrive, Backblaze, Livedrive, and more

Just as when we originally reviewed all the major online backup services, iDrive remains the most comprehensive online backup service. And though it’s not the cheapest, it’s still affordable and comes with backup clients for nearly every PC and device. The company also provides additional storage for syncing all your devices and PCs, allows sharing of files with anyone, and has the ability to back up to a local drive. 

Since our review, iDrive has expanded its backup offerings to cover a variety of personal and team needs. Besides a very spare 10GB free tier, there’s a Mini tier that offers up to 500GB for $9.95 a year, a Personal plan that starts at 5TB for $69.95 the first year (or $149.25 for two years), and $99.50 each year after, covering one user and multiple devices. Additional Personal tiers offer 10TB, 20TB, and 50TB options, with associated price increases. There are also Team plans that cover multiple users and multiple computers, at various storage capacities and different price steps.

Carbonite Safe is among the most simple-to-use cloud backups. It’s distinct in that it doesn’t back up everything by default. It selects what it thinks you need to back up, then leaves the rest up to you. It’s pretty successful selecting data if you use the standard locations (My Documents, etc.), so most users won’t need to provide additional input. 

The price of elegance is a little steeper: Basic online-only backup is $72 for one computer for one year, $136.78 for two years, and $194.37 for three. If you want the ability to duplicate the backup to a local hard drive and back up videos, then you’re talking $111.99, $212.78, and $302.37, respectively. If you want the ability to retrieve your data via a hard drive couriered to you (much faster than downloading when there’s a lot of data), the rate rise to $149.99, $284.98, and $404.97, respectively.

If you don’t mind paying a premium for your online backup, Livedrive will reward your investment with its elegant setup, minimalist interface, and superb operation. There is something to be said for how reassuring it can be to use a product that is artfully designed and executed. That is especially true for an online backup service. When it comes to mission-critical operations, a bug-free experience makes for peace of mind. If you value impeccability, Livedrive is an excellent choice for online backup. The standard Backup plan for one PC and unlimited storage is $89.90 for the first year and $107.88 per year after that; a Pro Suite that covers five machines is $240 for first year and $300 for subsequent years.

What if you want a straightforward storage and backup option that costs next to nothing and still provides backup features and a ton of storage? Internxt offers a 200GB storage plan for under $4 per month or you can opt for the lifetime 2TB plan for a one time payment of $149—that’s 2TB of cloud storage and backup forever. Another great perk is that all of Internxt’s plans, regardless of cost, offer the exact same features. This means that even if you opt for the cheapest plan they have, you’ll still benefit from the full feature set including online storage, sync, backup, and sharing. The service is also extremely easy to understand and use, and for only a few dollars a month you’re able to use features which aren’t offered in free services.

Over the years you’ve likely used more than one cloud or online storage services. Whether that be Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint, you name it. You likely also use one or more of these services to store different buckets of your data. With all of these different storage options the wires can get crossed and it can become increasingly difficult to ensure all of your data is backed up to the correct service. That’s where Arq 7 comes in.

Its support for myriad third-party online backup services is second to none. Arq 7 also supports multiple jobs that you can tailor to each service such as backing up vital documents to free cloud storage, or larger files to a premium service you use as well. The interface is clean and easy-to-use, which is a huge boon considering how intimidating backing up can be for new users. Our only minor quibble with the service is that it’s a bit of a one-trick pony—it only does backup. There are no additional features such as partition or drive-image backups, cloning, sync, or recovery via boot media. Still, in regards to backup, Arq 7 does an excellent job, and with its support for third-party services it’s one of the most versatile backup services we’ve ever tested.

Sync.com offers both a paid and a free tier service. The free tier comes with 5GB of backup cloud storage and most of the features offered in their premium services as well. The Sync.com service is easy to use and as secure as any other online backup service we’ve come across. It has both an attractive and well-designed web interface as well as a desktop app available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Also, it makes syncing files across your devices easy to do and even has a Vault option to back up files without transferring them to the local Sync folder in case you wish to keep files unchanged or separated for any reason. While 5GB of storage may not be enough for power users or businesses, if you’re just looking to keep files stored online and the ability to sync them across multiple devices without having to pay anything, Sync.com is a reliable service with great functionality. Plus, you can always upgrade to a paid tier for more storage as needed.