We rank IDrive as the best online backup service for good reason: It provides excellent features, security, privacy, speeds and pricing (including a 5GB free plan). The only possible chink in IDrive’s armor is the lack of unlimited backup. If that’s enough for you to look elsewhere, then we have five excellent IDrive alternatives that offer unlimited storage or other enticing features.
Key Takeaways:
- Backblaze and Carbonite are the top two IDrive alternatives with unlimited storage.
- Acronis and SpiderOak are solid alternatives if you’re willing to pay a premium.
- pCloud is a top cloud storage service with a decent backup tool.
These five IDrive alternatives will let you protect your files, even if IDrive itself isn’t the right provider for you — though we do recommend you read our IDrive review before carrying on.
You might also want to read about alternative backup systems that don’t use a cloud storage service, such as external hard drives and network attached storage devices. However, if none of them works for you, then these five backup services should be the next thing you look at.
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No two online backup services are identical, but similar services to consider are pCloud or Acronis Cyber Protect, which have clean and simple user interfaces with features for sharing and syncing files.
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IDrive is quite different from Google Drive. Although Google Drive can store a backup of mobile devices, it’s intended to be a cloud storage and lacks many of the backup tools and security features you get with IDrive.
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Although it depends on what you really need, we think IDrive is the superior service overall, especially if you need to make an online backup.
Top Alternatives for IDrive
What Makes the Best IDrive Alternatives?
The only true weakness that IDrive has is its lack of unlimited backup. Otherwise, as you can see in our IDrive review, it is strong on all other fronts, including features, pricing, ease of use, speed, security, privacy and customer support. With that in mind, here are our top five backup options and why they offer a decent alternative to IDrive.
- Backblaze — Unlimited backups without any hassle
- Acronis — Impressive features and security
- Carbonite — Slow but secure unlimited backups
- pCloud — Sync and share files with this hybrid cloud storage service
- SpiderOak — Privacy-focused with a long version history
This list is pretty varied. Backblaze and Carbonite offer unlimited storage, while pCloud provides both speed and features. SpiderOak and Acronis excel when it comes to airtight security. Ultimately, there’s something for almost everyone here.
The 5 Best IDrive Alternatives
Let’s jump straight into the list and talk about the benefits and issues with our first provider, Backblaze.
Backblaze is easy to use, but lacks many advanced features.
More details about Backblaze:
- Pricing: Unlimited storage for $5.42 per month on the two-year plan
- Website: backblaze.com
Pros:
- Unlimited backup
- Great value
- Very easy to use
Cons:
- Flawed private encryption
- Limited features
Rather than limiting your storage space, like IDrive does, Backblaze gives you unlimited storage for just one device. There isn’t a native app for Linux, and the mobile app only lets you view your backup, so you can’t use this as a single backup service for everything in your home. However, if you have just one computer with lots of storage and want an easy backup, Backblaze is a great choice.
With Backblaze, you’ll get the option of up to a year of file versioning, a decent transfer speed and access to a great support team. However, you’ll also miss out on true zero-knowledge encryption and the ability to back up multiple computers on one plan.
Backblaze is one of the cheapest unlimited alternatives to IDrive.
There isn’t much to say about Backblaze’s pricing. At $7 per month, it’s a decent value. However, if you pay for two years in advance, it’s effectively $5.42 per month, which is almost as good as IDrive’s 5TB plan if you don’t need to back up mobile devices.
Overall, Backblaze may be quite different from IDrive, but it’s just as good in many aspects and you don’t have to worry about storage space. You can read our full Backblaze review, or see how Backblaze and IDrive compare to learn more. Otherwise, you have nothing to lose by trying Backblaze’s 15-day trial to see if it’s the right fit.
Unlimited Personal
- : Unlimited GB
Acronis is a little harder to navigate, but comes with a wide array of tools.
More details about Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office:
- Pricing: 1TB of storage for one device for $10.42 per month paid annually
- Website: acronis.com
Pros:
- Feature rich
- Zero-knowledge encryption
- Decent mobile app
Cons:
- Expensive
- Limited cloud storage space
Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office is the backup service from Acronis aimed at personal users. Like IDrive, you’ll have a limited amount of space to hold your backup on cloud storage servers and the option of creating an unlimited local backup, if you have enough storage in your house or office. You’ll also get zero-knowledge encryption and a mobile backup with Acronis.
While Acronis mostly matches IDrive, it has additional features. For example, the “try and decide” tool lets you make changes to your device, then gives you the option of restoring it to before those changes were made.
Acronis is pricey, but can be worth it for its features and security.
Although Acronis is pretty similar to IDrive across the board, it comes at a premium. For just 500GB of cloud storage on one computer, you’ll have to spend $89.99 per year (around $7.50 per month). If you don’t need much storage but want a feature-rich alternative to IDrive, read our Acronis Cyber Protect review to learn more or test out the 30-day trial.
Acronis Essentials One Computer
- : Unlimited GB
Acronis Essentials Three Computers
- : Unlimited GB
Acronis Essentials Five Computers
- : Unlimited GB
Acronis Advanced One Computer
Acronis Advanced Three Computers
Acronis Advanced Five Computers
Acronis Premium One Computer
Acronis Premium Three Computers
Acronis Premium Five Computers
Carbonite is secure and easy to use, but downloads will take a while.
More details about Carbonite:
- Pricing: Unlimited storage for $7 per device per month paid annually
- Website: carbonite.com
Pros:
- Unlimited storage
- Zero-knowledge encryption
Cons:
- Awful download speeds
- Weird pricing structure
If you wish for a simple backup service that gives you a bit more information about the state of your backup and offers true zero-knowledge encryption for data protection, Carbonite’s the service for you.
Overall, Carbonite would be our favorite unlimited online backup if it wasn’t for its Achilles’ heel: Carbonite’s download speeds are awful. You’ll be lucky to get around 10% of your internet bandwidth, with downloads that should take minutes taking up to an hour.
Some users have reported that Carbonite didn’t properly back up their data. We haven’t experienced this, but remember to test your backup regularly in case something goes wrong.
Carbonite often has a sale, making its pricing more competitive.
At around $7 per device per month for the basic plan, Carbonite isn’t far off from alternatives like IDrive and Backblaze. The slow download speeds and occasional poor review may put you off, but we still think it’s worth considering. You can read our full Carbonite review to learn more and see how Carbonite compares to IDrive — it also offers a 15-day trial.
Carbonite Safe Basic
- : Unlimited GB
Carbonite Safe Plus
- : Unlimited GB
Carbonite Safe Prime
- : Unlimited GB
Carbonite Safe Backup Core
Carbonite Safe Server Backup Power
Carbonite Safe Server Backup Ultimate
Low prices, fast speeds and a decent desktop app make pCloud a solid alternative to IDrive.
More details about pCloud:
- Pricing: 10GB for free; 2TB for $8.33 per month annually
- Website: pcloud.com
Pros:
- Full-featured cloud storage
- Great transfer speeds
Cons:
- Limited backup tools
- Private encryption costs extra
Unlike the other best alternatives to IDrive, pCloud is first and foremost a cloud storage service. Its specialty is file sharing and syncing between devices. However, pCloud Backup is a free tool included with a pCloud subscription that gives users enough backup management to use their cloud storage space for a true online backup.
When it comes to download speed, pCloud is the quickest online backup we’ve tested, and its upload speed puts it in third place. However, since the backup tool is a new thing for the company, it doesn’t offer much more than the ability to run a scheduled backup of selected files. This is good enough for basic backups, but some users might appreciate some more substantial features.
For a basic backup with great cloud storage features, choose pCloud.
pCloud is a little pricey compared to IDrive: Just 2TB of storage costs $8.33 per month when paid annually. There is a lifetime plan, which is worth getting if you plan to use the service for at least four years, although you should read our pCloud review and test it out yourself for free before committing $350.
Free
- : Free plan
- : 10 GB
Premium Plus
Business
- : price per user (Min. 3 users)
- : 1000 GB
SpiderOak One was built with privacy in mind.
More details about SpiderOak One Backup:
- Pricing: 2TB of storage for $12.42 per month when paid annually
- Website: spideroak.com
Pros:
- Privacy-focused provider
- Zero-knowledge encryption
- Unlimited file versioning
Cons:
- Poor upload speed
- Expensive
- Weak user interface
We’ll be the first to point out that SpiderOak has a few issues. It isn’t particularly easy to use, costs around the same amount as Acronis and has poor transfer speeds like Carbonite — although the issue is the upload speed rather than the download speed.
However, SpiderOak One Backup beats out almost every other online backup provider when it comes to privacy and security. It has one of the best privacy policies we’ve seen, great database security procedures and the all-important zero-knowledge encryption.
It also has a pretty solid customer support, feature set and backup process, with the option of unlimited versioning, plus SpiderOak Hive to sync files and a decent but limited web service.
SpiderOak One is worth the price if security is your main concern.
As we mentioned earlier, SpiderOak One isn’t the cheapest. Using the annual plans, you can get 400GB for $9.58 per month or 2TB for $12.42 per month. This is pretty pricey, especially as an IDrive alternative, but if you’ve got the money to spend on security, read our SpiderOak review to learn more or give it a go with the 21-day trial.
5GB Plan (mobile only)
10GB Plan (mobile only)
150GB Plan
400GB Plan
Final Thoughts
Until another service can match IDrive on features, pricing, usability, speed and security without any major sacrifices, it’ll still have a special place at the top of our favorite online backup lists. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t have limitations or that it’s the only service that can safely back up your data.
These five IDrive alternatives are all great options to pick from and there are even more out there, such as our favorite backup for businesses, CrashPlan for Small Business (read our CrashPlan review here).
Our other articles about online backups are a great way to find out about additional providers and information, like the features of an online backup.
What did you think of our list of the best IDrive alternatives? Are you looking for a cloud backup provider? Did you have a problem with IDrive? Did one of these providers work better for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading.