Cloud Backup Services, picked by what actually saved a customer
Five cloud backup services for personal, family, power-user, small-business, and privacy-first use cases — chosen from the recoveries I've watched succeed (and the ones that didn't) over the past decade in this business.
FTC DISCLOSURE. Computer Medic Repair & Service LLC participates in affiliate programs including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and several cloud-backup providers. We may earn a commission from signups or purchases made through links on this page at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on independent research and real-world reliability data — not on commission rates.
Cloud backup is the answer to a specific question: what happens to your files when the drive that holds them is on a desk in a flooded house? A surge protector, a UPS, and an external SSD don't help when the building is gone. Offsite — meaning, somewhere not in your house — is the only word in the 3-2-1 backup rule that matters during a disaster. Cloud backup is the easiest way to satisfy "offsite" without driving a hard drive to your sister's place every Sunday.
This guide picks five services across five use cases. Use the decision tree to skip to the section that's actually for you. Notice what's missing: Carbonite doesn't appear here. Once a top recommendation, Carbonite has gotten outpriced and outperformed by Backblaze and iDrive over the past four years, and the customer-facing software has stagnated. The brand recognition is real; the product no longer earns it.
⚠ October 2026 updateSame five picks, higher prices, one big catch. Every service in this guide still exists and is still selling to individuals, but most of them raised prices in 2026: Backblaze B2 went from $6 to $6.95 per terabyte in May, iDrive's renewal rates went up, and Sync.com reshuffled its plans so a terabyte costs about twice what it did after the first year. The bigger story is Backblaze Personal quietly no longer backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders — details in Pick 1. Every price below marked * is an October-2026 snapshot from the provider's own pricing page. Most of these services discount the first year, so I list the renewal price too. Check before you sign up.
Rating scale calibrated tight, same as previous issues — top of the scale is 4.7, nothing earns a 5.0. A 4.2 here means "this is the right pick for its slot, with real trade-offs noted in the field-note callout." Read the caveats — that's where the honest part lives.
Section A · Personal
Three picks for one PC, a family, or a power user with terabytes.
The home / personal segment of this guide. Pick 1 is the answer for one machine that you want set up in twenty minutes; Pick 2 covers a household of devices on a single license; Pick 3 is the technical reader's pick for scaling beyond what either of the first two offer. If your situation isn't covered by these three, Section B has the small-business and privacy-first picks.
Pick 01 · Single PC backup (Personal)
Backblaze Personal (~$99/year* per computer, unlimited)
4.5 / 5·DX·07A
Pricing~$99/yr* ($9/mo) per computer
StorageUnlimited
Devices1 per license
Versioning30 days; 1 year free to enable
RestoreDownload or shipped USB drive
EncryptionEnd-to-end optional
If you have one personal computer and you want backup that you set up in twenty minutes and never think about again, this is the answer. Backblaze Personal is unlimited storage, $99/year per computer, with a desktop client that just runs in the background and uploads everything that changes. Most reviewers' top pick for the last decade for one specific reason: it's the simplest thing that works.
The unlimited storage is the headline feature, and it's real — I have a customer with 4.2 TB backed up on a single Backblaze license, no surprise fees, no warnings. Where Backblaze stays honest with the unlimited promise is by being a backup service, not a sync service: it backs up the drive on the computer, not 'all your data forever across all your devices.' If you want to back up two machines, that's two licenses ($198/yr). It's a deliberate constraint that keeps the unlimited offering economically sane.
A question I get a lot: Backblaze Personal vs. Business? As of October 2026 they cost the same — $99/year per computer — and run the same backup client. Business adds a central admin console, group billing, and managed restores, so the office manager can see every employee laptop in one place. One computer at home: Personal. Three or more machines at a business: Business.
⚠ Field note
External drives are backed up only if they're plugged in at least every 30 days. Mapped network drives are not backed up by Backblaze Personal — that's a B2 (Pick 3) or iDrive (Pick 2) job. Also: default version history is 30 days, and Backblaze now lets you switch on 1-year history for free — do it. "Forever" history costs extra (about $0.006/GB per month for versions older than a year); most home users don't need it.
⚠ Why this dropped from 4.7 in October 2026
Since late 2025, Backblaze stopped backing up cloud-synced folders like OneDrive and Dropbox. Backblaze confirmed it in an April 2026 blog post (it says iCloud Drive and Google Drive are supported), but plenty of customers only found out when the folder was missing from their restore. Their reasoning (files in those folders are often just stubs pointing at the cloud, not real local copies) is fair. The problem is that Windows 11 pushes hard to move your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures into OneDrive. If yours did, Backblaze may not be backing up the files you care about most. Check the folder list in the client's restore view. Still my pick for one computer whose files live on its own drive; it just isn't "install it and never think about it" anymore.
Strong points
Truly unlimited storage on a single license
Install in 5 minutes, runs invisibly
Ship-a-drive restore option (deposit refunded when you return the drive)
30-day version history included; 1-year is a free switch
iDrive (~$84* first year for 5 TB, ~$120/year after, unlimited devices)
4.5 / 5·DX·07B
Pricing5TB ~$84* yr 1 / ~$120 after · 10TB ~$126* / ~$180
DevicesUnlimited
Photo featuresFaces, places, dedup
Versioning30 versions
RestoreDownload or shipped drive
EncryptionServer-side default; opt-in private key
For households with multiple devices and a desire to back up the family photos, iDrive is the right pick. About $84 for the first year on 5 TB (about $120/year after that), and the headline difference from Backblaze is that one license covers unlimited devices. Phones, tablets, laptops, the kid's MacBook, the spouse's iPhone — all on one plan, all in one console.
iDrive's photo features are also genuinely useful. It groups photos by date, location, and face; deduplicates aggressively (your 'iCloud download' folder won't double-count); and has a decent restore-by-album workflow when you need to pull just the wedding photos back out. For a family of four with shared photos and the usual mix of old hard drives full of nostalgia, this is the cleanest path I've found.
⚠ Field note
iDrive's pricing is "first-year promotional." As of October 2026 the 5 TB plan is about $84 the first year and about $120 every year after — a bigger jump than when I first wrote this guide, and some customers report renewal charges higher than they expected. Budget for the renewal price, not the promo, and put a reminder on your calendar a month before renewal. Also: by default, iDrive uses server-side encryption, which means iDrive can technically read your files. To switch to private-key (zero-knowledge) encryption, you opt in during setup; it's a one-way switch, and if you lose the key, your files are unrecoverable. For most family use cases the default is fine; for sensitive data, see Pick 5 (Sync.com) instead.
Strong points
One license covers unlimited family devices
5-10 TB plans (Backblaze Personal is per-computer only)
Photo organization features (faces, places, dedup)
Ship-a-drive restore option (IDrive Express)
HIPAA-eligible on the consumer plan with BAA
Real-world drawbacks
First-year promo pricing — jumps in year two
Default encryption is server-side (opt-in for private key)
For the technical reader with multiple terabytes across multiple machines and a willingness to set things up properly: Backblaze B2 (the storage layer) plus a backup client like restic, Arq, or rclone. You pay $6.95/TB/month for storage (up from $6 in May 2026 — Backblaze made API calls free at the same time), plus a penny per GB if a restore goes past the free allowance, and you get an S3-compatible API that any backup tool worth using can speak to.
The reason to do this rather than Backblaze Personal: scaling. Backblaze Personal caps at one computer per license; B2 caps only at your wallet. The reason to do this rather than iDrive: control. With restic or Arq plus B2, you own the encryption keys (client-side), you control what's backed up, you pick the version-history retention. The trade is setup time. Plan a Saturday afternoon.
⚠ Field note
B2 is storage, not a backup product. You need a separate client that handles scheduling, encryption, and de-duplication: restic (free, CLI-only, what I use), Arq (Mac/Windows, about $60 one-time per computer, what I install for customers who want this tier without the CLI), Duplicati (free, GUI, but rougher UX), or rclone (CLI, free, sync-style). Downloads are free up to three times the amount you store each month, then $0.01/GB — so a one-time "restore everything" usually costs nothing, but restoring the same big archive over and over can. For scale: 5 TB on B2 now runs about $35/month, roughly $420/year, before the client.
Strong points
Pay only for what you store (~$6.95/TB/month*)
Scales infinitely — wallet is the only cap
Client-side encryption with restic/Arq
S3-compatible API — works with countless tools
Full version-history possible (you set retention)
Real-world drawbacks
Requires technical setup (cron, restic config, or Arq license)
No all-in-one GUI by default
Egress past 3× storage is $0.01/GB
Misconfigured backups can be invisible until you need them
Section B is the small-business pick (multi-employee, server backup, compliance) and the privacy-first pick (zero-knowledge encryption — the provider cannot read your files). Both are picks where the personal services in Section A miss the requirements: Backblaze Personal can't back up servers, iDrive's default encryption isn't zero-knowledge, and B2 isn't a turn-key product. These two fill those gaps.
Pick 04 · Small business (Business + privacy)
iDrive Business (~$240–3,600/year* by storage tier)
4.1 / 5·DX·07D
Pricing~$240/yr* (500GB) → ~$3,600/yr (12.5TB), standard rates
UsersUnlimited
Server backupSQL, Exchange, file shares
ComplianceHIPAA, SOC 2
RestoreDownload or shipped drive
AdminCentralized console
Small businesses need things home users don't: server backup (SQL Server, Exchange, file shares), centralized admin (one place to add and remove employee laptops), compliance certs (HIPAA for medical, SOC 2 for clients-who-ask), and the ability to ship a drive when a server's gone and you need a 4 TB restore by Tuesday. iDrive Business is the right fit when you've outgrown personal backup and don't want to manage your own backup infrastructure.
Pricing scales with storage rather than seats. As of October 2026, at standard (year-two) rates, the 500 GB starter is about $240/year, 1.25 TB about $600, 2.5 TB about $960, and 12.5 TB about $3,600; iDrive knocks roughly 30% off the first year. Most one-to-five-employee shops land at the 500 GB or 1.25 TB tier. HIPAA-eligible plans require a signed Business Associate Agreement — request it during signup, not after.
⚠ Field note
iDrive Business tiers jump unevenly — 2.5 TB to 5 TB nearly doubles the bill, and there's nothing in between. Look at next year's likely capacity before locking in a tier, and budget for the standard rate, not the first-year discount. Why this dropped from 4.3 in October 2026: standard rates went up roughly 20% since spring (the 500 GB tier was about $200/year; it's now about $240). For a shop that's all laptops and no server, Backblaze Business at $99/year per computer is now usually the cheaper and friendlier choice. iDrive Business still wins the moment there's a server, a SQL database, or Exchange to protect. Also: the admin console is functional but dated.
Strong points
Server backup included (SQL, Exchange, file shares)
HIPAA-eligible (BAA required)
Centralized admin console
Ship-a-drive restore (IDrive Express)
Long-running provider
Real-world drawbacks
Uneven tier jumps; standard rates up ~20% in 2026
Admin UI is dated vs. competitors
No per-user pricing — you buy storage capacity, not seats
Sync.com (~$72* first year for 1TB, ~$144/year after)
4.0 / 5·DX·07E
PricingPersonal 1TB ~$72* yr 1 / ~$144 after · Teams 1TB ~$6/user/mo*, 3-user min
EncryptionZero-knowledge, client-side
DevicesUnlimited
ComplianceHIPAA, GDPR, PIPEDA
SharingPassword-protected with expiration
JurisdictionCanada
The pick when you specifically want zero-knowledge encryption — meaning the backup provider literally cannot read your files. Sync.com encrypts everything client-side with keys that never leave your device. Even if Sync.com is compromised, your data is mathematical noise to the attacker.
This matters for: lawyers handling client documents, medical practices with PHI, journalists with sensitive sources, and anyone who's read enough breach reports to be uncomfortable trusting a US-based service with corporate-owned encryption keys. Sync.com is Canadian (PIPEDA jurisdiction, no US warrant access without due process), carries SOC 2 Type 1, and has been operating since 2011 without a known compromise.
Updated October 2026: Sync.com reshuffled its plans this year. The 2 TB Solo plan this pick was built around is gone. The lineup is now Personal 1 TB (about $72 the first year, $144/year after), Solo 5 TB (about $168, then $336), and Personal Unlimited (about $270, then $540). For a business, Teams 1 TB is about $6 per user per month billed annually, with a three-user minimum. The encryption is just as good as before, but after the first year you're paying roughly twice as much per terabyte, and that's why the rating dropped from 4.2 to 4.0.
⚠ Field note
Every Sync.com plan is technically a sync service, not pure backup — your files live in a special Sync folder on your machine, and changes propagate. If you delete a file locally, it gets deleted in the cloud too, and you can get it back only within the plan's file-history window (90 days on Personal 1 TB, longer on the bigger plans). For true backup behavior, pair Sync.com with a separate local backup (an external SSD from Issue 02 works). Also: zero-knowledge means there's no "reset password by email" option — lose your password and your data is unrecoverable. Use a password manager.
Strong points
Client-side encryption — provider cannot read your data
HIPAA-eligible on Teams plan with BAA
Canadian jurisdiction (PIPEDA, not US CLOUD Act)
SOC 2 Type 1 compliance
Password-protected file sharing with expiration
Real-world drawbacks
Sync, not pure backup (deletions propagate)
No password reset — lose password = lose data
Slower upload speeds than US-based providers for US users
Renewal price roughly doubles; per-TB cost well above Backblaze
This guide weights actual restore performance over feature lists. It's easy for a backup service to LOOK good in a feature comparison; it's harder to be the service that gets your photos back at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday after a flood. The calibrated top of the scale here was 4.7 (Backblaze Personal) until October 2026, when its cloud-folder exclusion pulled it down to 4.5, level with iDrive. 4.0 (Sync.com) means "the right pick for its slot, with caveats."
Sources cross-referenced: my own customer experiences with restore events over the past decade, independent reviews from Tom's Guide, Wirecutter, PCMag, and CNET, long-term ownership reports on Reddit's r/DataHoarder and r/Backup, and the TrustRadius / G2 enterprise reviews where applicable. Marketing comparison tables published by the providers themselves were the lowest-weight signal — every vendor's table happens to show their product winning.
Affiliate disclosure: as of publication, Computer Medic does not yet have signed affiliate accounts with any of the providers above; the /go/ redirects point to bare service URLs. That will change as we sign up for each provider's affiliate program. The picks were chosen before any of those conversations, and won't change because of them.
DX·07 — Issue 07 — Cloud Backup Services — Computer Medic Repair & Service LLC, Clearwater FL — Published May 2026 · Updated October 2026