CrashPlan PRO vs Competitors: Which Backup Service Wins?Data backup is no longer optional — it’s essential. Businesses face threats from hardware failure, human error, ransomware, and natural disasters. Choosing the right backup service affects recovery speed, cost, security, and administrative overhead. This article compares CrashPlan PRO with key competitors across capabilities, pricing, security, performance, and manageability to help you decide which backup service wins for your organization.
What is CrashPlan PRO?
CrashPlan PRO (CrashPlan for Small Business historically) is a business-grade backup solution focused on continuous, policy-driven backups for desktops, laptops, and servers. It emphasizes easy deployment, unlimited versioning, and centralized management for IT teams. CrashPlan’s strengths include agent-based backups, flexible retention policies, and straightforward restore options for end users and administrators.
Competitors considered
- Acronis Cyber Protect / Acronis Backup
- Veeam Backup & Replication / Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365
- Backblaze for Business
- Carbonite (OpenText) Safe Server / Carbonite Endpoint
- Microsoft 365 / OneDrive built-in backup features (for end-user file protection)
- AWS Backup / Native cloud-provider backup tools (as a category)
These competitors represent on-premises, hybrid, and cloud-first approaches and vary in target audience from small businesses to large enterprises.
Comparison criteria
- Core backup features (continuous vs scheduled, file vs image-level, cross-device)
- Retention/versioning and restore granularity
- Security (encryption at rest/in transit, key management, zero-knowledge options)
- Ransomware protection and recovery tooling
- Scalability and multi-site support
- Management and reporting (central console, role-based access, auditing)
- Performance and bandwidth optimization (deduplication, compression, throttling)
- Pricing and total cost of ownership (licenses, storage costs, egress)
- Platform/OS support and integrations (virtual machines, SaaS apps, cloud)
- Ease of deployment and end-user experience
- Support and SLAs
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Category | CrashPlan PRO | Acronis Cyber Protect | Veeam | Backblaze for Business | Carbonite | Cloud-native (AWS/Azure/M365) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backup type | Agent-based file and folder; continuous; limited image support | Full image + file-level; agent & appliance; integrated AV | Image-level (VMs), file, application-aware | Agent-based file/folder; continuous; no image | Agent-based; file/folder and server image options | Varies: snapshot/image, object, SaaS app backup |
| Retention/versioning | Unlimited versions (configurable) | Flexible; long-term retention | Very flexible; enterprise retention policies | Retention configurable; versions kept as per plan | Configurable; varies by plan | Highly configurable; lifecycle policies |
| End-user restores | Self-service restorations via app/web | Self-service + admin restores | Self-service via portals + admin tools | Easy web restores | Self-service + admin | Varies; depends on service |
| Encryption | TLS in transit, AES-256 at rest; optional private key management | AES-256, private key options; comprehensive security stack | AES-256; often customer-managed keys | AES-⁄256 in transit & rest | AES-256; options vary | Strong encryption; KMS options |
| Zero-knowledge | No (provider can access keys unless using private key option where available) | Optional private key (some versions) | Depends on deployment | No | No | Possible with customer-managed keys |
| Ransomware features | Versioning and immutable point-in-time restoration; limited native detection | Advanced anti-malware, behavioral detection, rollback | Immutable backups, orchestration, ransomware recovery | Versioning; no advanced detection | Versioning; add-ons for detection | Native immutability (object locks), snapshots, detection tools |
| Deduplication & compression | Client-side deduplication; efficient for endpoint fleets | Global dedupe, compression, WAN acceleration | Advanced dedupe/compression across VMs | Limited dedupe (less sophisticated) | Dedupe on some plans | Provider features (S3 Intelligent-Tiering, Glacier, etc.) |
| Scalability | Good for SMBs and distributed endpoints; centralized console | Enterprise-grade; scales large environments | Enterprise-scale; excels in virtualized datacenters | Highly scalable for endpoints; simple model | SMB to mid-market | Highly scalable; pay-for-what-you-use |
| SaaS app backup | Limited; third-party tools needed | Included (Office 365, Google Workspace) | Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 | Add-on/third-party | Add-on | Native or partner solutions |
| Pricing model | Per-device subscription (often per endpoint) | Per-workload / per-seat with add-ons | Per-socket/per-instance or subscription | Per-device, simple plan | Per-device or per-server with tiers | Usage-based (storage + API costs) |
| Ease of deployment | Fast for endpoints; modest IT overhead | More complex; multiple components | Complex for enterprise; requires design | Extremely simple | Moderate | Varies; can be complex |
Strengths of CrashPlan PRO
- Simplicity for endpoints: Fast onboarding for laptops/desktops with a small agent footprint and self-service restores for users.
- Unlimited versioning and flexible retention: Good for organizations needing long historical recovery points without explicit storage throttles.
- Centralized management: Admin console for policy rollout, monitoring, and reporting across distributed workforces.
- Competitive pricing for endpoint-focused use cases: Predictable per-device pricing works well for SMBs and distributed teams.
Weaknesses of CrashPlan PRO
- Limited image-level & server virtualization support: Not ideal if your primary need is full-system images, VM backups, or complex application-aware backups (databases, Exchange, AD) without third-party tools.
- Ransomware prevention features are basic: Relies on versioning and restores rather than integrated detection/anti-malware found in Acronis.
- SaaS and cloud-native integrations are weaker: If you need Office 365, Google Workspace, or deep cloud-provider backup integrations, other vendors may offer more complete packages.
- No true zero-knowledge by default: While encryption is strong, full zero-knowledge (provider cannot access keys) may be limited compared to some options.
When CrashPlan PRO wins
- You manage many distributed endpoints (laptops/desktops) and need continuous, low-touch backups with user self-restore.
- You want predictable per-device pricing and unlimited version retention without running a large on-prem backup infrastructure.
- Your environment is primarily file-based (docs, user data) rather than heavy virtualization or database servers.
When a competitor is better
- If you need enterprise VM image backups, application-aware backups, or integration with virtualization platforms — Veeam is often the top choice.
- If you want backup integrated with advanced anti-ransomware, patching, and endpoint protection — Acronis Cyber Protect delivers both backup and security features in one platform.
- If you need the lowest-cost, simple cloud endpoint backup with straightforward restore and very simple pricing — Backblaze for Business is compelling.
- For deep cloud-native strategies (S3 object lifecycle, immutable object storage, large-scale snapshots) or backup of cloud workloads and services, native cloud backups (AWS Backup, Azure Backup, etc.) or vendor solutions built for cloud are preferable.
Cost considerations
CrashPlan PRO’s per-device subscription model is predictable for endpoint-heavy organizations. Total cost of ownership must also include:
- Storage and egress charges (for cloud or hybrid models)
- Admin time and potential integration costs
- Additional licenses for server/VM backups or SaaS app backups if needed
- Disaster recovery orchestration and DR testing costs
Competitors often have modular pricing that can be more cost-effective for large VM estates (Veeam) or cloud-native workloads (AWS), but can become complex.
Security & compliance
For regulated industries, consider:
- Key management (bring-your-own-key) and whether the provider supports customer-owned keys.
- Audit logs and role-based access control (RBAC).
- Data residency and whether backups can be stored in specific geographic regions.
- Immutable backups or object-lock features for ransomware protection and compliance.
CrashPlan provides strong encryption and retention controls, but may require architecture workarounds for strict compliance regimes compared with enterprise offerings that provide dedicated compliance features and attestation.
Real-world decision guide (quick)
- Endpoint-first SMBs with remote workers: CrashPlan PRO or Backblaze — CrashPlan for features & management; Backblaze for simplicity and price.
- Virtualized datacenter and enterprise apps: Veeam.
- Combined backup + anti-ransomware + endpoint protection: Acronis Cyber Protect.
- Large cloud-native deployments and SaaS backup: Native cloud backup tools or SaaS-specialized providers.
- Budget-conscious teams needing simple unlimited storage for endpoints: Backblaze for Business.
Final verdict
There is no single winner for every scenario. For protecting distributed endpoints and giving end users easy self-service restores while keeping centralized control, CrashPlan PRO is the best choice among similar endpoint-focused products. For environments dominated by virtual machines, complex application-consistent backups, or requiring integrated anti-ransomware and security tooling, competitors like Veeam or Acronis will likely “win” for those specific requirements.
Pick the vendor that aligns with your primary workload type:
- File-focused endpoints → CrashPlan PRO
- Virtualized servers & apps → Veeam
- Backup + security together → Acronis
- Simple, low-cost endpoint backup → Backblaze
If you want, I can:
- Draft a decision checklist tailored to your environment (workloads, number of endpoints, compliance needs), or
- Produce a side-by-side cost estimate for CrashPlan PRO vs 1–2 competitors using your environment details.
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