Veeam tops the ranking for large enterprises needing comprehensive backup and recovery, whilst Acronis suits mid-market organisations seeking affordable all-in-one solutions. Rubrik excels for cloud-native environments and Kubernetes workloads. Commvault serves enterprises requiring granular control and multi-cloud deployments.
RANKENTRYSCORETRENDFROM
1VeeamVeeam introduced Instant VM Recovery technology, reducing RTO to minutes across heterogeneous environments.95.0NEW$2,000-5,000 per socket per year 2CommvaultCommvault's portfolio includes solutions for SAP, Oracle and Salesforce with industry-specific recovery workflows.92.7NEWCustom 3RubrikRubrik specialises in backing up Kubernetes clusters and containerised applications with application-aware recovery granularity.90.3NEWCustom 4AcronisAcronis is one of the few vendors bundling backup, disaster recovery and antimalware in a unified subscription model.88.0NEW£2-5 per endpoint per month 5BaculaBacula has been widely deployed for over 20 years and offers both free open-source and commercial support models.85.7NEWFree (open-source) or £30-100 per month (commercial subscriptions) 6Dell EMC NetWorkerNetWorker integrates seamlessly with Dell EMC storage arrays and Unity systems for optimised backup operations.83.3NEWCustom 7IBM Spectrum ProtectIBM Spectrum Protect offers one of the industry's most advanced inline deduplication engines, reducing backup storage by up to 95 percent.81.0NEWCustom 8CohesityCohesity's DataHawk technology enables anomaly detection and ransomware identification through AI-driven analysis of backup metadata.78.7NEWCustom 9ArcserveArcserve UDP combines backup, disaster recovery and cloud mobility in a single appliance-based solution optimised for channel partners.76.3NEW£25-50 per month per server 10NakivoNakivo specialises in VM-focused backup with competitive instant recovery speeds and a transparent per-socket pricing model.74.0NEW£49-149 per socket per year The ranking, in detail
01
Enterprise backup and recovery leader with instant VM recovery
Veeam specialises in backup and recovery for VMware and Hyper-V environments, offering industry-leading instant recovery capabilities and comprehensive ransomware protection across virtual, physical, cloud and SaaS workloads.
From $2,000-5,000 per socket per yearBest for Large enterprises with complex virtual infrastructure
95.0
02
Multi-cloud backup platform for hyperscale data management
Commvault delivers unified backup, recovery and compliance across on-premises, cloud and SaaS environments, with advanced data governance and AI-driven insights for cost optimisation.
From CustomBest for Large enterprises managing multi-cloud and hybrid infrastructure
92.7
03
Cloud-native data security and backup for modern infrastructure
Rubrik provides cloud-native backup and recovery optimised for Kubernetes, containerised workloads and cloud-native applications, with built-in ransomware defense and zero-trust security principles.
From CustomBest for Organisations with Kubernetes and container-based architectures
90.3
04
Affordable backup and disaster recovery for SMBs and mid-market
Acronis delivers integrated backup, disaster recovery and security in a single platform, combining data protection with malware detection and endpoint security for businesses of all sizes.
From £2-5 per endpoint per monthBest for Small to mid-sized organisations seeking integrated backup and security
88.0
05
Open-source and commercial backup software for any infrastructure
Bacula is a mature open-source backup platform offering flexible licensing options, supporting heterogeneous environments including bare metal, virtual machines and cloud instances with modular architecture.
From Free (open-source) or £30-100 per month (commercial subscriptions)Best for Cost-conscious organisations and those requiring source code access
85.7
06
Enterprise-grade backup and recovery for heterogeneous data centres
Dell EMC NetWorker provides centralised backup management across physical, virtual and cloud environments with strong integration to Dell EMC storage products and robust disaster recovery capabilities.
From CustomBest for Dell EMC-heavy data centres seeking integrated backup solutions
83.3
07
Scalable enterprise backup with deduplication and compliance
IBM Spectrum Protect (formerly Tivoli Storage Manager) delivers scalable backup and recovery with advanced data deduplication, encryption and compliance features for large heterogeneous environments.
From CustomBest for Enterprises with complex compliance requirements and large-scale backup needs
81.0
08
Converged data management platform for backup, analytics and recovery
Cohesity consolidates backup and recovery with data analytics and search in a single platform, enabling secondary data management and ransomware detection across structured and unstructured data.
From CustomBest for Organisations seeking to extract value from secondary data and analytics
78.7
09
Simplified backup and disaster recovery for SMBs and mid-market
Arcserve UDP (Unified Data Protection) provides simple, scalable backup and disaster recovery with cloud integration, ransomware protection and support for physical, virtual and cloud workloads.
From £25-50 per month per serverBest for Mid-market organisations wanting easy-to-manage backup with cloud flexibility
76.3
10
Affordable backup and disaster recovery for VMware and Hyper-V
Nakivo offers cost-effective backup solutions optimised for virtual machine environments, providing instant recovery capabilities and cloud replication with simple web-based management.
From £49-149 per socket per yearBest for Small to mid-sized organisations with virtualised infrastructure on tight budgets
74.0
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?
RTO is the maximum acceptable time to restore systems after an outage, whilst RPO is the maximum acceptable data loss measured in time (e.g., how frequently backups run). Modern platforms aim for RTO in minutes and RPO of hours or less depending on criticality.
Should we use backup vendors with immutable backups to protect against ransomware?
Yes. Immutable backups cannot be deleted or modified once written, making them ransomware-proof. Leading vendors like Veeam, Rubrik and Acronis now offer immutable backup options as standard, preventing attackers from encrypting or destroying backup copies.
How do we choose between on-premises backup appliances and cloud-based backup services?
On-premises appliances offer lower latency and full control but require capital investment and maintenance. Cloud services reduce upfront costs and overhead but incur ongoing subscription fees and depend on network connectivity. Many organisations adopt hybrid models using both.