Best Microsoft 365 Backup Solutions for SMBs (2026)

Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through one of these links, TripleSec may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This never affects which products we recommend - our picks are based on independent research and testing.

If your business runs on Microsoft 365, there's a good chance you're not as protected as you think - even if you've already worked through our Microsoft 365 security checklist. Microsoft keeps your services running and gives you short-term recovery options - a 30-day Exchange recovery window, recycle bins, retention policies - but that's availability, not backup. Under the Microsoft Services Agreement, responsibility for your actual data protection sits with you, the customer. If an employee permanently deletes a SharePoint library, a phishing attack encrypts your OneDrive files, or a disgruntled ex-employee wipes their mailbox on the way out, Microsoft's native tools often won't get it back.

That's where third-party Microsoft 365 backup solutions come in. We compared four of the leading options - Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Keepit, Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, and AvePoint Cloud Backup - to help you figure out which one actually fits your business.

Quick Answer

Not sure which of those describes you best? Answer four quick questions in the tool below and we'll point you to the right one.

Why Microsoft 365 Needs a Third-Party Backup

It's worth spending one paragraph on this, because it's the single most common misconception SMB owners have. Microsoft 365's built-in protections are designed to keep the service running, not to protect your data from every way it can be lost. Accidental deletion, insider threats, ransomware, retention policy gaps, and permanent gaps after the 30-day recovery window all fall outside what Microsoft guarantees. A proper backup gives you an independent, restorable copy of your Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams data - ideally stored somewhere an attacker who compromises your tenant can't also reach.

With that out of the way, here's how the four leading options stack up.

Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365

Best for: Businesses with in-house IT or an MSP who want full control and are comfortable managing backup software themselves.

Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (VB365) is self-managed software you install and run on your own infrastructure, covering Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams under a single license. Customers often cite the single-licensing model as a big reason it's easy to manage the whole environment from one place. You choose where your backups are stored, which gives you flexibility other SaaS-only tools don't offer - but it also means you own the setup, maintenance, and storage costs.

Veeam also sells Veeam Data Cloud (VDC), a separate, fully managed SaaS version of the same idea if you'd rather Veeam run the infrastructure for you. The trade-off is straightforward: self-managed VB365 gives you more control, while VDC eliminates that operational overhead - worth knowing if "Veeam" keeps coming up in your research and the pricing looks different than expected.

Pros:

• Single license covers all core M365 workloads
• Store backups wherever you choose (on-prem, cloud, or hybrid)
• Well-established, widely used, strong community and documentation
• Good fit if you already use Veeam for VM or server backups

Cons:

• Self-managed means you're responsible for the infrastructure
• Less useful if you need to back up SaaS apps outside the Microsoft ecosystem

Keepit

Best for: Businesses that prioritize ransomware resilience and want backup storage completely independent of Microsoft's infrastructure.

Keepit is a pure SaaS backup platform built around one core idea: your backup shouldn't live anywhere an attacker who compromises your M365/Azure tenant could also reach. Keepit stores backup data on its own infrastructure in Equinix data centers, running on a separate cloud with separate billing from Azure. Its storage uses a Merkle tree architecture that makes immutability structural rather than a configuration setting - there's no toggle an admin (or attacker) could disable.

Beyond the security angle, Keepit's other advantage is breadth: as of mid-2026 it covers more than 17 SaaS applications, including Google Workspace, Dynamics 365, GitHub, and Jira, versus a handful for most M365-only tools. If Microsoft 365 is genuinely the only cloud platform you need to protect, that breadth doesn't matter much - but if you're likely to add other SaaS tools later, it saves you from adopting a second backup product down the line. Keepit was also named a Leader in IDC's 2025 MarketScape for SaaS Data Protection, and reviewers on G2 rate it favorably for ease of setup and support responsiveness compared to some self-managed alternatives.

Pros:

• Backup storage structurally isolated from your Microsoft tenant
• Covers 17+ SaaS platforms, not just M365
• Fully managed SaaS - nothing to install or maintain
• Strong compliance and ransomware-resilience story

Cons:

• Premium positioning; you're paying for the isolation and breadth
• Less relevant if you only ever need to protect M365 and nothing else

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud

Best for: SMBs and MSPs who'd rather consolidate backup and cybersecurity into one product than manage separate tools.

Acronis takes a different approach entirely: instead of being a pure backup product, Cyber Protect Cloud bundles backup with anti-malware protection and patch management in a single agent. For a small business without a dedicated security team, that consolidation is the main draw - one vendor, one dashboard, one bill, instead of stitching together a backup tool, an endpoint security product, and a patch manager separately.

This makes it a particularly strong fit for MSPs managing multiple SMB clients, since it reduces the number of agents and consoles they need to maintain across a client base.

Pros:

• Backup, anti-malware, and patch management in one agent
• Reduces vendor sprawl - good for lean IT teams and MSPs
• Competitive pricing for the combined feature set

Cons:

• As an all-in-one tool, its backup-specific features are less specialized than dedicated tools like Keepit or Veeam
• Best value comes from using the security features too, not just backup

AvePoint Cloud Backup

Best for: Teams that live in SharePoint and Teams and need fast, precise recovery from everyday mistakes.

AvePoint focuses on deep coverage of Microsoft 365 workloads combined with frequent, automated backups - up to multiple backups per day for services where that matters. Its standout feature is restore granularity: advanced search, bulk restore, and out-of-place recovery make cleanup after user mistakes or a security incident considerably faster than tools built around simple version history. If your team frequently needs to recover a specific deleted file, a handful of Teams messages, or restore something to a different location without overwriting current data, this granularity is where AvePoint pulls ahead.

In third-party comparisons, AvePoint scores well on core features and ease of use, though it tends to land toward the pricier end compared to some alternatives - a trade-off for the restore speed and precision.

Pros:

• Frequent automated backups across M365 workloads
• Best-in-class restore granularity for day-to-day recovery needs
• Purpose-built for organizations with heavy SharePoint/Teams collaboration

Cons:

• Pricing tends to run higher than some competitors
• Less differentiated if your primary concern is ransomware/tenant isolation rather than restore speed

Side-by-Side Comparison

How to Choose

If you strip away the marketing, the decision usually comes down to one question: what are you actually most afraid of?

• Afraid of a ransomware attacker reaching your backups too → Keepit
• Afraid of vendor sprawl and want fewer tools to manage → Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud
• Want full control and already have the IT resources to run it yourself → Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365
• Afraid of the slow, painful cleanup after a user accidentally deletes something → AvePoint Cloud Backup

If none of those feels like an obvious fit, take the quiz above - it walks through the same trade-offs in under a minute and points you to the closest match based on your actual setup.

FAQ

Does Microsoft 365 already back up my data?

Not in the way most businesses assume. Microsoft provides service availability and short-term recovery tools (like 30-day mailbox recovery and recycle bins), but under the Microsoft Services Agreement, protecting your data long-term is your responsibility, not Microsoft's.

How much does third-party Microsoft 365 backup cost?

Pricing varies by vendor and workload count, typically billed per user per month. As one data point, Veeam's Data Cloud Foundation tier starts at roughly $2.63 per user per month for M365-only coverage; more comprehensive or multi-SaaS plans from other vendors can run higher.

Can I switch backup vendors later without losing my data?

Generally yes, but export/migration processes differ by vendor and it's worth checking retention overlap before you cancel one service and start another, so you're never left with a coverage gap.

Do I need backup and cybersecurity from the same vendor?

No - that's a convenience decision, not a requirement. Acronis is the only option here that bundles both; the other three are backup-focused and pair well with whatever endpoint or email security tools you already use.

Ready to make a decision? Take the quiz above, or jump straight to Veeam / Keepit / Acronis / AvePoint to compare current pricing.