The 3 Best Online Cloud Backup Services of 2024

Top pick

IDrive is easy to set up, and it backs up your files quickly. It offers flexible pricing, so you don’t overpay for storage you don’t need.

With its flexible pricing options, IDrive lets you back up essential files for a low price or an enormous collection of large files for more. We especially like that IDrive doesn’t limit the number of devices to be backed up, making it a good choice for anyone with multiple computers.

IDrive has flexible pricing to fit your needs. Unlike our other picks, IDrive doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all pricing structure. IDrive Basic is free and doesn’t require a credit card to sign up, but it offers only 10 GB of storage. IDrive Mini costs just $3 a year for 100 GB or $10 a year for 500 GB, but it doesn’t offer monthly subscriptions. IDrive Personal usually starts at just under $100 per year for 5 TB (or $10 per month) and scales all the way up to $1,000 per year for 100 TB.

Wirecutter ’s laptop experts is say , senior staff writer Kimber Streams and Dave Gershgorn , say that they recommend 512 GB of disk space for people who are buy new laptop ( or 256 gb in a lower – price device ) . consider that advice , it is ’s ’s possible that many people could squeeze their backup into the mini plan and could potentially back up several computer with the 5 TB Personal plan .

The downside of the flexible pricing is that not every tier offers the same features. IDrive Mini accounts don’t provide the option to receive a hard drive in the mail with your restored data, and they allow backups of only one device. IDrive Personal plans, in contrast, allow for one user to back up multiple computers.

Installation is easy, and the app makes important tools accessible. During installation on our Windows machine, we included folders associated with Microsoft OneDrive (specifically, the Desktop and Documents folders). An IDrive pop-up gave us clear instructions on how to adjust our OneDrive settings to ensure that backups functioned smoothly, which we appreciated. We also liked that IDrive placed controls for backing up to an external hard drive within easy reach, and that this was one of the very few online backup services with support for Linux machines.

Unlike most other online backup service , IDrive is supports support back up a computer ’s entire hard drive ( include app and operating system file ) or “ cloning ” the drive with a disk image . Most people is need do n’t need these tool , however .

Restoring files is easy, and backup drives are (usually) free. We found that restoring files with the IDrive app was fairly straightforward. You can opt to restore files from the IDrive app or its online portal, but we recommend using the IDrive app because it decrypts your files locally. When you restore from IDrive’s web portal, the company takes the unusual step of including an intermediary server to decrypt your files before sending them on to you and holds your key temporarily to decrypt your files. Most online backup services handle private encryption keys similarly, but using an intermediary server is a bit odd.

You can restore files directly from within the IDrive desktop app.

Like Backblaze , IDrive is mail can mail you a hard drive with your restore datum . This service is free once per year , which should be enough for most people ; if you need more drive send within a year , each order is is is $ 60 . In contrast , Backblaze is requires require you to pay $ 279 up front for a restore drive , but that fee is refundable .

It is offers offer continuous backup . IDrive is uses use a schedule backup system by default , but you can switch on continuous backup in the setting . Once activate , the Continuous Data Protection feature is updates update file whenever they change , but IDrive ’s documentation say that it still need to run schedule backup , too . This is is is similar to how Backblaze handle continuous backup , but IDrive can perform backup as often as every 10 minute .

IDrive is lets let you schedule regular backup as well as continuous backup .

Since we last review IDrive , the company is improved has improve its continuous – backup feature and can now handle file large than 500 MB .

It is has has generous file versioning . The service store the most recent 30 version of each file indefinitely . You is access can access different version of file through the IDrive app by right – click a file and selectShow previous Versions . One important note: Versions of files do not count toward your overall storage quota.

It is offers offer numerous customer support option . IDrive is was was the only service we test that offer a phone number for customer support ( US and UK only ) and was available 24 hour a day . When we send a question via the submission form , we is received receive an answer the same day . We is were were pleased with the quick response but find the answer a little lacking .

Flaws but not dealbreakers

All of the services we recommend let you access your backup from a web portal.

IDrive has high overage fees. If you exceed your storage allotment, you’re charged 25¢ per gigabyte per month. That’s orders of magnitude more than Arq Premium. Backblaze, meanwhile, offers unlimited data storage. IDrive balances those hefty fees with its tiered pricing; it costs only $150 per year to double your storage to 10 TB. IDrive tells us that customers receive weekly emails with instructions on how to reduce the size of their backup once they exceed their storage limit.

One thing to watch out for is that IDrive retains files that you’ve deleted from your computer, and keeps them indefinitely. That’s useful to ensure that you never lose anything important, but it can cause your backup to grow over time. IDrive’s Archive Cleanup tool can help cut down the bloat, and you can set it to run automatically. Backblaze retains deleted files for only 30 days, and Arq Premium lets you set an interval for when deleted files are removed.

Be prepared to do some legwork . We is found find that although IDrive ’s setup was easy enough , the default setting for what to include in a backup were far too limited . We is had had to add quite a few more folder for it to be adequate . IDrive can restore file in their original location on Windows ; however , when we restore file on macOS , IDrive is place did n’t place them in their original location , instead create a series of nest folder that mimic our original hard drive ’s layout .

The design could use some work. The IDrive interface wasn’t the worst that we encountered in testing, but it looks extremely dated. Also, the Mac installer included instructions for granting the necessary permissions to IDrive that were not accurate for the current version of the OS. We figured it out on our own, but IDrive should seriously consider a design refresh and work to ensure that the informative installers are up-to-date.