Reliable data protection is no longer optional — it has become a fundamental requirement for business resilience and long-term survival. In 2026, small and medium-sized enterprises operate in a digital landscape that is more complex and vulnerable than ever before. Cybercriminals no longer target only large corporations; automated scanning tools and AI-driven attack campaigns now routinely strike organisations of every size. A single ransomware incident, a compromised cloud account or a corrupted server can disrupt operations within minutes and cause irreversible financial and reputational damage.

At the same time, IT environments have evolved far beyond the traditional office network. SMEs now manage hybrid infrastructures, combining on-premises servers, virtual machines, cloud platforms and remote endpoints. Many organisations depend heavily on SaaS ecosystems like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce or cloud-based collaboration tools, which hold mission-critical communication and operational data. While these cloud services boost productivity, they do not eliminate the need for dedicated backups — in fact, they introduce new layers of risk through account compromise, misconfigurations, sync conflicts and limited native retention policies.

In this environment, the question is no longer whether a backup strategy is necessary, but how quickly your business can recover when something goes wrong. The right backup solution determines whether your company can continue operating after a critical incident — or whether operations stall, customers are impacted, and costly downtime begins to accumulate.

To help you make an informed decision, I’ve compiled a detailed overview of the seven leading backup tools for SMEs in 2026. Each solution includes its unique strengths, potential limitations and ideal use cases, so you can choose the tool that best aligns with your infrastructure, security requirements and long-term business goals.

1. Veeam Backup & Replication 

Veeam Backup & Replication has long been recognised as the gold standard in enterprise-grade virtual machine protection — but in recent years, Veeam has expanded far beyond its roots. Today, the Veeam Data Platform delivers a comprehensive, security-focused backup and recovery ecosystem that covers virtualised environments (VMware, Hyper-V), physical servers, network-attached workloads, cloud-native applications and SaaS platforms such as Microsoft 365.

What sets Veeam apart is its reputation for exceptional recovery reliability. In critical incidents — hardware failures, ransomware attacks, or corrupted systems — organisations consistently report that Veeam restores data faster and more predictably than many competitors. This reliability is supported by Veeam’s advanced recovery engine, immutable backup storage options, and continuous verification technology, which automatically checks the recoverability of backup files. For SMEs with mission-critical workloads, this provides confidence that backups will work exactly when they are needed most.

Another major advantage is Veeam’s workload coverage. From databases to virtual machines, endpoints, hybrid servers and cloud workloads, the platform consolidates backup operations into one interface. For SMEs managing complex setups or planning long-term scaling, this unified approach significantly reduces tool sprawl and administrative overhead.

However, Veeam’s enterprise-grade strength comes with a learning curve. Installation, configuration, repository planning and job optimisation can be overwhelming for non-technical users, especially in organisations without dedicated IT staff. Licensing can also become more expensive than lightweight SMB tools — particularly as data volumes grow or hybrid environments expand.

Despite these considerations, Veeam remains one of the most trusted and versatile backup platforms for SMEs that prioritise security, uptime and business continuity. Companies with virtualised infrastructure or high availability requirements often choose Veeam as their long-term strategic backbone for data protection.

Pro	Contra	Ideal for
Outstanding reliability: industry-leading recovery speed and stability with proven track record in enterprise environments.	Complex setup: installation, architecture planning and configuration may overwhelm non-technical users without backup experience.	SMEs with virtualised environments (VMware, Hyper-V) and dedicated IT staff or MSP support.
Broad workload coverage: protects VMs, physical servers, endpoints, cloud-native workloads and SaaS (e.g., Microsoft 365) from a single platform.	Higher cost: licensing fees and infrastructure requirements may be more expensive than lightweight or freeware solutions, especially in larger SME environments.	Companies focused on fast Recovery Time Objectives (RTO), high availability, and minimal tolerance for downtime.
Strong ransomware protection: offers robust immutable backup options, WORM storage integration, and malware scanning for secure restore operations.	Steeper learning curve: comprehensive feature set requires time investment for training and ongoing administration.	Organisations requiring maximum reliability, enterprise-grade data protection, and regulatory compliance capabilities.
Excellent scalability: grows seamlessly from small deployments to enterprise-scale infrastructure without platform changes.	Resource requirements: requires dedicated infrastructure (servers, storage, network capacity) for optimal performance.	Businesses with growth plans expecting significant infrastructure expansion over time.

2. Acronis Cyber Protect

Acronis Cyber Protect stands out as one of the few truly integrated platforms that combines backup, cybersecurity, endpoint protection, vulnerability management and patch automation into a single unified solution. For SMEs, this convergence approach significantly reduces complexity: instead of managing multiple tools, vendors and dashboards, organisations gain one centralised system that protects their data and devices from both operational failures and modern cyber threats.

Acronis is particularly strong when it comes to protecting remote and distributed workforces. Its lightweight agent supports Windows, macOS and mobile devices, enabling companies to secure laptops and endpoints regardless of location. This makes it an excellent match for SMEs whose teams operate across home offices, multiple branches or hybrid setups — environments where traditional on-premises backup solutions often fall short.

One of the platform’s defining features is its AI-powered anti-ransomware engine, which monitors system behaviour in real time, detects malicious encryption activity and automatically triggers emergency backups before damage spreads. This provides an additional safety net during active attacks and ensures that clean, recoverable snapshots are available even in high-pressure situations.

Acronis also offers strong application-aware backups, fast recovery options, cloud and local storage flexibility, and simplified management through a modern web-based console. Automated patch management and vulnerability assessments further reduce attack surfaces, making Acronis not only a backup tool but a security enhancement platform.

However, this breadth of capabilities can be overwhelming — and sometimes unnecessary — for SMEs that already use standalone antivirus, EDR or patching solutions. Additionally, cloud storage costs may increase for data-intensive organisations that require multi-year retention. While Acronis does support scripting and APIs, its design prioritises ease of use over deep programmatic control, which may be a limitation for teams seeking advanced automation.

Overall, Acronis Cyber Protect is ideal for SMEs that want to simplify their toolset, strengthen their cyber resilience and protect all endpoints through a single, unified platform. For organisations with limited IT staff or those seeking a balance of backup and security capabilities in one solution, Acronis offers one of the most complete packages available in 2026.

Pro	Contra	Ideal for
All-in-one protection: integrates backup, antivirus, anti-ransomware, vulnerability assessment, and automated patch management in a single platform, eliminating tool sprawl.	Feature-heavy for some: SMEs already invested in comprehensive separate security tools may find integrated cybersecurity features redundant, potentially not justifying the additional cost.	SMEs seeking a unified, easy-to-manage data protection and security platform without coordinating multiple vendors and tools.
Hybrid-ready architecture: supports local and cloud backups with flexible strategies, protecting endpoints, physical servers, virtual machines, and cloud workloads across heterogeneous environments.	Cloud storage costs: can become expensive for organisations with very large datasets (multi-terabyte) requiring extended retention periods, though hybrid approaches can mitigate this.	Companies with distributed teams, remote workers, branch offices, or mixed on-premises/cloud infrastructure.
Built-in ransomware defense: provides behavioural detection, automated emergency backups, self-defending backup storage, and safe recovery validation to protect against and recover from active attacks.	Less programmatic control: while APIs and scripting are available, the platform emphasizes GUI-driven management over extensive command-line automation compared to pure-play enterprise backup tools.	Organisations seeking combined backup and cybersecurity without managing, updating, and correlating multiple separate protection systems.
Intuitive management: web-based console with policy templates, automated reporting, and mobile apps reduces administrative complexity and expertise requirements.	Specialised workload verification: mainstream platforms are comprehensively supported, but rare operating systems or highly specialised applications may require compatibility validation.	Security-conscious SMEs, especially those in threat-prone industries or with previous security incident experience.
Comprehensive platform support: single agent protects Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, major hypervisors, and cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) plus Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.	—	IT-lean organisations with limited technical staff who benefit from simplified, unified management and pre-configured protection templates.

3. Synology Active Backup for Business

Synology Active Backup for Business is one of the most compelling and practical solutions for SMEs that use a Synology NAS as the central backbone of their data infrastructure. Designed as a unified platform, it enables organisations to protect Windows PCs, physical servers, virtual machines (VMware and Hyper-V), and even key SaaS environments such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace — all from a single, streamlined interface. This consolidation drastically reduces administrative overhead and eliminates the need for multiple backup vendors or complex licensing structures.

One of the platform’s biggest advantages is its cost efficiency. Unlike most enterprise-grade backup tools, Synology does not charge per device, per user or per workload. Once the NAS hardware is in place, all backup features are included. For SMEs with large numbers of endpoints, multiple branch offices or fast-growing hybrid setups, this creates a predictable, scalable and budget-friendly data protection environment. Combined with Synology’s flexible hardware options — from entry-level NAS units to high-performance rack-mounted systems — businesses can tailor their backup infrastructure precisely to their operational needs.

Active Backup also delivers fast, snapshot-based recovery, allowing organisations to restore individual files, full systems or entire virtual machines within minutes. This speed is especially valuable during incidents such as ransomware attacks, hardware failures or accidental deletions, where downtime can translate directly into financial losses. The solution also includes application-aware backups for databases and critical workloads, ensuring clean and consistent restore points.

Administration is intentionally simple. Active Backup’s dashboard provides clear visibility into backup tasks, retention policies, storage consumption and restore points. Even companies without a dedicated IT department can maintain a reliable backup strategy thanks to user-friendly policy templates, automated scheduling and intuitive reporting functions. For organisations adopting a hybrid strategy, Synology offers integrations with Backblaze B2, AWS S3, Synology C2 and other cloud providers, enabling off-site replication for disaster recovery without complex configuration.

However, the platform’s strengths also define its limitations. Because Active Backup relies entirely on Synology hardware, scalability and performance depend on the chosen NAS model. Extremely large datasets, high VM density or advanced cloud-native workloads may require more powerful solutions. Additionally, Synology is not designed as a pure cloud-first platform — local infrastructure remains a requirement, which may not suit businesses transitioning fully to the cloud.

Despite these constraints, Synology Active Backup for Business remains one of the most powerful, cost-effective and accessible backup solutions for SMEs in 2026. It strikes a balance between affordability, reliability and simplicity that is hard to match, making it an excellent choice for organisations that want a unified, easy-to-manage and future-proof backup ecosystem.

4. Backblaze B2 + MSP360 

Backblaze B2 combined with MSP360 offers one of the most flexible and cost-effective backup architectures for SMEs that want full control over their backup workflows without committing to expensive enterprise ecosystems. Unlike all-in-one platforms that package storage and software together, this combination separates management from storage: MSP360 handles backup orchestration, encryption, retention policies and hybrid workflows, while Backblaze B2 provides scalable, low-cost cloud storage. This modular approach gives organisations the freedom to design a customised solution that aligns precisely with their data protection requirements, budget and infrastructure.

MSP360 supports an exceptionally wide range of environments, including Windows, macOS, Linux, VMware, Hyper-V, physical servers, databases and NAS devices. Its granular configuration options allow IT teams to define exactly how, where and when data is backed up — from enterprise-grade AES-256 encryption and compression to long-term retention strategies required for regulatory compliance. For SMEs with heterogeneous systems, this level of flexibility is a significant advantage. Backblaze B2 complements this with predictable, transparent cloud pricing and highly reliable object storage designed explicitly for scalable backups. Compared to AWS S3, Azure or Google Cloud Storage, B2 is often dramatically more affordable, enabling companies to store large datasets off-site without financial pressure.

The trade-off for this flexibility is a higher administrative overhead. MSP360 is powerful but not designed for non-technical users seeking a plug-and-play experience. Monitoring, fine-tuning and regular validation may be necessary to maintain optimal performance. Additionally, MSP360 and Backblaze function as separate systems, which means reporting and dashboards are not unified in the way enterprise suites provide them.

Despite these considerations, the Backblaze B2 + MSP360 combination remains a standout option for SMEs wanting maximum control, low storage costs and hybrid backup capabilities. It is especially valuable for organisations with internal IT skills, companies transitioning toward hybrid environments, and teams that want to avoid vendor lock-in while maintaining a high level of security and resilience.

For many SMEs, Microsoft 365 has become the operational backbone of daily business processes — from email communication and document collaboration to team coordination and cloud storage. However, what many organisations still underestimate is the shared responsibility model that governs cloud platforms: Microsoft ensures platform availability, uptime and basic redundancy, but it does not guarantee long-term data retention, protection against accidental deletion, insider threats, ransomware, or misconfigured synchronisation. This gap is often discovered too late, typically during an incident where restoring older or corrupted data becomes critical.

A dedicated Microsoft 365 backup solution closes this vulnerability by securing Exchange Online mailboxes, OneDrive files, SharePoint sites, Teams channels, calendars and shared document libraries independently from Microsoft’s infrastructure. With automated cloud-to-cloud backups, extended retention policies and granular restore capabilities, businesses can recover emails, folders, SharePoint sites or entire user accounts with precision — even weeks or months after a deletion or corruption event occurred. This is especially important for SMEs handling customer data, financial documents, contracts or compliance-sensitive information.

Furthermore, modern Microsoft 365 backup tools incorporate additional layers of resilience, such as immutable storage options, versioning controls and advanced search features that accelerate recovery during audits or investigations. For companies that rely heavily on Teams for daily communication, the ability to restore channel content, shared documents and chats can be invaluable during internal disruptions or cyber incidents.

While implementing a separate backup tool adds another component to the IT environment, the operational benefits greatly outweigh the complexity. Most modern M365 backup solutions feature automated scheduling, encrypted storage, centralised dashboards and role-based access controls, making them suitable even for organisations with limited IT capacity. Licensing varies depending on the provider — some operate per-user models, others per-terabyte — but overall, the investment is small compared to the potential costs of data loss.

In 2026, with the rising volume of cyberattacks targeting cloud accounts through phishing, credential theft and ransomware, a dedicated Microsoft 365 backup is no longer optional. It is a foundational measure to ensure business continuity, regulatory compliance and the long-term safety of your organisation’s most active data ecosystem.

 

6. Google Workspace Backup

Google Workspace has become the digital backbone for many SMEs, enabling seamless collaboration across Gmail, Google Drive, Shared Drives, Docs, Sheets, Calendar and Chats. While Google provides some built-in recovery mechanisms — such as short-term versioning and temporary file retention — these are not designed to handle long-term data loss, insider threats, sync errors, or sophisticated ransomware attacks that can propagate through cloud accounts. This creates a dangerous misconception: many companies assume their data is fully protected simply because it lives in the cloud. In reality, Google Workspace operates under the same shared responsibility model as Microsoft 365, meaning businesses remain responsible for their own long-term data protection.

A dedicated Google Workspace backup solution provides automated, scheduled cloud-to-cloud backups that store all critical Workspace data in an independent environment. This ensures that emails, files, shared folders, documents, and entire user accounts remain recoverable even months after accidental deletion, corruption or unauthorised changes. Granular restore capabilities allow IT teams to restore single files, whole folders, Shared Drives, or user mailboxes with precision — an invaluable feature for internal investigations, compliance reporting or operational recovery.

Modern backup tools also add advanced features such as immutable storage, extended versioning, retention policies for regulatory compliance, and auditing capabilities to trace changes over time. For SMEs operating with remote or hybrid teams, or organisations heavily dependent on shared cloud documents, these capabilities provide critical resilience and continuity.

While most solutions are easy to deploy, advanced restore features may require third-party platforms, as Google’s native tooling remains limited. Even so, the long-term value of protecting collaborative and operational data far outweighs the added configuration step.

In 2026, with cloud-centric workflows expanding and cyber threats increasingly targeting SaaS accounts, a dedicated Google Workspace backup is not just advisable — it is essential for safeguarding your company’s operational continuity and digital integrity.

Rubrik is one of the most advanced and security-focused data protection platforms available today, designed specifically for organisations that need enterprise-level resilience against ransomware, insider threats, operational failures and compliance-related risks. Unlike traditional backup tools that simply copy data, Rubrik treats backups as part of a holistic cyber recovery strategy. Its core foundation is a zero-trust architecture, ensuring that every backup is immutable — meaning it cannot be modified, encrypted, or deleted, even if attackers compromise administrator credentials or infiltrate production systems.

Rubrik’s Cyber Recovery capabilities include automated ransomware detection, behavioural analysis, forensic snapshot comparison and clean restore workflows that help organisations recover quickly while preventing reinfection. Its instant recovery features allow businesses to spin up virtual machines directly from backup snapshots, dramatically reducing downtime during an incident. For companies facing strict regulatory requirements, Rubrik also provides detailed compliance reporting, long-term retention, tamper-proof audit logs and support for evidence preservation during investigations.

The platform is designed to integrate seamlessly with on-premise infrastructures, cloud environments and SaaS workloads, providing unified protection for complex hybrid systems. However, Rubrik’s comprehensive feature set places it firmly in the premium tier. Deployment can be more involved than SME-focused tools, and its price point is higher — making it most suitable for mid-sized organisations or SMEs with elevated security exposure, critical workloads, or compliance-driven mandates.

Despite the investment, Rubrik is often seen as one of the strongest defences against modern ransomware due to its architectural immutability, rapid recovery capabilities and deep visibility into backup integrity. For businesses that cannot afford extended downtime or data loss, Rubrik provides an enterprise-grade safety net that goes far beyond traditional backup solutions.

Conclusion: The 7 Best Backup Tools for Your Company in 2026

Choosing the right backup solution is no longer merely a technical decision — it is a strategic safeguard that directly impacts your organisation’s resilience, business continuity and long-term competitiveness. The seven tools presented in this guide address every relevant infrastructure scenario of modern SMEs: from on-premises servers and virtual machines to hybrid environments and cloud-first workplaces powered by Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Whether your business prioritises airtight ransomware protection, cost-efficient hybrid workflows or an all-in-one platform with integrated cybersecurity, each solution brings unique strengths aligned to specific operational and security requirements.

In 2026, cyber threats in particular will continue to evolve rapidly. Small and medium-sized businesses face increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks, human errors, cloud account compromises and unexpected system outages. A well-designed backup strategy is your final line of defence — the difference between a temporary disruption and a full-scale operational crisis. When your backups are reliable, independent, immutable and regularly tested, your organisation can recover quickly and confidently from almost any incident.

By selecting one of the best backup tools for your company and implementing a disciplined, long-term backup policy, you’re not just protecting files — you’re safeguarding your customers, your revenue, your brand reputation and the future of your entire organisation.

Your backups are your safety net. Build them with the same strength, precision and reliability that you expect from your business itself.

I also recommend the following articles

Backup Strategies with OneDrive: What Happens If Something Is Deleted?

Cloud Security 2025: How Safe Is Your Data?

Cloud vs. On-Premises: Why the Hybrid Approach Is the Best Solution for Businesses

The Ultimate Backup Guide for Small Businesses in 2026

 

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