Acronis vs CrashPlan

Acronis is a Swiss-headquartered cyber protection company founded in 2003, known for its True Image disk imaging software and, today, mainly for a multitenant platform that managed service providers use to back up, secure and manage their clients' systems. EQT agreed in 2024 to take a majority stake, and Acronis says more than 20,000 service providers and 750,000 businesses use its platform.

The business offering, marketed as the Acronis Cyber Platform and sold to service providers as Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud, combines backup of servers, PCs, VMs and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace with disaster recovery, EDR and MDR, email security, data loss prevention, patching, RMM and PSA-style billing and service desk tools. MSPs pay per workload for actual usage; IT departments buy one to three year terms. The consumer line, Acronis True Image, is sold per year: Essentials for local backup and cloning, Advanced with cloud storage and anti-malware, and Premium with 1 TB or more of cloud storage.

Acronis fits MSPs that want one console for backup, security and RMM, and home or small-office users who need full-disk images and cloning. Backblaze is simpler and cheaper for plain cloud backup, Afi.ai focuses on SaaS backup for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and Veeam is the usual choice for large virtualized data centers.

Buying tip: True Image prices rise with each extra computer and terabyte, so a 3 or 5 computer pack is better value for households. MSPs should check which security modules they already license elsewhere.

CrashPlan is a cloud backup service for business laptops, desktops, servers and SaaS data. The product was created by Minneapolis-based Code42; in 2022 private equity firm Mill Point Capital carved it out as an independent company, CrashPlan Group, and the brand dropped the Code42 name. Its core job: continuously back up employee devices and company data so files can be restored after a lost laptop, user error or ransomware.

Endpoint backup for Windows, macOS and Linux runs continuously with unlimited versioning and self-service restores. Server backup covers Windows and Linux servers, and SaaS backup covers Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams) and Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive) with longer retention than the vendors provide. Small business pricing is per user or server on annual or two-year terms for under 250 users; enterprise volume pricing adds your own storage, SSO, legal hold and archiving.

CrashPlan fits small and mid-sized companies that want hands-off device backup with real versioning rather than file sync. It is not image-based disaster recovery: Acronis offers full system images and security tooling, Backblaze is a cheaper simple per-computer backup, IDrive covers many devices per account, and Druva is stronger for large enterprise SaaS protection.

CrashPlan bought Indian firm Parablu in late 2024 to strengthen Microsoft 365 backup, and in October 2026 it added self-serve server and Google Workspace backup for small businesses. The 14-day trial requires a card and converts to a paid plan on day 15 unless cancelled.