Afi.ai vs IDrive

Afi.ai is a cloud-native backup and recovery service for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Kubernetes. It protects mailboxes, drives, shared drives, calendars and contacts as well as Teams and SharePoint data, and it was built from scratch as a SaaS product rather than adapted from on-premises backup software, which shows in its quick setup and modern interface.

Backups run automatically on a schedule, with unlimited storage and unlimited retention included in a per-user price. Restores can be granular (a single email, file or folder) or cover a full account at a chosen point in time. AI-driven monitoring flags unusual activity such as mass deletions or encryption patterns that suggest ransomware, and a multi-tenant console lets managed service providers run backups for many client organizations from one place. Kubernetes cluster backup is priced separately on a custom basis.

Afi fits IT teams and MSPs that want SaaS backup without managing storage or legacy agents, especially organizations on Google Workspace, where fewer strong options exist. It is a younger and less known vendor than Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Backupify or Spanning, and it does not cover Salesforce or other SaaS apps, so companies that want one vendor for every cloud application may prefer broader suites such as Druva or Own. For pure Workspace and 365 protection, transparent pricing and fast restores are its strongest arguments.

IDrive is a cloud backup service from IDrive Inc., a privately held company in Calabasas, California, whose roots go back to Pro Softnet Corporation, founded by Raghu Kulkarni in the 1990s. Its core job is backing up many computers, phones and servers into one encrypted account instead of paying per machine. The company says it serves more than 4 million customers.

Backups are incremental and continuous, keep up to 30 previous versions per file, and add snapshots for point-in-time recovery against ransomware. An optional private key keeps 256-bit AES encrypted data unreadable to IDrive. One account covers Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android, with entire-machine backup, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace backup. IDrive Basic is free with 10 GB; Personal plans serve one user with unlimited devices from 5 TB, Team plans bundle users and storage, Business adds servers, NAS, Exchange and SQL, and IDrive e2 is separate S3-compatible object storage.

IDrive fits households, freelancers and small businesses with several devices who want one inexpensive account. The desktop app is cluttered, restores of very large sets can be slow, and first-year promo prices rise on renewal. Backblaze is simpler with unlimited backup for one computer, Duplicati is a free open-source client that writes to storage you choose, and Sync.com or pCloud are better for file sync and sharing than for backup.

Pricing tip: new sign-ups see discounted first-year prices, such as $6.99 a month for Personal 5 TB billed yearly against a regular $9.99, and standard rates apply from year two.