Backblaze vs CrashPlan

Backblaze is a publicly traded storage company from San Mateo, California, founded in 2007, that runs its own data centers and sells two products. Computer Backup continuously backs up an entire Mac or Windows PC, including attached external drives, for a flat monthly price with no data cap. B2 Cloud Storage is S3-compatible object storage priced per terabyte, positioned as a much cheaper alternative to Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage and Azure Blob Storage.

Computer Backup offers version history, restores through the web and the app, and the option to have data shipped on a USB drive. B2 includes free egress up to three times the data stored each month, free transfer through partners such as Cloudflare, object lock for immutable, ransomware-resistant backups, and integrations with tools like Veeam, Synology, QNAP, rclone and media asset managers. The first 10 GB of B2 storage is free, and billing beyond that is simple and predictable.

Backblaze suits individuals and creatives who want set-and-forget workstation backup, and developers or IT teams storing backups, media archives and app uploads cheaply. It is not a sync or collaboration tool like Dropbox, it offers far fewer regions and services than AWS, and very large Computer Backup restores can be slow. Against Wasabi it competes on egress terms and ecosystem, and against IDrive on simplicity. The company is also known for publishing quarterly hard drive reliability statistics from its own fleet.

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.