Carbonite vs CrashPlan

Carbonite is a cloud backup service for individual computers, small business PCs and servers. It was founded in Boston in 2005, bought the security company Webroot in 2019 and was itself acquired by the Canadian software group OpenText in late 2019 for about $1.42 billion. Its core job: install an agent, let it continuously copy your files to encrypted cloud storage, and restore them after a crash, theft or ransomware attack.

Personal plans (Basic, Plus, Prime) cover one computer with unlimited cloud storage; Plus and Prime add one external hard drive and automatic video backup, and Prime adds courier recovery options. Business plans are priced per account rather than per device: Core covers up to 25 computers, external drives and NAS with 250 GB, while Power and Ultimate add server backup, 500 GB, bare metal image restore and application-aware backup. All plans are billed annually; extra business storage costs $99 per 100 GB.

Carbonite fits households and small offices that want backup to run without thinking about it. It is weaker for power users: storage caps on business plans are low for the price, there is no monthly billing, and restores of large data sets are slow over the internet. Backblaze offers simpler unlimited personal backup, IDrive covers many devices on one plan for less, and Acronis bundles backup with stronger endpoint security.

Buying tip: the prices on the plans page are first-year discounts (up to 35% off list), and renewals revert to the higher list price, so compare the renewal cost, not the promo, against Backblaze and IDrive.

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.