Veeam vs Acronis vs Bacula Enterprise

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Updated 9th January 2025, Rob Morrison

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of data security, especially in a modern digital age where data is the most important resource that a company can have. The importance of information in organizations is something that everyone understands – including cyber criminals. The last few years have shown an incredible rise in data breaches and cyber attacks on corporate systems and servers, with the biggest target being the aforementioned data.

Creating backups of an organization’s data is probably the single most important way to safeguard it against corruption, attack, accidental loss, and other potential threats.

However, some backup techniques are no longer as effective as they were several years ago, since cyber threats keep evolving at an alarming pace – as well as the potential for natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, tornados, etc.. The biggest reason why natural disasters are just as dangerous to companies as cyber criminals can be summed up in a single word – “downtime”.

Even a short period of downtime can cause an immense amount of damage and revenue loss to most companies, especially the ones that rely a lot on online features – online marketplaces, online payment systems and so on. As such, even a small amount of downtime can be significantly damaging for more or less any company right now, which is why data security tactics continue to develop and become more sophisticated, to try and prevent it from happening.

Any medium or large organization typically needs a comprehensive multifunctional data backup solution to be able to protect and safeguard its data and applications to the fullest. There is a broad market of enterprise backup solutions to choose from. However, selecting the right solution can be difficult, mostly because of how competitive this market is and how many different options are available. Additionally, there is limited information that compares specific backup solutions – in part because it is complex to compare every single solution on the market with the rest of them.

As such, we are going to try and make this problem a bit less critical by comparing three very accomplished backup solutions – Veeam vs Acronis vs Bacula Enterprise, with their benefits, shortcomings, exclusive features, as well as a use case for every single solution.

Veeam Backup & Replication

Veeam Backup & Replication is a backup platform that puts a lot of emphasis on reliability and speed. It has been on the market for over a decade, and can now offer a good range of different features when it comes to data security – with a large focus on Virtual Machines. Another notable advantage of Veeam is the existence of a free plan for its software platform.

Veeam has a rather specific approach to VM backups – combining a Changed Block Tracking technology and a snapshot technology to create a live disk file as a merging of a redo file and a snapshot. This kind of combination removes the requirement to create an entirely new full backup of a VM for every subsequent backup job. Still, it may not be the best tactic for companies that have demanding RPOs (or companies that have active production environments).

Veeam Main Features

Veeam’s general performance is one of its biggest advantages, in tandem with compatibility with a good range of cloud storage market providers – AWS, Google, Azure, etc. Veeam has an API-driven core structure, native snapshot capabilities, and some good security options.

End-to-end data immutability, automatic malware scanning, automatic verification of backup consistency – or some of the features that Veeam has specifically for trying to make its solution as robust as it possibly can.

Data recovery with Veeam can sometimes be a reasonably short process – thanks to Veeam’s own software-defined infrastructure-agnostic approach to data storage. There are also quite a lot of useful features in general, such as replication encryption, aiding data migration.

Vendor lock-in is a considerable issue in the industry, which is why Veeam makes sure that each client has a choice between a number of different cloud storage providers. There is also the fact that Veeam allows for these multiple cloud storage providers to be used simultaneously, allowing its users a hybrid cloud strategy if needed.

Veeam Technical Details

Veeam does not have a mobile application for Android or iOS devices.
Veeam works with Linux, Mac, as well as Windows devices.
Veeam can be deployed on either a virtual or physical device – if the said device meets the software’s requirements.

Veeam Benefits

A centralized dashboard is a great advantage in terms of general usability, offering a variety of features and statistics on the same page – backup operations, restore operations, analytics, and more.
A granular data restore capability that is made possible with a combination of multiple restore points and a data transmission option from both portable and remote workstations.
A way for all users to never miss an important event or operation is a set of customizable alerts that work for both error messages and successful operation messages.

Veeam Shortcomings

Veeam’s pricing as a whole can be considered higher than the average market cost, and there is also the fact that Veeam’s free version is heavily limited in terms of how many VMs it can cover at the same time, while also having zero customer support in case anything goes wrong.
Checking a list of supported Linux distributions is strongly recommended for any user that wants to use Veeam with Linux as these choices can be limited. At the same time, Veeam’s versatility is somewhat limited purely because it does not have any form of mobile application whatsoever, making it difficult to use without a proper desktop station.
While Veeam does have a rather noticeable issue with long RPOs, not every company depends heavily on this specific parameter when it comes to their backup and recovery tactic. As such, there are plenty of companies that would find Veeam to be a very attractive solution despite its longer RPOs.
For organizations that have a requirement for especially high levels of security, Veeam may not be the best choice. Its deficiencies with tape backup, inability to operate its manager on Linux, and other limitations regarding linux and some databases means some large organizations may struggle with it.

Acronis Cyber Protect

Acronis is a company that develops data protection solutions for a range of company types, and there are several different solutions available. Acronis Cyber Backup is, as the name suggests, a backup and recovery solution. Acronis Cyber Protect, on the other hand, is a data security solution, a continuation of the Cyber Backup’s idea to create a powerful data protection platform, covering both the backup angle and the cybersecurity angle.

Acronis Cyber Protect experienced a massive surge in popularity since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, as a comprehensive solution that is easy to work with when it comes to remote work and other subsequent circumstances. It may not be the easiest backup solution to work with, but it stands out among some other popular data backup offerings and has earned its name on the market by providing some levels of data security with a good number of other features.

Acronis Main Features

Versatility. As a combination of backup and recovery features, in addition to data protection capabilities, Acronis is a versatile solution that can perform a variety of tasks. It can perform disaster recovery, create backups, help to protect from ransomware, deflect cyber-attacks, locate malware, and many other features.

Speed. Acronis supports both incremental backup and granular restore, and these processes are typically achieved with good speed– making it so much easier to back up necessary data and/or restore it when necessary.

User Interface. The interface of Acronis Cyber Protect has pros and cons, making it an interesting subject. On one hand, Acronis Cyber Protect can be somewhat difficult to navigate, especially if the person using it does not have at least basic knowledge of backup and data security processes. On the other hand, Acronis manages to present much useful information within a single page, via the software’s UI design. This is something that is easy to notice on the main page of the solution, which showcases backup data, malware detection status, alert summaries, activity counters, and many other useful pieces of information.

acronis landing page

Acronis Technical Details

Acronis has a dedicated mobile app for both iOS and Android devices
Acronis supports a variety of operating systems, including Mac, Windows (including Windows Server), and a number of Linux distributions
Acronis Cyber Protect supports deployment on-premise and in the cloud

Acronis Benefits

Acronis is a comprehensive collection of solutions that offers both backup and data protection capabilities, such as ransomware protection, malware protection, and so on
Acronis offers a wide variety of options for routine backup tasks, focusing mostly on disk-image backups and idle backups, and there is also the fact that Acronis is capable of replacing basic MDM software with its remote monitoring and remote control capabilities
Despite the fact that the solution itself might be somewhat overwhelming to work with, the first impression of Acronis’ interface is very welcoming and useful, especially with how the main page is capable of showcasing a wealth of useful information within the same screen

Acronis Shortcomings

While Acronis does have its own mobile app, it is only available for users that have paid for one of the more advanced pricing tiers, and not for the base version of the solution
Cloud storage for backups is a separate solution with a separate price tag
The overall pricing situation for Acronis is relatively high.

Bacula Enterprise

Bacula Enterprise as a backup and recovery solution stands tall among the best backup offerings on the market, offering a particularly deep range of features and a focus on the needs of middle-sized companies and large enterprises. Bacula Enterprise puts emphasis on especially high security, fast recovery times and minimal downtime. Its pricing policy is not connected to data volume, be it backed-up data or restored data, which is a great advantage in and of itself. Bacula’s solution is capable of working with virtual, physical, container and Cloud environments, which typically allows even a user with a complex and diverse IT environment to back up, recover, and perform disaster recovery operation from one platform and a single pane of glass.

Bacula’s modular architecture is designed in a way that makes it exceptionally secure compared to other vendors and solutions, setting industry standards for how safe and versatile backup solutions should be. It can create backups of directory servers, NAS devices, NDMP devices, or Exchange clusters. It can also offer advanced features such as granular recovery, deduplication, and compression, as well as multiple backup levels and approaches to backup operations that are suitable for a variety of environment types.

Bacula Enterprise Main Features

Security. Aside from the fact that Bacula Enterprise is in complete compliance with FIPS 140-2, there are also many other features that this solution has for security reasons alone, such as advanced encryption architectures, air gapping, MFA, virus scanning, corruption detection, SIEM integration, comprehensive tape compatibility, and functionality with over 33 different operating system versions. Its core management system runs on Linux, which further multiplies its safety. The very core of Bacula as a solution is built with the highest security levels in mind, which is also the reason why Bacula Enterprise is relied on in multiple different cases by especially high security military/government-related organizations.

Disaster Recovery. A dedicated tool created by Bacula performs fast restoration operations of variable complexity as one of its core capabilities in ensuring business continuity. Disaster recovery speed as a whole is a rather large and important factor for most companies, which is why Bacula Enterprise pays a lot of attention to this particular requirement. There are also a high number of customizable features and technologies that ensure only the fastest data recovery time.

Wealth of Features. Bacula Enterprise is a solution with an extremely wide variety of different options and features. It can save backups on disk, tape, cloud, robotic media libraries, and more. This broad feature set makes it easier for Bacula to be able to accommodate both the long-term and short-term needs of any client. The ability to create multiple data volumes within the same storage location is one of many useful options for short-term storage, and Bacula’s expansive support of off-line storage locations such as tape or cloud is a great choice for long-term storage use cases.

bacula enterprise landing page

Bacula Enterprise Technical Details

Regarding control of Bacula specifically from mobile devices,eBacula Enterprise’s mobile app is only available to Android users at this moment
Bacula Enterprise’s solution has advanced and highly customizable deduplication capabilities.
Bacula Enterprise can work with over thirty-three different operating system types, including Windows, Mac, as well as Linux, AIX, Red Hat, Ubuntu, and many others
Organizations using Bacula need to have someone with at least basic Linux knowledge.
Users can choose between using Bacula via either command line interface or a browser-based GUI

Bacula Enterprise Benefits

Customer support is a big advantage of Bacula Enterprise, with customers lauding its high service quality.
Backup management with Bacula Enterprise is just as versatile as backup operations themselves, with features such as automatization, controllable backup routines, point-in-time backups, and much more
Security is another important topic for Bacula Enterprise, with a tripwire-like internal security structure, extensive data encryption support, corruption detection, data breach detection, and even compliance to FIPS 140-2 standard, making Bacula one of the most versatile solutions on the market from a security standpoint
Bacula’s modular structure makes it extremely easy to stand out for this backup solution, and it also gives the said solution a massive number of features, including VM coverage, and support for different target locations, as well as containers, databases, etc.
Sustainability: Bacula’s lean, high quality open source-based code and compression tools are highly robust and efficient, typically showing network performance above that of its peers. Its low cost and subscription licensing model also contributes to reducing vendor lock-in and allowing customers to easily forecast costs, thanks to Bacula’s lack of capacity-based licensing. Bacula’s unusually high levels of compatibility with other technologies means it is highly likely to accommodate future developments and technologies adopted by an It department.

Bacula Enterprise Shortcomings

While most of Bacula Enterprise’s modules are included in the original pricing package, there are several examples of very specific modules having their own price tag on top of the existing subscription
Bacula Enterprise’s higher security qualifications come with the need for an organization to have at least one person with basic linux skills to implement the solution.
Even though Bacula Enterprise offers two different interchangeable control methods – a command line and a web-based GUI – it would take an inexperienced systems administrator a little time to get up to speed with all of Bacula’s available functionality. However, online and physical training classes are available to mitigate this.

Veeam vs Acronis vs Bacula Enterprise

Now that we have a detailed knowledge of what all of these solutions are capable of, it is time to compare them to each other and figure out which one suits which use cases.

Why Veeam

Veeam scores highly for ease of use, as long as it is being used for purposes it was designed for – one good example would be agentless backup of VMware.

Veeam also has its use cases when it comes to some pricing scenarios. Although rather confusing as a whole and perhaps not the best pricing on the market, there are not so many companies that offer this much clarity when it comes to pricing for an enterprise backup solution.

Veeam is a competent solution that has its use cases, especially if there is a need for a variety of monitoring features in a backup platform, fast image-based backups, ease of use, and where security is not paramount.

Why Acronis

Acronis Cyber Protect is a comprehensive solution that covers both the backup and recovery angle, as well as the data protection angle, combining two different data security approaches in a single solution. This creates a comprehensive data security platform that may be complex to work with.

Acronis is known as one of the faster solutions on the market, offering speedy incremental backups and fast granular recovery. This is also complimented by the fact that Acronis has a good interface, especially the main page of the solution – providing a wealth of information about both backup and data security topics in a single location.

All in all, Acronis Cyber Backup is a solution suitable for companies that do not demand much customization, legacy application protection or great scalability.

Why Bacula Enterprise

One of the biggest competitive advantages of Bacula Enterprise is its pricing model – the lack of volume-based pricing for both medium-sized and large companies is unusual for the backup market. The main reason for that is the sheer amount of data that any large company works with on a daily basis, making the backup solution prices unsustainable for many organization. Bacula resolves this issue and in addition, has several different subscription tiers, with the only difference being the number of endpoints and workplaces that have to be covered by the solution.

Bacula Enterprise is also greatly versatile, even if its extensive capabilities and features can require a little time to learn. Interaction with Bacula comes in two different forms – a web-based GUI and a CLI (command line interface), giving every single user a choice between the two. That being said, both of these can also be used interchangeably if the user wants to do so, adding bonus points for versatility.

Bacula Enterprise is typically a great option for larger companies with high security requirements, massive and growing amounts of data, expectations of value (or performance) for money, and especially if the company in question interacts with many different data types and storage locations.

Which is better: Veeam, Acronis, or Bacula Enterprise?

Veeam is one of the more well-known names on the market, offering Veeam Backup and Replication – a comprehensive backup solution with a variety of features and an emphasis on reliability, first and foremost. It is also one of the few large players in the backup sphere that offer free versions of their solutions without any timed restrictions. However, Veeam has limited security capabilities, and its Linux support is very restricted and somewhat confusing.

Acronis, on the other hand, is also a well known solution provider, and Acronis Cyber Backup offers a comprehensive data security service at the same time – with ransomware protection, malware scanning, cyber-attack detection, and more. However, it can be slow in terms of performance, is somewhat limited in its feature set compared to enterprise-level solutions, and can also present scalability issues.

In this context, Bacula Enterprise seems like the most balanced solution out of the three, offering a rather impressive range of features, compatibility and capabilities for large enterprises and medium-sized businesses. This is evident by the broad range of databases, virtual machines, container types and cloud interfaces it supports. Where security is an organization’s clear priority, then Bacula would be the likely winner. The more data types the company deals with – the more useful Bacula Enterprise becomes, with its modular structure shining at its brightest when it can deal with a multitude of different storage locations at once with no issues. It is also good at managing all of these capabilities within one place – be it in a web-based GUI or straight-up in a CLI. Its pricing model also makes it especially attractive for larger businesses that are penalized by solutions that calculate costs based on the amount of data processed.

Bacula Enterprise is the best backup solution for scenarios where you need to store large amounts of data and quickly recover it. The platform is robust, reliable and was developed with cost-benefit in mind, and supports many integrations such as visualization tools and databases.

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About the author

Rob Morrison is the marketing director at Bacula Systems. He started his IT marketing career with Silicon Graphics in Switzerland, performing strongly in various marketing management roles for almost 10 years. In the next 10 years Rob also held various marketing management positions in JBoss, Red Hat and Pentaho ensuring market share growth for these well-known companies. He is a graduate of Plymouth University and holds an Honours Digital Media and Communications degree, and completed an Overseas Studies Program.