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BackupAssist vs Unitrends comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

BackupAssist
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
59th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
MSP Backup (12th)
Unitrends
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
27th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of BackupAssist is 0.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Unitrends is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Unitrends0.7%
BackupAssist0.8%
Other98.5%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

RM
Director at Gemini Systems
Provides ransomware protection, does good reporting, and is close to perfect for our use case
The main challenge that I have had with it was no line of support, but I've anyway taken away the Linux machine that I was using. So, I don't need that anymore. I'm migrating my Exchange to the cloud. So, I probably will stop using the exchange backup side of it sometime next year, but the rest of the virtual machines that I have on-premises are very well covered by it. To be able to back up my online Exchange, I know there is a backup in the cloud, but I prefer to have something physical with something on my premises as well. It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it.
Derek Schneider - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology at a hospitality company with 201-500 employees
Daily recovery tests have validated restore readiness and ensured consistent data protection
The best features of Unitrends include the daily reporting functionality. When backups fail, it is obvious in the logs what caused the issue. Most times it is a credential problem, which is relatively easy to resolve. Though I have experienced a few more challenging issues, nothing has affected critical backup restore functionality. Every time I have needed to restore something, it has worked successfully. The support team is readily available when I need assistance, and they help walk me through issues, solving them within a reasonable timeframe. The automated backup scheduling feature has helped our organization in managing backup timelines and consistency by handling all the work automatically. We set the schedule, breaking things into smaller chunks since our main common area for files is large. I have staggered the backups so some areas receive more attention than others, particularly for less active data. Adding, removing, excluding, and inputting elements is straightforward. The system makes it simple to schedule portions and generate reports on their functionality. The impact of Unitrends' instant recovery features on strengthening data security measures is significant. I generally use instant recovery when restoring specific files or instances where we need data that has changed. The process involves loading the backup, selecting the desired version, waiting for it to unpack, and retrieving the file. Every restore attempt has been successful. I run instant recovery daily in test mode on two virtual machines. I use it to test my domain controller and file server to ensure they communicate properly in the test environment. This ensures that in case of failure, I can activate the recovery and restore server functionality.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We managed to have good backups which were easy to recover, and easy backup of MS Exchange and SQL databases."
"I find BackupAssist very convenient to work on and I really like its user interface."
"Now that we are using the solution, we get notified online when our backups are done."
"I have found that the backups are usually very successful."
"We can configure the notifications themselves so that the right people get the notifications. This is very helpful. It allows key stakeholders to know if backups have happened and to remind each other to check the backups if something is not right."
"What you want is software that can be relied upon at the moment when a server goes down, you can backup simply and reliably, BackupAssist fulfilled this criterion."
"The most valuable features of BackupAssist are ease of use, configure is simple, and more importantly, ease of recovery. If you needed to do a complete system recovery or another recovery it is straightforward."
"I would definitely recommend this solution to others."
"I really like the reporting options you get for various email reports."
"Less headaches to worry about backups."
"The ability to backup both physical and virtual machines, along with having an appliance store the backups locally instead of on a file server, NAS, or SAN."
"The ability to diversify jobs within the same server helps break down a large chunk of data into more manageable and concentrated chunks."
"The backup feature and recovery option are good because they allow the instant recovery of Hyper-V nodes and files."
"Stability-wise, I rate this solution a nine out of ten."
"Replication to Forever Cloud."
"It is an all-inclusive backup appliance that is separate from other storage needed to backup and has the ability to backup both virtual and physical nodes."
 

Cons

"One issue I had with this program, was that I couldn't get it to back up my Linux virtual machines."
"It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it."
"The solution needs a dashboard or some form of central control from which you can manage all backups."
"Has a few problems working with snapshots time-outs and failed backups."
"Many solutions become stagnant over time. However, BackupAssist has been consistent in updates but they must continue to innovate and improve to avoid stagnation."
"In the future I would like to see more support for Linux."
"The ability to run just differentials without pulling the full on your archive."
"We have a huge VMware infrastructure with multiple hosts that use local storage. Backup jobs of VMs seem to target one host at a time, so if there are 10 VMs on that host getting backed up, it hammers that ESXi host until sometimes the jobs hang and nothing more occurs."
"Technical support is quite inadequate. Techs don't seem to be well-versed in troubleshooting issues that arise and tickets stay opened for weeks for resolution."
"There are some questions as to how safely they are storing backup data."
"Stabilizing SQL database backups: They are way too sensitive and I am having to constantly fix SQL level backups."
"No appliance update notifications."
"Support is great for small simple issues, but anything more difficult, it is hard to get good resolutions without having to badger them and their management."
"For smaller K12 schools, I wish they offered a beefier free version with more storage and options."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product pricing here in Zimbabwe is good, I cannot complain."
"There's a yearly licensing cost. The costs might be around $2000 USD annually."
"The cost of the solution is reasonable and there are add-on options that can be purchased. I have used other solutions that are a lot more expensive that are not as good. The ability to get support is very simple and very reasonable from a cost standpoint."
"It's on a yearly basis, but I'm not the one who does the licensing on that. I don't have any figures, but it's on a yearly basis, and I believe it's reasonable."
"The cost of Unitrends definitely draws you in. The licensing is all included in the appliance, which is a great incentive."
"Their licensing depended on the number of CPUs you had."
"With respect to cost, my advice is to get what you need."
"Talk with the sales guys. They can work with you on the best package."
"When we renew the Unitrends maintenance contract and update it to the latest version, the cost would be $5,000 per year. There are no hidden costs. They've been transparent with the costs."
"Pricing model constantly changes."
"Make sure you do the homework to size the solution properly. Buy the Enterprise Plus licensing if you can afford it."
"Based on a scale of one to ten, with one being low and ten being high, I would rate the pricing of this solution as a three. Also, there are no additional costs involved in the standard licensing of the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
28%
Comms Service Provider
18%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Retailer
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with Unitrends?
I would evaluate the impact of Unitrends' ransomware detection for strengthening our data security measures as somewhat misleading. The ransomware detection from the appliance incorrectly identifie...
What is your primary use case for Unitrends?
Our main use case for Unitrends is taking our on-premise virtual machines or bulk data store and backing it up on a daily basis, or more frequently depending on requirements, and testing the virtua...
What advice do you have for others considering Unitrends?
Regarding Unitrends' integration with leading cloud services, I utilize Spanning, which handles Microsoft 365 environment backup for a location without direct file server access. Their SharePoint d...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Monash University, NASA, NYU, Pfizer, RAF Association, Rockwell Colins, University of Arizona, US Department of State, Volvo
NHL Players Association, Salvation Army, Sligro Food Group, Mason General Hospital, Tec Group, Saldab IT, Baker Tilly, Clinton Savings Bank, Ennit Magna Bank, Manukau Institute of Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about BackupAssist vs. Unitrends and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.