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Azure Backup vs Unitrends comparison

 

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

Azure Backup
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Unitrends
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
38th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Azure Backup is 3.4%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Unitrends is 0.5%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Terry Tull - PeerSpot reviewer
Straightforward to set up and manage and allows us to monitor all backups in one place
I would rate the easiness of the initial setup as an eight out of ten. Setting up Azure Backup was pretty straightforward, especially if you follow the steps in the right order. It might seem a bit complex at first, but with experience, subsequent setups become easier. Planning is key to optimizing its effectiveness. Deploying Azure Backup typically takes around half an hour to an hour to set up one VM, involving creating a recovery services vault, defining a backup policy, and configuring storage options. For a more comprehensive setup including proper recovery planning, it might take a few hours. The key steps involve creating a resource group, and a recovery services vault, selecting a storage type, and defining backup policies. I deployed the solution myself.
Todd Guthrie - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution can be used to back up servers and Hyper-V cluster nodes, but its support is super expensive
I wouldn't rate Unitrends a ten out of ten because we had some hard drive failures in the appliance. Typically, when you have OneDrive, you can get it replaced. For some particular reason, the situation caused the entire system to crash. We had to reinstall the CentOS operating system on it, and we lost all our backups. They said there was no way to retain it, and it was pretty devastating and concerning that a drive failure would cause the loss of all the data on the appliance. It was extremely disappointing, and we had to start from scratch after three years worth of backup data. I rate Unitrends a nine out of ten for stability.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use the normal features for Azure Backup, specifically to make backups of the VMs."
"I like that it's a simple system."
"You can select the tiering for your backup and manage your cost."
"With Azure Backup, you can readily make your environment if your setup somehow fails on the cloud or on-premises."
"The deployment process is quite easy in Azure."
"It is a stable solution...It is a highly scalable solution."
"Setting up Azure Backup is straightforward and the total deployment time was about a month."
"Enables immediate recovery and immediate restoration."
"It is a quick and easy way to organize my backups and to keep track of them."
"What I found most valuable in Unitrends is its simple user interface. It also works reliably."
"The simple and fast restore routine."
"VM backup is much faster and more reliable, as I can test my backups with Data Copy Access jobs."
"I really like the reporting options you get for various email reports."
"The ability to diversify jobs within the same server helps break down a large chunk of data into more manageable and concentrated chunks."
"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 back up both physical and virtual appliances under one roof."
 

Cons

"The monitoring and tagging features could be improved."
"The length of time it takes to restore is our main source of frustration. It would be beneficial to shorten the time it takes."
"I once tried restoring a Linux environment, and the size of the Linux VM or the data disk was really huge. It took a really long time to restore the environment and send the data from the storage to the disk. It took around 25 to 30 minutes, which was much longer than I anticipated. They can improve the duration of such restore operations. In the next release, it would also be good if they could reduce the duration for transferring the data from their storage to the actual storage while creating a virtual machine. They can reduce the duration or increase the data transfer rate."
"Azure sometimes provides reliable recovery that can be slow for large-scale scenarios."
"While Azure Backup allows ingress data, the egress data is chargeable, which should be excluded."
"Azure lacks sufficient solutions for a particular scenario, we may need to resort to using third-party applications. In such cases, these applications can be employed to facilitate backup, replication, and the efficient utilization of internet connectivity and bandwidth. They enable us to effectively manage and transfer data while ensuring optimal utilization of network resources. However, it would be a benefit if we did not have to use third-party applications for these operations."
"I can’t use the solution to restore another native cloud solution. Azure must add this new feature."
"The Azure Backup support for on-premises service is limited."
"In terms of improvement, the UI, especially in the recovery section, is unclear about which repository it uses."
"Techs don't see to be well-versed in troubleshooting issues that arise and tickets stay opened for weeks for resolution."
"If the interface could be less complex, it is would be great."
"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."
"Making the seeding process more accessible and easier to understand. Also, make more of the undocumented best practices easier to find."
"Unitrends can be challenging to scale."
"Probably the biggest issue I've had is actually paying for the unit, and part of that problem is that they use a third party for the billing."
"Network-based storage stability could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Comparing the pricing with other technologies, Azure Backup is more affordable for customers. It follows a pay-as-you-go model, where we pay according to our consumption."
"It's around $10 to $15 per month per virtual machine, along with something extra based on the size of the data."
"The price should be cheaper, but it's affordable if you use the yearly subscription."
"It is a very cheap cloud solution."
"Pay as you go is the pricing model."
"We have enterprise-level pricing. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"The product is not expensive."
"Azure Backup is a moderately priced solution."
"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."
"Their licensing depended on the number of CPUs you had."
"Talk with the sales guys. They can work with you on the best package."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten. The licensing is yearly and it depends on the customers."
"Initial pricing is competitive. Renewal pricing is steep, so make sure to project costs for the lifetime of the appliance(s)."
"When you purchase initially, get into the program which gives replacement hardware for free when you renew your support agreement."
"Pricing model constantly changes."
"With respect to cost, my advice is to get what you need."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Azure Backup differ from Veeam Backup & Replication?
Veeam has a version for Azure but there are organizations, like ours, that are considering moving to an Azure environment and wonder if Azure Backup is better than Veeam Backup and Replication (Vee...
What do you like most about Azure Backup?
Azure Backup is easy to configure and restore.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Backup?
Azure Backup is expensive relative to the value we get from it. I do not have specific details about the licensing cost as it falls under another department.
What do you like most about Unitrends?
The most valuable feature of Unitrends for me is the automated feedback
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Unitrends?
Unitrends is an expensive solution. We've negotiated deals where they've given us the $ 62,000 to $ 64,000 appliance for free but charged $ 90,000 for three years of support.
What needs improvement with Unitrends?
In terms of improvement, the UI, especially in the recovery section, is unclear about which repository it uses—I had to hover over to find that information. Figuring out the scripting part wasn't s...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Russell Reynolds Associates, Somerset County Council, Kardem, PCL Construction
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 Azure Backup vs. Unitrends and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
847,862 professionals have used our research since 2012.