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Backup + Recovery · Buyer's Guide

Best backup software UK 2026: Veeam, Rubrik, Commvault, Veritas, M365 Backup, Acronis, Druva — the full picture

Servnet Editorial · Backup & DR Practice14 min read

Most UK backup shortlists narrow to Veeam, Rubrik and Commvault — but the market now includes Microsoft 365 Backup (native, since 2024), Acronis (SMB through mid-market) and Druva (SaaS-only). This piece is broader than our Veeam vs Rubrik vs Commvault deep-dive — it covers all seven platforms and tells you which fits which buyer.

Veeam · Rubrik · Cohesity — 2026 UK comparison
VeeamRubrikCohesityWorkload coverageExcellentExcellentStrongImmutable by defaultAdd-onYesYesCyber-vault tierAdd-onBuilt-inBuilt-inAI anomaly detectAdd-onBuilt-inBuilt-inM365 backupStrongStrongStrong

The seven-platform UK landscape

Veeam Data Platform — broadest workload coverage, biggest UK skills market, most flexible licensing (Veeam Universal Licence per workload).

Rubrik Security Cloud — zero-trust by default, immutable backup, ransomware investigation built in, $10M Ransomware Recovery Warranty.

Commvault Cloud — best workload breadth (SAP HANA, Oracle, DB2, AS/400, etc.) + SaaS-managed control plane via Commvault Cloud.

Veritas (now Cohesity post-acquisition) — NetBackup for enterprise, Backup Exec for SMB, Alta for SaaS.

Microsoft 365 Backup — Microsoft's native paid add-on for M365 since 2024. Tightest integration but limited features (no cross-tenant, limited point-in-time depth).

Acronis Cyber Protect — combined backup + EDR + patch management for SMB / mid-market. Single agent.

Druva — SaaS-only backup for SaaS workloads (M365, Salesforce, Google Workspace). Zero infrastructure to manage.

Match platform to buyer profile

You're a mid-market UK company with mixed VMware + physical + M365 + AWS workloads, and you have or can hire a Veeam-trained engineer: Veeam Data Platform. Safe default, broadest skills market, lowest operational risk.

Your CISO is the budget holder and ransomware recovery is the priority: Rubrik Security Cloud. The immutable-by-default architecture + warranty + anomaly detection makes the procurement case land.

You run SAP HANA + Oracle + a long tail of legacy databases: Commvault. The single-console workload breadth is unmatched.

You're pure M365 with no other workloads and want one less tool: Microsoft 365 Backup. Native, integrated, no agent. Accept the feature trade-offs.

You're SMB (under 100 users) with limited IT team capacity: Acronis Cyber Protect. Backup + EDR + patch in one agent reduces operational burden.

You're SaaS-only (M365 + Salesforce + Google Workspace, no on-prem): Druva. Zero infrastructure to manage; per-user pricing.

Where each platform genuinely leads

Veeam — Veeam Recovery Orchestrator is the strongest tested-recovery + DR runbook tooling in the market. For DORA / FCA Operational Resilience evidence this matters.

Rubrik — Polaris (sensitive data discovery) tells you where PII / PCI / GDPR data lives across your backup data set. For data-subject requests and ICO breach scoping this is genuinely useful.

Commvault — Activate (eDiscovery + data classification) is unique at this depth. For legal teams + compliance officers, Commvault's data governance posture is best-in-class.

Microsoft 365 Backup — recovery speed within the M365 fabric. Restoring a SharePoint site via M365 Backup is 10× faster than restoring via Veeam B&R for M365 (because Microsoft owns the SaaS layer).

Druva — global compliance (SOC 2 Type II + ISO 27001 + GDPR + HIPAA on AWS-only infrastructure). The "no infra" pitch is real.

Which backup platform fits us?
What's your strongest driver?
Cost / breadth
Veeam — VUL flexibility
Ransomware risk
Rubrik — immutable + warranty
AI-first ops
Cohesity — Helios + Gaia

What about Microsoft 365 protection specifically?

Microsoft launched M365 Backup as a paid add-on in 2024. It's tightly integrated, has fast recovery within the M365 fabric, and is the default if you have nothing else.

But — it has limitations vs third-party platforms: no cross-tenant restore, limited cross-region recovery, weaker eDiscovery + search than Veeam Backup for M365 / Druva / Commvault.

Most mid-market and above customers still run a third-party platform alongside or instead of Microsoft 365 Backup. We see Veeam Backup for M365 as the most-common addition where Veeam already covers other workloads.

What Servnet does

Servnet is an authorised UK partner of Veeam, Rubrik, Commvault, Veritas + an Acronis distributor. We sell, deploy, manage and migrate between any of them — and we're honest about when M365 Backup or Druva are the right answer even though those don't carry partner margin for us.

A typical backup-modernisation engagement: 1) scoping workshop with IT + security teams (2 weeks), 2) sized recommendation with commercials + migration plan (1 week), 3) phased deployment alongside legacy (4-8 weeks), 4) cutover + tested-recovery sign-off + DR runbook (2-4 weeks). End-to-end: 9-15 weeks typical.

Key takeaways
  • Veeam = broadest default. Best skills market in the UK, most flexible licensing.
  • Rubrik = CISO-led choice. Best ransomware posture + the only platform with a real recovery warranty.
  • Commvault = exotic workloads + best data governance.
  • M365 Backup = the new default for M365-only customers; accept the feature trade-offs.
  • Druva = SaaS-only customers who want zero infrastructure to manage.
  • The platform decision is mostly about who runs it day-to-day, not feature parity.
Frequently asked

FAQs — Best backup software UK 2026

Choosing a platform

Which is best for VMware backup specifically?

Veeam — by a wide margin. Native VMware integration, broadest VMware feature parity (CDP, vSphere snapshot-based, application-consistent restore), and the largest VMware-trained Veeam engineer pool in the UK. Particularly relevant post-Broadcom acquisition. See our VMware migration guide.

Should we just use Microsoft 365 Backup if we're pure M365?

It's now a credible default. Trade-offs: no cross-tenant restore, weaker eDiscovery, less granular point-in-time. If you're a small organisation with no compliance / legal restore needs, M365 Backup is fine. If you're mid-market+ with regulatory backup requirements, Veeam Backup for M365 or Druva are usually the better answer.

Pricing

How do these vendors compare on price?

Veeam VUL (Veeam Universal Licence) is the cleanest model — per workload, any combination of VM / physical / cloud / Kubernetes. Rubrik is per-front-end-TB protected (typically more expensive but the recovery warranty offsets risk). Commvault is per-front-end-TB with workload tier multipliers. Druva is per-user / per-workload for SaaS. Microsoft 365 Backup is per-user-per-month direct from Microsoft.

How big is the gap between Veeam and Rubrik on 5-year TCO?

For a 100-TB protected workload, Rubrik typically lands 30-50% above Veeam on raw TCO. Rubrik's answer is that the recovery warranty, anomaly detection and operational simplicity save more than the price delta in any single ransomware incident. We model both for every customer.

Migrations

How long to migrate from Backup Exec to Veeam?

Typical Backup Exec → Veeam migration runs 8-12 weeks: 2 weeks discovery + 2 weeks parallel deployment + 4-6 weeks staged cutover + 1-2 weeks legacy decommission. See our migration playbook.

Can you migrate between Rubrik and Veeam?

Yes, but it's more involved than Backup Exec → Veeam because Rubrik holds significant snapshot data in proprietary format. Usual approach: parallel-run for the full retention period (30-90 days), then decommission the source. Servnet has done both directions multiple times.

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