The Best Azure Database Backup Tools

Finding the right tool to backup your Azure database instances can be tricky – this article includes eight products that do just that.

Here is our list of the best Azure Database Backup tools:

1. Vembu BDR Suite – EDITOR’S CHOICE This backup and recovery system has an edition that is dedicated to backing up Azure and it offers a free tier to cover 10 VMs. Available for Windows Server and Linux or as a SaaS platform. Get a 30-day free trial.
2. Acronis Cyber Protect – FREE TRIAL A cloud-focused backup solution with native Azure support is outfitted with several security-focused features to protect your data. Start a 30-day free trial.
3. MSP360 Managed Backup A highly scalable SaaS cloud-based backup solution can fully integrate with Azure and provides a massively comprehensive list of valuable features.
4. inSync Data Backup A SaaS backup solution integrates numerous essential data loss prevention techniques to provide a powerful backup tool with native Azure support.
5. N-able Cove Data Protection A backup solution that prioritizes ease of use while still providing a robust database backup tool. The product includes a set of readily available security and recovery solutions.
6. Iperius Backup A robust backup product that has full restoration capabilities and encryption, and integration with other Iperius products.
7. Commvault Backup and Recovery Provides a single point of management for various data sources and includes native Azure database integration and support.
8. Comet Backup A backup platform features several valuable features, including ‘chunking' technology that compresses data for speedier delivery and lower bandwidth and storage requirements.
9. Quest Rapid Recovery If recovery times are your primary concern among the best backup solutions, this solution can rapidly restore your virtualized Azure instances.

There’s a wide variety of backup products available on the market, but the number of available products shrinks slightly when looking for something specifically designed for database backups. The number shrinks even further when trying to consider cloud-based backups. By the time you need to find products that can handle specifically Azure, you’re only looking at a small collection of products that can be difficult to identify.

This article runs through eight different products that can backup and restore your Azure databases. But these products come in two distinct flavors that you’ll need to be aware of – virtualized support and native support. We’ve indicated which products fall into each category. Still, generally speaking, native support is what you should be looking for unless you have the capabilities to set up a VM-held instance of your databases.

Virtualized Support

These products do not natively allow you to integrate your Azure database instances directly into the backup product. Instead, the product backs up a virtualized version of the Azure model held on a virtual machine (VM). These products get the job done, but they often don’t provide the full suite of available features since they work through abstracted hardware.

You’ll also need to know precisely how to set up a virtual machine with your Azure instances held within. Some of the products on this list provide thorough step-by-step guides on integrating their solution with the virtualized instance, and we have included links to these guides where possible.

Native Support

These products can fully connect and integrate with your Azure-held databases without the need for virtualization. This is the better option of the two since you don’t need to set up a VM, and the product offers all of the available features without relying on hardware abstraction.

We’ve included several non-natively supported products on this list for a few reasons. The first is that finding good database backup products that include Azure support can be difficult. Secondly, many businesses already hold their Azure instances on a VM for other reasons, so in those circumstances finding support for Azure via virtualization is a boon.

Regardless of your chosen option, all of the solutions on this list can ultimately support your Azure databases. Each backup solution focuses on a different feature-set, with a lot of flexibility in the scope, price, and capacity.

The best Azure Database Backup Tools

1. Vembu BDR Suite – FREE TRIAL

Vembu BDR Suite provides an edition for backing up Azure VMs. Vembu can back up SQL Server and MySQL databases in its Applications edition. However, the service recommends backing up the whole account with the Cloud VM edition if your databases are hosted on Azure.

Vembu also offers other editions and you can pick services from each category to create a combination account that protects your data on any platform. There is also a backup service for AWS accounts. The other editions are VM, Server, Endpoints, Cloud Applications, and Applications.

Key Features:

• Agentless system
• Encryption for transfers and repositories
• Data compression
• Backup to cloud

Cloud storage space isn’t included in the plan. So, you sort that out yourself. You can store to another Azure account or to AWS S3, Google Cloud, or Wasabi. The tool can take a snapshot of your Azure VM and store that and it also offers block-level and file-level incremental backups on a schedule.

Free Trial: You can try out Vembu BDR Suite with a 30-day free trial.

Price: You can back up 10 Azure VMs with the Free plan. Paid service cost $75 (£59.08) per instance for a perpetual license or $30 (£23.63) per year on a subscription.

2. Acronis Cyber Protect – FREE TRIAL

Acronis Cyber Protect includes cloud solutions, with fully supported Azure integration. The product can be easily plugged directly into Azure to provide all of the features of Acronis Cyber Protect. In addition, deduplication and a web-based administration panel are used to optimize your backup storage solution properly.

Key Features

• Native Azure support
• Highly secure backup
• Storage optimization console
• Multi-level administration
• Off-host operations

Additionally, the solution has numerous safeguards to ensure that unwanted access is limited and data loss or exposure is avoided. For improved internal security, the software encrypts your databases and includes a set of tools for defining admin roles and user limitations.

Free Trial: The service is offered for a 30-day free trial.

Price: After the free trial, you may sort the products by scale and features to find the best deal. Additional capabilities such as flexible deployment and VM snapshots are available in the Advanced edition, which may be helpful depending on your backup needs.

Start a 30-day Free Trial!

3. MSP360 Managed Backup

MSP360 Managed Backup is a scalable cross-platform backup and disaster recovery product that includes fully integrated Azure support and is especially useful if you plan to integrate your backup to cover more than just your Azure database infrastructure. The platform is designed with enterprise-scale cloud backups in mind.

Key Features

• Native Azure support
• SaaS backup platform
• Central management portal
• Snapshot backups
• Recovery testing

A central management portal allows you to control all of your backup services fully. In addition, the SaaS business model means even the financing is highly flexible. The costs scale based on your demands, meaning the pricing is suitable regardless of the scope of your business backup needs.

Free Trial: There is a free trial of the product available on the company website.

Price: Τhe solution itself uses a subscription as a service-based business model that scales based on your specific demands. That said, you’ll need to contact MSP360 directly to generate a personalized quote based on your exact needs.

4. inSync Data Backup

The inSync Enterprise Endpoint Data Backup backup solution is a comprehensive SaaS backup product used for various backup applications and includes support for Azure database backups. The solution uses 256-AES encryption and TLS 1.2 encryption for data transmission, guaranteeing that your data is entirely safe.

Key Features

• Native Azure support
• SaaS backup platform
• Incremental forever backup model
• Compliance reporting
• Role-based access control

The solution employs an incremental backup approach and uses data loss prevention technologies and a remote wipe capability to avoid mistakes. You can generate compliance reporting and monitoring that is automated and available on demand. Internal security is additionally enforced via role-based access control lists with group-customizable user preferences.

Free Trial: The Elite edition of the solution is available for a full free trial on the website.

Price: The Enterprise Edition of the program costs $8 per endpoint per month, whereas the Elite version costs $10 per month. In addition, the Elite editions provide management tools like federated metadata searching and eDiscovery – which may or may not be helpful for your Azure integration.

5. N-able Cove Data Protection

N-able Cove Data Protection is a web-based backup utility that provides Azure backup support unofficially through virtualization platforms. The company expands on the topic in this article. Still, effectively like many of the options available on this list, it successfully supports the backup of Azure-held cloud databases by utilizing hardware abstraction via virtualization.

Key Features

• “Unofficial” Azure support via virtualization
• SaaS backup platform
• Central dashboard
• Recovery testing
• Data archiving

A central web dashboard allows you to examine and configure all of your data backups. It can provide all of the typical file/folder backup options available within the Azure instance. In addition, N-able Cove Data Protection has full archiving capability and a file restoration tool to aid in the recovery of corrupt or deleted files.

Free Trial: There is a 30-day free trial to try out the features and backup capabilities via the website.

Price: Beyond the free trial, there are a variety of premium service alternatives to pick between to ensure your Azure integration is appropriately handled. You’ll need to contact the company directly for a personalized quote on pricing and explain your Azure integration needs, which will mean the inclusion of virtualization.

6. Iperius Backup

Iperious Backup is a robust backup solution that comes in both a free and a feature-rich premium edition with native support for Azure backups. The setup for Azure integration is a tad awkward (this article explains the process in more detail) but works smoothly once correctly setup. A central administration suite is included in such products, allowing you to set precise backup parameters and monitor your backup activities.

Key Features

• Native Azure support
• Incremental backups
• AES 256 encryption
• Backup scheduling
• Iperius Console integration

Complete database backups and restores are available, and full AES 256 encryption, scheduling settings, and other helpful administration capabilities. Iperious also offers several different products that can be used in conjunction with the Backup solution.

Free Trial: The Advanced version, which is necessary for database backups and Azure integration, has a free trial available.

Price: A permanent license for the Advanced version costs roughly $230. For approximately $350, you can acquire the Full version, which supports numerous other data sources that can be singularly integrated into a central solution.

7. Commvault Backup and Recovery

The Commvault Backup and Recovery system provides a single backup point for various data sources, with native support for Azure cloud platforms. In addition, the system uses the command center, a unified dashboard suite for management and monitoring, to simplify your Azure cloud integration.

Key Features

• Native Azure support
• Granular data recovery
• Ransomware protection
• Central dashboard
• Cloud backup automation

Through Commvault, you can also easily convert Azure Stack VMs to Azure cloud. The product provides high-speed granular recovery and high-performance backups. In addition, the combination of built-in ransomware protection and encryption levels provides a high level of data security.

Free Trial: A free trial of Commvault's comprehensive data protection suite, which includes Backup and Recovery, is available via the website.

Price: You'll need to contact Commvault directly for a customized quote on pricing for the product.

8. Comet Backup

Comet Backup is a versatile all-in-one solution for your backup needs. It includes Azure cloud integration for disk and partition backup, Office 365, and Cloud-hosted MongoDB services. In addition, Comet offers incremental backups that use ‘chunking' to split data into compressed and encrypted chunks for more accessible storage and delivery.

Key Features

• Native but limited Azure support
• Incremental forever backup model
• Integration API
• Secure encryption
• Data compression technology

With file encryption and client-side deduplication technology, backups are also quick and secure. Comet Backup also has an API that may be used to expand its integration with various data sources.

Free Trial: The solution has a 30-day free trial to test out the product's features within your business environment.

Price: The cost of the complete solution is broken down in terms of specific data set requirements – the Azure integration is included as part of Disk Image Backup, MongoDB for databases, or Office365.

9. Quest Rapid Recovery

Quest Rapid Recovery is a backup and recovery solution that focuses on a quick recovery and includes Azure support via VM integration. The solution provides swift recovery times with no impact on your users, extending to Azure-held databases, even when held through a virtual platform. This article directly from Quest goes into detail about the setup and requirements for integrating the platform with Azure.

Key Features

• Azure support via VM integration
• Block-level snapshots
• Fast restore technologies
• Integrity checks
• File prioritization systems

Verified recovery backup protection solutions check that backups are functional and recoverable in the current environment, essentially performing recovery testing via verification. In addition, to reduce capacity demands, the solution creates database snapshots with built-in compression and deduplication algorithms.

Free Trial: On the company website, Quest Rapid Recovery offers a free trial to evaluate the solution's complete capabilities and guarantee it matches your backup needs.

Price: If you want a personalized quote on the pricing for the entire product. In that case, you'll need to contact Quest directly – bear in mind you’ll need to have at least the Rapid Recovery Core product for Azure integration.