Many products on the market are filled with technical features that can obfuscate the standard operation of the software. When you are purchasing (or downloading a free version) backup software, you’ll want to remember to only buy what you need. Things to consider before buying the best backup software As companies often change their offerings, pricing, and terms of service, it’s always a good idea to make sure you know exactly what you’re paying for before signing up-especially true if you’re getting into a longer-term deal. We relied on a combination of personal experience, editorial reviews, user impressions, and feature comparisons to choose the best possible options for a variety of users. For this list, we started by comparing a wide array of backup software, then emphasized those with solid pricing, reliable service, decent encryption, and broad compatibility. Reputation is important when it comes to backup software because it’s a big deal to trust a company with your files.

Best unlimited cloud storage: Backblaze.

Best for Windows: Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office.

The best backup software will add an essential layer of security to your computer workflow without adding a ton of extra hassle or cost. These devices will cease to function at some point and if we’re not vigilant with backing up our data with a full redundancy plan, we put our data at risk. Both internal and external hard drives have limited life spans. The other factor that necessitates the need for backup software is the physical lifespan of our storage devices. It’s the best backup software that can offer you more than just a secondary place to store your litany of photos.

But these solutions are limited and don’t offer the same dedicated security and reliability that you can find with software designed for the purpose of backing up your data. There are free cloud solutions offered by Google and Apple that we generally agree to upon the purchase of a new smartphone. If you aren’t backing up your data on a regular basis then you are putting your documents and memories at risk.

Solid backup software should be a fundamental part of your digital life.

Free personal backup software