Acronis vs NinjaOne SaaS Backup for Microsoft 365

Acronis and NinjaOne SaaS Backup at a glance

For the full product explainers, see our Acronis and NinjaOne SaaS Backup pages.

Teams coverage: the clearest difference

Teams is where these two products are easiest to tell apart, so read the detail.

Acronis backs up teams, channels, channel files, team mailboxes, meetings and the team's SharePoint site. Acronis is clear about two limits: channel conversations can be downloaded as HTML but cannot be restored back into Teams, and private one-to-one and group chats are not backed up.

NinjaOne SaaS Backup lists the team structure, channel messages and associated files. It does not list private chats, so treat them as outside scope unless NinjaOne confirms otherwise for your tenant.

If you need to keep Teams chats for compliance rather than recovery, that is an archiving job; see Teams chat archiving on our Email Archiving site. Our Microsoft Teams backup page explains where Teams data actually lives.

Entra ID: included data vs a bundle

Both products can protect identity configuration as well as data, but they package it differently.

Acronis lists supported Entra ID data, users, groups, Conditional Access policies and configuration, among the Microsoft 365 workloads it backs up, managed in the same console as the rest of the tenant.

NinjaOne SaaS Backup puts Entra ID protection in its + Entra and + Archiver + Entra bundles. Our product data lists users, Microsoft 365 groups, roles and admins, Conditional Access policies, app registrations, devices and BitLocker keys, with point-in-time backups and granular restore back into the directory. If you only need data backup, Standard leaves it out.

Microsoft also has its own option, Microsoft Entra Backup and Recovery, which keeps a short history of daily backups; compare the approaches in Entra ID backup.

Storage, retention and licensing

Acronis gives you two storage models, and they drive the licence:

• Acronis Cloud: per seat, with unlimited Acronis Cloud storage on eligible plans, and retention set by age, by number of backups, or indefinitely while the service is active
• Microsoft 365 Backup Storage: Acronis's Direct Backup option keeps backups in Microsoft's platform, priced by consumption per GB, with retention fixed at one year and recovery-point frequency that varies by workload and backup age. Acronis says it covers Exchange user mailboxes, OneDrive accounts and SharePoint sites, and recovers whole mailboxes, accounts or sites to the original location rather than individual items

NinjaOne SaaS Backup is per seat in four bundles, Standard, + Entra, + Archiver and + Archiver + Entra, with storage in NinjaOne's cloud under a fair use allowance pooled across your organisation and retention you customise by policy. The Archiver bundles add journaling-based email archiving with legal hold and eDiscovery, which is a different job from backup; see email archiving vs backup.

Neither model has a published price from us. See Microsoft 365 backup pricing for what drives the cost, then ask us for a quote on both.

Backups, search and restore

NinjaOne describes automated, incremental backups that run several times a day, with customisable schedules. Acronis says supported Microsoft 365 data can be backed up up to six times a day on Acronis Cloud; when backups are kept in Microsoft 365 Backup Storage, the recovery-point frequency follows Microsoft's platform and varies by workload and backup age.

For restores, both offer granular recovery:

• Acronis (on Acronis Cloud): search mailbox backups by sender, recipient, subject or date, find files by name, preview items, and restore a single email, file or folder to the original location or to another mailbox or user; optional immutable storage protects deleted backups for a configured period
• NinjaOne SaaS Backup: point-in-time and item-level restore of a single email, folder, mailbox, OneDrive folder, SharePoint library or Teams files, with options that avoid overwriting intact content and an audit log of backup and restore activity

Our Microsoft 365 backup and restore page walks through the common restore scenarios.

Beyond backup: the wider platforms

You are rarely buying only a backup. Each product sits in a larger family, which may tip the decision:

• Acronis places backup inside Acronis Cyber Platform. Acronis Protected 365 bundles Microsoft 365 backup with email security, collaboration security for Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive, security posture management, XDR, email archiving and security awareness training, and Acronis describes AI-assisted anomaly detection across Microsoft 365 in its Protected 365 materials. See Acronis Protected 365 licensing.
• NinjaOne is an IT management software company, and SaaS Backup sits alongside its endpoint management tools. Existing Dropsuite customers can keep their set-up or connect it to NinjaOne through NinjaOne's Bring Your Own Dropsuite option.

This comparison deliberately stays on Microsoft 365 backup; we are not comparing the two vendors' device management or endpoint products here.

Acronis or NinjaOne SaaS Backup: which suits whom

Neither is the winner in general. Typical fits:

• Acronis suits organisations that want unlimited storage on eligible per-seat plans, broader Teams coverage of meetings and team mailboxes, group mailbox backup, or the option to use Microsoft 365 Backup Storage, and those who may add email or collaboration security from the same console later.
• NinjaOne SaaS Backup suits organisations that want a simple per-seat bundle that can include Entra ID backup and journaling email archiving, Teams channel messages in the backup, several backups a day, and existing Dropsuite customers who want continuity.

Not sure? The Microsoft 365 backup comparison sets both against Axcient x360Cloud, Redstor, Commvault and Microsoft 365 Backup.

How Forever Systems helps

We supply both products on one account. We can check your tenant's mailbox types, Teams use and Entra ID needs and quote Acronis and NinjaOne SaaS Backup side by side, then help set up the one you choose and test a restore with you. Contact us for a side-by-side quote.