Commvault vs Acronis for Microsoft 365 backup

Commvault and Acronis at a glance

Full detail is on our Commvault and Acronis pages.

Editions and licensing

Commvault licenses Microsoft 365 backup per user, in three editions. Per Commvault's current edition guide, which we confirm at quote because edition names and allowances vary across Commvault's sources:

The storage allowance makes the edition partly a sizing decision: we check your Microsoft 365 usage reports so you neither buy Enterprise only for storage nor run short on Standard.

Acronis licenses Microsoft 365 backup per seat, with unlimited Acronis Cloud storage on eligible plans, so data volume matters less, or per GB if you choose to keep backups in Microsoft 365 Backup Storage, where retention is fixed at one year. The main choices are the storage location and which other Acronis services you add; we confirm the exact Acronis licence for your organisation at quote.

Neither page carries a price. See Microsoft 365 backup pricing, then ask us for a quote on both.

Where backups are stored, and Microsoft 365 Backup Storage

Both vendors keep a copy outside your tenant by default, and both can also use Microsoft's own platform.

Commvault keeps backups outside Microsoft 365 in a separate security domain, describes them as air-gapped from production with zero trust access controls, and its documentation lists a United Kingdom region for Microsoft 365 workloads. Commvault Cloud with Premium Microsoft 365 Backup Storage adds Microsoft's platform for high-speed, in-place restores after large-scale incidents, selected per workload in the Commvault Cloud console. You can run both, which gives you a fast in-tenant rollback and a separately controlled copy.

Acronis stores backups in Acronis Cloud by default, with optional immutable storage that protects deleted backups for a configured period. Its Direct Backup option keeps backups in Microsoft 365 Backup Storage instead, priced by consumption per GB with fixed one-year retention; Acronis says that option covers Exchange user mailboxes, OneDrive accounts and SharePoint sites and restores them whole rather than item by item. Acronis lets you choose from its available service regions, and we confirm the location for your tenant at quote.

If data location is part of your UK GDPR assessment, read Microsoft 365 backup compliance and the native vs third-party comparison.

Identity: Entra ID and Active Directory

Recovering data is only half of a serious incident; you may also need to restore who can sign in and what they can reach.

Commvault handles identity in a separate product, Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery for Active Directory, licensed per enabled user, with one licence covering the same user in on-premises Active Directory and Entra ID. It compares directories between two points in time and restores objects and attributes, and its Enterprise edition adds automated Active Directory forest recovery. See Commvault Active Directory backup licensing.

Acronis includes supported Entra ID data (users, groups, Conditional Access policies and configuration) among its Microsoft 365 workloads, in the same console.

If you still run on-premises domain controllers, Commvault's forest recovery is a meaningful difference. If you are cloud-only, both cover the Entra ID side; see Entra ID backup.

Beyond Microsoft 365: the wider platforms

Commvault Cloud is one platform for SaaS, identity and infrastructure: the same console can protect Salesforce, Active Directory, virtual machines, databases, file servers and laptops, delivered as a Commvault-hosted service, as software you run yourself, or both. Commvault announced its Commvault Cloud Unity platform release in November 2025. If you are an existing Commvault or Metallic customer, see what happened to Metallic backup.

Acronis Cyber Platform combines backup with security. Acronis Protected 365 adds email security, collaboration security for Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive, security posture management, XDR, email archiving and security awareness training to Microsoft 365 backup, managed from one console. See Acronis Protected 365 licensing.

Commvault or Acronis: which suits whom

We do not declare a winner. Typical fits:

• Commvault suits larger or regulated organisations with a mixed estate (Microsoft 365 plus on-premises Active Directory, Salesforce or servers) that want one console, editions with archive mailbox coverage and eDiscovery, a UK region listed in the vendor's documentation, and the option of Microsoft 365 Backup Storage for fast in-place restores.
• Acronis suits smaller and mid-sized organisations that live mostly in Microsoft 365 and want straightforward per-seat backup with unlimited storage on eligible plans, Entra ID data in the same product, and the option to add email and collaboration security from the same vendor.

Plenty of organisations sit in between. The Microsoft 365 backup comparison adds Axcient x360Cloud, NinjaOne SaaS Backup, Redstor and Microsoft 365 Backup to the picture, and Acronis vs NinjaOne SaaS Backup covers another common shortlist.

How Forever Systems helps

We supply Commvault and Acronis on one account. We can size your users and data, model Commvault's editions against Acronis's per-seat and per-GB options and check storage location against your compliance needs, then help set up your choice and test a restore with you. Contact us for a side-by-side quote.