What happened to Metallic backup?

What Metallic was

Metallic was the name Commvault used for its backup delivered as a service: Commvault ran the backup infrastructure and storage, and customers managed their protection from a web console without installing backup servers of their own. Its best-known service was Metallic for Microsoft 365, cloud-to-cloud backup of Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams, alongside SaaS backup for other workloads such as endpoints, Active Directory and Salesforce.

People still search for Metallic backup, and many organisations bought it under that name, so it is worth being clear about where it went.

What changed, and when

In November 2023 Commvault made Metallic part of Commvault Cloud, the name Commvault now uses for its whole platform: the SaaS services that used to be sold as Metallic, Commvault's self-managed software and its other offerings, run from one management console. The SaaS services themselves carried on under the new name.

What that means in practice:

Commvault has continued to develop the platform since, including the Commvault Cloud Unity platform release announced in November 2025 and an option to combine its Microsoft 365 backup with Microsoft 365 Backup Storage. Edition names and allowances have moved over time, so check your current order against Commvault's current edition guide rather than an old Metallic quote.

What stayed the same for Microsoft 365

The core of the service is recognisable to anyone who used Metallic for Microsoft 365:

• It is still software as a service: there is nothing to install, and Commvault runs the infrastructure.
• It still protects Exchange Online (including public folders, shared and group mailboxes), OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams.
• Backups are still kept outside Microsoft 365, in a separate security domain, air-gapped from production.
• It is still licensed per user, now in three editions: Standard, Enterprise and Enterprise with Compliance, each with its own storage allowance per user.

Our Commvault backup for Microsoft 365 page has the full edition table, the UK region listed in Commvault's documentation and the Microsoft 365 Backup Storage option.

What existing Metallic customers should check at renewal

A renewal is a good moment to make sure the service still fits. These are the questions we can go through with you:

1. Edition and storage: compare how much data your users hold with the storage allowance in your edition, so you are not paying for Enterprise only for space, or running short on Standard
2. Workloads covered: confirm every workload you rely on is in the backup plan, including shared mailboxes, public folders, archive mailboxes and Teams
3. Users and leavers: check the licence count matches the users you protect, and that leavers you need to keep are covered by your retention settings
4. Retention: make sure retention policies still match your record-keeping needs; see Microsoft 365 backup vs retention for how backup and Microsoft's retention policies differ
5. Data region: confirm where your backups are held, particularly if residency matters for Microsoft 365 backup compliance
6. Identity: decide whether to add Entra ID and Active Directory protection; see Entra ID backup
7. Microsoft 365 Backup Storage: consider whether the combined option for fast in-place restores is worth adding
8. Restore test: run a test restore and check who holds the console admin accounts and that they use multi-factor authentication

The Microsoft 365 backup best practices checklist covers the rest.

Should you stay with Commvault?

Often the simplest answer is to renew: the service is the one you chose, it covers the core workloads and it sits in a console that can also protect servers and identity. It is worth comparing, though, if your needs have changed, for example if you want OneNote Class Notebooks covered, per-seat licensing with unlimited storage, or backup and security in one vendor's console.

Because Forever Systems supplies five Microsoft 365 backup platforms, including Commvault, we can tell you plainly whether staying put or moving makes more sense. See the Microsoft 365 backup comparison and Commvault vs Acronis, and if you do move, keep the old backups until their retention period ends or you have agreed how long you need them.

How we help

We can review your current Metallic or Commvault order with you, check edition, storage and coverage against your tenant, and quote the renewal, or an alternative if one fits better. Licensing detail is on Commvault Microsoft 365 backup licensing, with terms confirmed at quote. We cannot help with logging in to an existing Commvault account that we do not supply; Commvault's own support handles that.

Contact us before your renewal date and we will go through it with you.