Finding the right alternative to CloudAlly is key to choosing the best backup service for Google Workspace. While CloudAlly is among the oldest O365 and Google backup solutions (founded in 2011), it has certain drawbacks. For example, it syncs with your Google account only 3X daily maximum.
In this comparative analysis, we discuss the pros and cons of CloudAlly and if the pricing is worth it. We also recommend the best alternatives to CloudAlly available in 2025.
What is CloudAlly?
CloudAlly can be simply defined as:
A cloud-to-cloud backup solution for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Salesforce, Box, and DropBox that stores a copy of your data on AWS.
It’s an enterprise-grade tool that works with a number of SaaS apps for businesses, allowing users to manage different kinds of backed-up data from a single dashboard. In 2020, CloudAlly was acquired by security and compliance company, Zix, and in 2021, Zix was acquired by OpenText.
CloudAlly also provides MSP solutions, which allow IT service providers to use the tool to manage backup for their clients.
What does CloudAlly do?
CloudAlly connects with your Google account to fetch and backup data from different Workspace services such as Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Drive. This data is stored in AWS S3 storage by default, or you can bring your own services (BYOS) and backup to your own AWS or Azure storage location.
You can choose a storage location in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, U.K., or the U.S. to comply with data regulations.
In case of data loss, you can restore the backup from a specific point in time. CloudAlly schedules its daily backup at 0:00 UTC by default, but you can customize the timing. The platform also supports file and account-specific restore.
Key features of CloudAlly
CloudAlly offers several useful features like:
- Filterable audits: You can filter the audit and activity logs with drill-down views of backup tasks such as exports and restores.
- Deleted backup restore: One of the main reasons to backup Google Workspace data is to protect against accidental deletion. CloudAlly offers a 7-day grace period during which you can restore backups even after they are deleted.
- Single dashboard view: Companies using CloudAlly to backup multiple SaaS platforms can manage all their data from a single dashboard.
- Immutable storage: You have the option of applying the immutable storage-object-lock feature to help in ransomware recovery.
- Unlimited retention: Like most leading backup solutions for Google Workspace, CloudAlly lets you retain data for an unlimited period of time. Or, you can define your own data retention policy.
Pros and Cons of CloudAlly
Users looking for a good CloudAlly alternative should be aware of both the pros and the cons. Here are the highlights based on our analysis and customer reviews:
CloudAlly Pros
The platform offers notable benefits such as:
- Good customer service: CloudAlly’s customer support team is present on chat, phone, and email. It promises 24x7x365 support from real experts.
- Unlimited storage: Google Workspace user-based subscriptions offer unlimited storage with no caps. However, shared drives aren’t included in this plan.
- Reports and alerts: CloudAlly sends users daily reports summarizing their backup activities. It also sends exception alert emails with troubleshooting links.
CloudAlly Cons
The following disadvantages are the main reasons why users look for CloudAlly alternatives:
- Maximum 3X backup: CloudAlly backs up data 1X daily by default and 3X upon request. In comparison, CloudAlly alternatives like Afi.ai and Backup Space offer up to 24X daily backups.
- Limited backup scope: Not all Google services are covered by CloudAlly. For instance, it doesn’t backup Chat, Sites and Directory, unlike some of its competitors.
- Lack of transparency around pricing: CloudAlly follows a custom pricing model for enterprises, and this can lead to very high quotes. For example, one user was quoted $8,400 a year to backup 10 users or approximately 5TB.
CloudAlly Pricing
CloudAlly offers three plans, user-based, storage-based, and complete user-based. The Google Workspace user base plan costs $3/month/user or $30/year/user. This backs up all the Gmail, Calendar, Contact, Tasks, and Drive data associated with the user account, excluding shared drives.
For shared drives, you have to subscribe to the storage-based plan, which costs $3/month or $30/year for every 10GB stored.
The complete used-based plan also costs $3/month or $30/year for every 10GB stored, including shared drives and Gmail, Calendar, Contact, Tasks, and Drive data. The catch is that you have to create an account for every Google Workspace (or G Suite) user in your organization, no exception.
This can turn out to be relatively expensive for a mid-sized team. You’ll either have to sign up specific users and add a storage-based plan for an extra fee to cover shared drives. Or, you’ll have to activate CloudAlly for everyone in the organization.
Is CloudAlly Safe?
CloudAlly uses AES-256 data encryption at rest, like most Google Workspace backup solutions. It applies the HTTPS protocol to data in motion, which has TLS technology at its core, the same encryption system used by Backupify, Afi.ai, Backup.Space, and several others.
In other words, CloudAlly uses industry-standard encryption protocols and can be considered safe.
Why Backup Space is a Top Alternative to CloudAlly
While CloudAlly is a popular tool for SaaS backups, it may not be the right solution for everyone. For instance, most CloudAlly reviews focus on its uses for Microsoft 365, making Google Workspace backup a secondary use case for the platform. In contrast, Backup Space is designed as a dedicated solution for Google users, built by a Google-certified team.
Launching in 2025, Backup Space is a cutting-edge yet intuitive solution that offers several advantages over CloudAlly:
1. Up to 24X daily backup
One of the key drawbacks of CloudAlly is that it maxes out at 3X daily backup, and that too, when you request for it specifically. In comparison, Backup.Space offers 24X daily backups in its $3/month/user plan, which is the same cost as CloudAlly.
A copy of your data and files is stored every hour so that you never miss a single version change.
2. Free-forever plan and affordable pricing
Very few Google Workspace backup solutions offer free plans, and Backup Space is one of them. It costs $0 for up to 5 users with free storage of 10GB/user. This includes automated daily backup and anti-ransomware protection for zero cost, unlike CloudAlly.
Backup Space also offers affordable and transparent paid plans that offer up to 100 GB storage per user. Compared to CloudAlly, which costs $3/month for every 10 GB of shared drive storage, Backup Space offers a distinct advantage.
3. More comprehensive Google backup
Backup Space can sync with Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Contacts, Chat, Site, and Directory. In comparison, CloudAlly works with only select services—for example, you cannot backup data from Google Directory, Chat or Sites.
Plus, Backup Space is designed and built for Google Workspace, allowing it to perform faster than most platforms. It uses the latest technologies like Rust to improve computation speed significantly.
CloudAlly vs. Backup Space: Quick Comparison
Here's how Back Space stacks up as a CloudAlly alternative in 2025:
Other Alternatives to CloudAlly
Besides Backup Space, the other CloudAlly alternatives to consider in 2025 include:
Backupify
Like CloudAlly, Backupify is a SaaS-to-Cloud backup service for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. It offers unlimited retention, a robust search capability, and simple setup. However, you can backup data only 3X daily, and some customers have complained about poor support.
While Backupify doesn’t disclose pricing information, customer reviews suggest that it costs about $3/month/user.
Afi.ai
AFI.ai’s USP is that it uses artificial intelligence to predict downtime and potential data loss events. Its also among the few backup solutions built for Kubernetes, however, the company has limited social presence, and can turn out to be costly for small teams. Pricing ranges from $2.46-$15/month/user.
SysCloud
SysCloud is an automated backup and eDiscovery tool, eliminating the need to invest in a separate eDiscovery solution. Like Backupify, it has a powerful search function. However, backup coverage is limited since you can't store Google Chat or Directory data. SysCloud costs $38/year/user.
Can you use Google Vault as a CloudAlly alternative?
Since it’s built into most Google accounts, Google Workspace users often rely on Vault as a default CloudAlly alternative. This isn’t a very good idea for two reasons:
- First, Google itself says that Vault isn’t designed as a backup or data archiving tool, and it’s meant only for compliance and eDiscovery.
- Second, it has no point-in-time restore capability and doesn’t cover all Google services.
Using Google Vault for backup is difficult because exporting data is a complex process. You can’t access your backup in a snap, which defeats the whole point of creating backups in the first place.
That’s why you need to use CloudAlly or a better CloudAlly alternative such as Backup Space to guarantee your data is protected by a reliable third-party service.
In Conclusion: Tips for Choosing the Best Backup Solution
Choosing the best backup solution is essential for both business continuity and cybersecurity, and that means looking for a good CloudAlly alternative.
Backup Space is among the best options, owing to its affordable plans, fast performance, easy setup, and built-for-Workspace approach. You can also consider Backupify, Afi.ai, and SysCloud, all of whom offer strong competitors.
Before choosing, consider factors like backup frequency, storage location, and cost. You want to hold your data in compliant locations without breaking the bank for large volumes. Less setup and maintenance effort will allow you to easily adopt the backup platform across the organization, leaving now weak links.
Backup Space ticks all of these boxes and more. Sign up today to join the exclusive waitlist.
