Restow compared: features, prices and the real 5-year cost
As mailbox count grows, Restow's license, with its update years counted in, usually ends up cheaper over 5 years than a per-seat backup subscription, and you keep your own storage and an open, restorable format the whole way.
A fact-by-fact comparison against Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365, Veeam Data Cloud, NinjaOne SaaS Backup (formerly Dropsuite), MailStore, Acronis, Keepit, AvePoint, Kaseya (Datto SaaS Protection, Spanning) and Microsoft 365 Backup, for IT decision makers and MSPs evaluating options: what each product actually is, what it costs over time with real infrastructure counted in, and what Restow honestly does not cover yet.
Compiled from each vendor's own public documentation and pricing pages, checked 2026-09-24. Not a recommendation against any of these products; several are good software with a different model than Restow. Prices and features change: every claim below is dated and sourced.
Feature matrix
"Yes" and "No" mean the vendor's own official documentation states so; "Not documented" is a negative finding (not found in the sources checked), not proof of absence. Restow is marked honestly: SharePoint sites are backed up since 0.4.0 but Teams chats are not, immutable backups exist per repository since 0.4.0 and are off until switched on (tested against a simulated S3 service only), the archive ships in every edition since 0.1.0, with capture from the mailboxes since 0.4.4 (near-time, tested against simulated services only), journal receipt, enforced retention and legal hold in Business and Service Provider, Proxmox VE backup is a preview since 0.3.1, and image backup and a Windows agent are planned. Every vendor name links to that vendor's own dedicated, fully sourced comparison page.
| Feature | Restow Community | Restow Business | Restow Service Provider | Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 | Veeam Data Cloud for M365 | NinjaOne SaaS Backup (Dropsuite) | MailStore Server / SPE | Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud | Keepit | AvePoint Cloud Backup | Kaseya (Datto SaaS Protection) | Microsoft 365 Backup | Hornetsecurity 365 Total Backup | N-able Cove Data Protection | Synology Active Backup for M365 | NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365 | CodeTwo Backup for Office 365 | Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | Yes Self-hosted, Docker Compose | Yes Self-hosted, Docker Compose | Yes Self-hosted, Docker Compose | Yes Self-hosted, Windows server | No SaaS, Veeam-operated on Azure | No SaaS, vendor-operated on AWS | Yes Self-hosted (Server/SPE); Cloud is SaaS | No SaaS | No SaaS, vendor-hosted only | No SaaS | No SaaS, MSP channel | No SaaS, Microsoft-operated | No SaaS, Hornetsecurity-operated | No SaaS, N-able data centres | Yes On a Synology NAS you own | Yes Self-hosted on Windows, Linux or a NAS | Yes Self-hosted on Windows Server or Windows 10/11 | No SaaS, vendor-hosted only |
| Your own storage target | Yes Local disk, S3-compatible, NFS | Yes Local disk, S3-compatible, NFS | Yes Local disk, S3-compatible, NFS | Yes Local (DAS/SMB), S3-compatible, Azure Blob | No Veeam-operated Azure storage accounts | No Vendor-operated AWS storage | Yes File system or NAS (Server/SPE) | Partial Acronis cloud storage, or Microsoft 365 Backup Storage | No Vendor-operated storage | No Vendor-operated storage | No Vendor-operated storage | No Microsoft-operated storage | No Hornetsecurity infrastructure only | No N-able data centres only | Yes Your Synology NAS | Yes Local, NAS, S3-compatible, Azure Blob, tape and more | Yes Local or network storage you provide | No Barracuda Cloud Storage on Azure |
| Data location control | Yes You choose the storage target's region | Yes You choose the storage target's region | Yes You choose the storage target's region | Yes You choose the storage target's region | Partial Selectable Azure region, incl. Germany West Central | Partial Selectable AWS region, incl. Germany | Yes Your own file system/NAS (Server/SPE) | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Partial Follows the M365 tenant's own region | Yes Region choice (Germany, USA, UK announced 2022) | Yes Region choice, about 30 data centres | Yes Wherever your NAS stands | Yes Wherever your storage is | Yes Wherever your storage is | Yes Azure region of your choice |
| Open storage format / restore without the vendor | Yes Documented format, standalone restow-restore tool | Yes Documented format, standalone restow-restore tool | Yes Documented format, standalone restow-restore tool | No No open format specification found | No No open format specification found | No No open format specification found | Partial EML/MSG/PST export; internal store format not openly specified | No No open format specification found | No No open format specification found | No No open format specification found | No No open format specification found | No No open format specification found | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Partial Exports to EML/PST, ICS, CSV, HTML; internal format not open | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked |
| IMAP backup | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Not documented for VBM365 | No | Yes IMAP/POP3 supported | Yes IMAP/POP3, plus M365/Exchange/Google | No Not documented | No Not documented | No Not documented | No Not documented | No M365-native only | No Not documented | No Not documented | No Not documented | No Not documented | No Not documented | No Not documented |
| M365 mail, calendar, contacts, OneDrive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial Mail-focused archive; calendar/contacts depend on profile | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SharePoint / Teams | Partial SharePoint Online sites (document libraries, lists) since 0.4.0, new and tested against a simulated Microsoft Graph so far; no Teams chats | Partial SharePoint Online sites (document libraries, lists) since 0.4.0, new and tested against a simulated Microsoft Graph so far; no Teams chats | Partial SharePoint Online sites (document libraries, lists) since 0.4.0, new and tested against a simulated Microsoft Graph so far; no Teams chats | Yes SharePoint and Teams (excl. 1:1/group chats) | Yes | Yes Incl. Teams channel chat | No Not documented | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial SharePoint yes; Teams coverage per Microsoft's own docs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes Teams through SharePoint, OneDrive and Exchange | Yes |
| Immutable storage (Object Lock / WORM) | Partial Per repository, off until an administrator turns it on. S3 with Object Lock (compliance or governance, 1 to 3650 days) locks packs, manifests and keys of the backup data; tested against a simulated S3 service only. Directories and NFS get only a deletion delay, which is not immutability. The installation default repository cannot be made immutable. The archive adds a tamper-evident SHA-256 hash chain in every edition | Partial Per repository, off until an administrator turns it on. S3 with Object Lock (compliance or governance, 1 to 3650 days) locks packs, manifests and keys of the backup data; tested against a simulated S3 service only. Directories and NFS get only a deletion delay, which is not immutability. The installation default repository cannot be made immutable. The archive adds a tamper-evident SHA-256 hash chain in every edition | Partial Per repository, off until an administrator turns it on. S3 with Object Lock (compliance or governance, 1 to 3650 days) locks packs, manifests and keys of the backup data; tested against a simulated S3 service only. Directories and NFS get only a deletion delay, which is not immutability. The installation default repository cannot be made immutable. The archive adds a tamper-evident SHA-256 hash chain in every edition | Yes S3 Object Lock, Azure versioning, depending on target | Yes Included, LRS with 3 copies | Partial WORM advertised for the archive product | No Hash-based tamper detection; no WORM storage documented | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Partial Depends on NAS features (e.g. immutable snapshots) | Yes Local Linux folders, cloud immutability, tape | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked |
| Automated restore tests | Yes Weekly sampled restore check: a sample is read back through the restore path and verified against the recorded hashes; results shown as recovery readiness. File shares: up to 20 sampled files read back after every new restore point. Proxmox VE (preview): every new restore point read back within minutes, optional boot tests | Yes Weekly sampled restore check: a sample is read back through the restore path and verified against the recorded hashes; results shown as recovery readiness. File shares: up to 20 sampled files read back after every new restore point. Proxmox VE (preview): every new restore point read back within minutes, optional boot tests | Yes Weekly sampled restore check: a sample is read back through the restore path and verified against the recorded hashes; results shown as recovery readiness. File shares: up to 20 sampled files read back after every new restore point. Proxmox VE (preview): every new restore point read back within minutes, optional boot tests | No Not documented as of the 8.6 release notes checked | Not documented Not researched | No Not documented | No Integrity check exists; automated test-restore not documented | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked | Not documented Not documented in vendor sources checked |
| Multi-tenant for MSPs | No Single tenant | No Single tenant | Yes Delegated tenant admins, provider overview across tenants and cross-tenant API | Yes Via VCSP program | Yes Via VCSP program | Yes MSP-oriented, white label for qualifying resellers | Yes MailStore SPE, one instance per end customer | Yes MSP-channel product | Not documented Not researched | Not documented Not researched | Yes MSP-channel product (Kaseya) | No Per-tenant, no MSP console documented | Yes Sold through partners, per customer | Yes MSP product | No One NAS, no MSP console documented | Not documented Not researched | Not documented Not researched | Yes MSP program documented |
| Pricing model | Yes Free, no license key | Yes One-time purchase. Pre-sale licenses include every 1.x update; from version 1.0, a license includes 12 months of updates, then an optional update year (Business €295, Service Provider €595 net per year). | Yes One-time purchase. Pre-sale licenses include every 1.x update; from version 1.0, a license includes 12 months of updates, then an optional update year (Business €295, Service Provider €595 net per year). | Partial Subscription or monthly rental per protected user | Partial Subscription per user (annual/multi-year/monthly) | Partial Per user/seat subscription | Partial Perpetual per-user license + separate time-limited update subscription | Partial Per-seat or per-GB subscription | Partial Subscription, tiered by retention/support level | Partial Subscription, per user or per data volume | Partial Committed-minimum-plus-consumption subscription | Partial Pay-as-you-go, $0.15/GB/month | Partial Per user, all-inclusive, no public price | Partial Per user, storage pooled, no public price | Yes Free add-on, needs a Synology NAS | Partial Subscription per user, from €0.80/month, min. 10 users | Partial Annual subscription per backed-up user | Partial Per-user subscription, no public price |
| Open source | Yes Apache 2.0 | Partial Apache 2.0 core, modules under the Restow license terms | Partial Apache 2.0 core, modules under the Restow license terms | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Pricing and the real 5-year cost
Self-hosting is never free: every Restow total below includes the update years needed to stay current, a Hetzner Cloud VM, Hetzner Object Storage sized for the protected data (with a stated deduplication factor), and an explicit, separately labelled admin-time cost. Where a vendor publishes a list price, it is used directly: Microsoft 365 Backup ($0.15 per GB per month) and Veeam Data Cloud Foundation ($2.63 to $3.50 per user per month). For vendors without a public price, a clearly labelled illustrative per-seat figure is shown, never attributed to a specific vendor. See assumptions and sources below for every number used.
Read honestly: at a smaller scale with little data (the scenarios with 25 and 150 mailboxes below), Microsoft's own metered $0.15/GB/month can come out cheaper than self-hosting, because Restow's fixed VM, admin-time and update-year costs don't shrink with mailbox count. Restow pulls ahead of both Microsoft 365 Backup and a typical per-seat subscription as mailbox count and data volume grow, which is what the scenario with 1,000 mailboxes shows.
Restow: license €595, 4 update years €1,180, plus VM, storage and admin time.
Show values as a table
| Model | 5-year total |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Backup | €1,978 |
| Veeam Data Cloud (Foundation) | €4,614 |
| Per-seat SaaS (illustrative) | €6,592 |
| Restow (self-hosted) | €7,294 |
Restow: license €595, 4 update years €1,180, plus VM, storage and admin time.
Show values as a table
| Model | 5-year total |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Backup | €11,865 |
| Restow (self-hosted) | €12,300 |
| Veeam Data Cloud (Foundation) | €24,917 |
| Per-seat SaaS (illustrative) | €39,550 |
Restow: license €1,950, 4 update years €2,380, plus VM, storage and admin time.
Show values as a table
| Model | 5-year total |
|---|---|
| Restow (self-hosted) | €37,443 |
| Microsoft 365 Backup | €79,100 |
| Veeam Data Cloud (Foundation) | €184,567 |
| Per-seat SaaS (illustrative) | €263,667 |
Not charted: Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (self-hosted). Its license is sold per protected user through resellers and no public list price exists, so a bar with only its server, Windows and storage costs would understate the real total. Other vendors without a published price are covered by the illustrative per-seat figure.
Run your own numbers
The three scenarios above use round numbers. If your mailbox count, data volume or time horizon is different, use the calculator below; it runs entirely in your browser from the same data as the chart.
Run your own numbers
Adjust the mailbox count, protected GB per mailbox and the time period; the totals below recompute instantly, using the same assumptions as the chart above. The Restow total includes the license (list price) and update years: the first 12 months are included, every further started year needs an update year (Business €295, Service Provider €595 net per year).
- Restow, self-hosted, total (with update years)
- -
- Microsoft 365 Backup, total
- -
- Illustrative SaaS subscription, total
- -
- Veeam Data Cloud (Foundation, list price), total
- -
Assumed VM size: -
Why MSPs choose Restow
One price per edition, not per mailbox
Service Provider is €1,950 one-time (list price from release), plus an optional update year at €595 net after the first 12 months of updates; there is no price per mailbox or tenant. A per-user subscription takes a cut of every mailbox you protect, every month, for as long as you protect it.
Many tenants, one installation
Available today: any number of client tenants in one installation, delegated tenant administrators who see only their own tenant, a provider overview across all tenants and a cross-tenant API key for your tools.
Your storage, your region
Local disk, S3-compatible object storage or NFS, in the region you choose. Not a vendor-operated bucket you cannot look into.
A REST API for RMM and PSA
Backup, restore and verification status, jobs and storage per tenant, plus a clean mailbox directory for ticketing and billing.
An open format, no lock-in
Your customers' data sits in an open, documented format. A standalone tool restores from it even without a running Restow server.
Nothing reported to a vendor
What you protect, and for whom, stays between you and your customer. Restow has no telemetry and no license server.
Restore proof per tenant
Every week, samples from every backup are read back and compared. A backup without a verified restore is shown as not proven.
White label: planned
Not built yet. The roadmap shows the status.
Example: margin on the 20-tenant / 1,000-mailbox scenario
This is a worked example with a stated example price, not a promise of what you will charge or earn. Using the same infrastructure and admin-time assumptions as the chart above, the MSP's own all-in monthly cost for 1,000 mailboxes across 20 tenants averages to about €0.62 per mailbox per month (license and update years amortized over 5 years, plus VM, storage and admin time). Charging customers an example €3/mailbox/month for managed backup:
- Example monthly revenue
- €3,000
- MSP's own all-in monthly cost
- €624
- Example monthly margin
- €2,376
€3/mailbox/month is an example price point only, not a recommendation or a guarantee of what the market will bear; your actual price, cost and margin depend on your own infrastructure choices, support load and market.
Assumptions and sources
Every number behind the chart and the calculator, grouped. Official prices link to the vendor's own page with the date we read it; everything we assumed is marked as such, so you can replace it with your own figure.
Competitor prices
| Item | Value | Type | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Backup | $0.15 per GB of protected content per month | Official price | Microsoft Learn: Pricing model for Microsoft 365 Backup read |
| Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365, Foundation | $3.50 (10 to 50 users), $3.15 (51 to 250), $2.63 (251+) per user per month, billed annually, storage included Covers Teams too, which Restow does not, and SharePoint, which Restow has backed up only since 0.4.0. In the MSP scenario each of the 20 tenants is priced as its own customer (50 users each); Veeam's MSP program prices are not public. | Official price | Veeam: Veeam Data Cloud pricing and purchasing options read |
| Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (self-hosted) | No public list price Sold per user through resellers. Not charted, because a bar without the license would look cheaper than it is. | Official price | Veeam: Licensing and license types read |
| Per-seat SaaS backup, illustrative | $5.00 per user per month A round example figure, not the price of any named vendor. | Our assumption | Worked 5-year pricing example |
Restow
| Item | Value | Type | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business | €595 one-time, net (list price from release) Pre-sale until release: €476. The chart uses the higher list price on purpose. | Official price | Restow pricing |
| Service Provider | €1,950 one-time, net (list price from release) No support included. | Official price | Restow pricing |
| Update year | Business €295, Service Provider €595 net per year, optional, from version 1.0 The Restow figure uses the list price, which applies from version 1.0, plus the update years needed to stay current: the first 12 months are included, so 5 years need 4 update years. The pre-sale price, which includes every 1.x update, is not used. | Official price | Restow pricing |
Infrastructure for self-hosting
| Item | Value | Type | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner Cloud VM | CX23 (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM) €5.49, CX33 (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM) €8.49, CX53 (16 vCPU, 32 GB RAM) €29.49 per month, net | Official price | docs.hetzner.com read |
| Hetzner Object Storage | €6.49 per month incl. about 0.93 TB, then €6.26 per TB | Official price | docs.hetzner.com/storage/object-storage read |
| Windows Server 2025 Standard, 16 cores | €939.00 one-time Only relevant for self-hosted Veeam; not re-checked against Microsoft's current price list. | Estimate, unverified | Our own figure |
| Own hardware instead of a VM | Not in the chart A mini-PC or used server (roughly €300 to €1,500 one-time) plus power can replace the VM rent. | Our assumption | Our own figure |
Our assumptions (change them in the calculator)
| Item | Value | Type | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data per mailbox | 10 GB | Our assumption | Our own figure |
| Deduplication (Restow) | 1.5× Conservative; not a measured figure. | Our assumption | Our own figure |
| Admin time | 1, 2, 6 hours per month at €80 per hour (small, mid-size, MSP) | Our assumption | Our own figure |
| Exchange rate | 1 EUR = 1.1378 USD | Official price | ECB euro reference rate read |
Comparative advertising under § 6 UWG: objective, verifiable and dated, without disparaging anyone. Where a vendor publishes no price, we say so instead of guessing. Prices change; if you find an outdated figure, write to info@it-flores.de and we correct it.
Vendor by vendor
- Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365
- Veeam Data Cloud for M365
- NinjaOne SaaS Backup (Dropsuite)
- MailStore Server / SPE
- Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud
- Keepit
- AvePoint Cloud Backup
- Kaseya (Datto SaaS Protection)
- Microsoft 365 Backup
- Hornetsecurity 365 Total Backup
- N-able Cove Data Protection
- Synology Active Backup for M365
- NAKIVO Backup for Microsoft 365
- CodeTwo Backup for Office 365
- Barracuda Cloud-to-Cloud Backup
Not a Microsoft 365 backup vendor, but compared for readers who protect Proxmox VE: Proxmox Backup Server. It has no row in the matrix or the cost chart.
Each page above cites its own sources with the date read. See also Your data is your data and the topics section for the reasoning and lock-in questions behind these comparisons. The per-mailbox figures behind the chart are worked out on what Microsoft 365 backup costs per user; providers will find multi-tenant backup for MSPs and anyone archiving mail in Germany email archiving under the GoBD.
Frequently asked
Is self-hosting Restow really cheaper than a subscription?
Usually, over 5 years, once you count the update years and the real infrastructure and admin-time cost, which this page does rather than pretending self-hosting is free. It is not a law of nature: a very small, rarely-changing mailbox count and a generous per-seat discount can close the gap. The three worked scenarios below show the actual arithmetic with every assumption stated, so you can substitute your own numbers.
What does Restow cost for an MSP with 20 tenants?
The Service Provider edition is €1,950 once, net (list price from general release). Pre-sale licenses include every 1.x update; from version 1.0, a license includes 12 months of updates, then an optional update year (Business €295, Service Provider €595 net per year). For the worked 20-tenant / 1,000-mailbox scenario on this page, adding the update years and realistic infrastructure (a Hetzner Cloud VM, Object Storage sized for the protected data, and a stated admin-time assumption) brings the 5-year total to the figure shown in the chart below, with a fixed price per edition rather than a per-seat meter that keeps growing. The Restow figure uses the list price, which applies from version 1.0, plus the update years needed to stay current: the first 12 months are included, so 5 years need 4 update years. The pre-sale price, which includes every 1.x update, is not used.
Why don't the competitor bars use Veeam's or MailStore's actual subscription price?
Because none of them publish one. Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is sold per protected user as a subscription or monthly rental with no public list price; MailStore's perpetual per-user license and update-subscription pricing is quoted per deal. Where a vendor publishes an exact figure (Microsoft 365 Backup's $0.15/GB/month), this page uses it. Where none exists, either the vendor is left out of the chart or a clearly labelled, non-vendor-specific illustrative figure is used instead, exactly as the sourced pricing-math page already does. See each vendor's own comparison page for what is and isn't documented.
Does Restow cover SharePoint and Teams?
SharePoint yes, Teams no. Since 0.4.0 Restow backs up SharePoint Online sites (every document library, every list with its items' field values, the site description) and restores them in the explorer. It needs an added permission and a new admin consent per tenant, and it is new: so far it was tested against a simulated Microsoft Graph only. Not backed up: attachments of list items, site design, navigation and workflows; permissions are kept as information and never restored. Teams chats are not backed up at all.
Is the archive layer designed for GoBD-compliant use available today?
Yes, with limits, since 0.1.0. Every edition has the archive with a SHA-256 hash chain, chain verification, export and search over subject, addresses and the body text of imported mail (not attachments), filled by mail import with archiving. Business and Service Provider add Exchange Online journal receipt over SMTP and copies a mail provider forwards (both need a TLS certificate of your own), enforced retention and legal hold, and, since 0.4.4, capture from the mailboxes by Microsoft Graph and IMAP sync, which is near-time and not complete. The archive's item records keep their own retention. Since 0.4.0 immutable backups exist per repository, off until an administrator turns them on: on S3 with Object Lock the packs of the chunk store, which the archive writes through as well, are locked; directories and NFS get only a deletion delay, which is not immutability. It is designed for GoBD-compliant use, not certified; no such certificate exists.
What's the catch with a one-time license?
The catch is the update year, and it is optional. Pre-sale licenses include every 1.x update; from version 1.0, a license includes 12 months of updates, then an optional update year (Business €295, Service Provider €595 net per year). Without an update year, every version released until then keeps running with all modules, but gets no more security fixes. Nothing renews automatically. If development ever stops, twelve months' notice is given and the Business/Service Provider modules are published as open source under the core's license, Apache 2.0, so the version you have keeps running indefinitely with no forced shutdown and no phone-home license check. Support, setup, operation and SLAs are not included. This is why the 5-year total on this page is the license price plus update years, infrastructure and admin time.