Kaseya SaaS Protection (Backupify) vs Restow: alternative and comparison 2026
Kaseya offers Microsoft 365 backup in three ways: Datto SaaS Protection (formerly Backupify), Spanning Backup, and the Kaseya 365 User bundle, which includes one of the two. Kaseya's product page names the first one Datto SaaS Protection; many people search for it as Kaseya SaaS Protection. All of them run in Kaseya's cloud and are sold per user, mostly through MSPs.
By Lucas Flores, IT Systeme Flores UG. Last updated
Datto and Kaseya documentation checked on 2026-09-24, Spanning and Kaseya 365 User pages on 2026-09-29. The product name and its former name Backupify re-checked on Kaseya's product page on 2026-10-22.
The short answer
Kaseya fits MSPs who already live in the Kaseya stack and want backup bundled with email security, awareness training and SaaS alerting, with SharePoint and Teams covered and nothing to host.
Restow fits MSPs and companies who want to own the backup: a one-time Service Provider license for any number of tenants, storage in a region and on hardware you choose, and a weekly restore test per mailbox.
At a glance
| Aspect | Restow | Kaseya |
|---|---|---|
| Price model | Community free. Business €595, Service Provider €1,950, one-time, net (pre-sale until release: €476 and €1,560). 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). No per-user fee. | Per user, recurring. Kaseya 365 User subscriptions, standalone SaaS Protection with a committed minimum quantity, or legacy tiers. No public price for Spanning. |
| Where it runs | Self-hosted: one Docker Compose stack on a Linux server or VM you control. | SaaS in Kaseya's cloud. No self-hosted option. |
| Where backups are stored | Your choice: local disk, S3-compatible object storage or NFS, in the region you pick. Immutable backups (S3 Object Lock) can be switched on per repository. | Datto Cloud (unlimited under per-license pricing). No own-storage option found. |
| Microsoft 365 coverage | Exchange Online mail, calendar, contacts; OneDrive; SharePoint Online sites (document libraries and lists, new in 0.4.0); Microsoft 365 groups (calendar and conversations, opt-in, since 0.4.5); IMAP mailboxes; Linux and macOS servers and clients (file-level agent); SMB and NFS file shares without an agent; imported mail files. No Teams chats. | Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams; Google Workspace too. |
| Restore testing | Weekly sampled check: data is read back through the restore path and verified against the recorded hashes. File shares are checked after every new restore point, Proxmox VE (preview) guests within minutes of every new restore point, and Proxmox VE can also boot-test restore points. | No restore-verification specifics found in the pages checked. |
| Source code and exit | Apache 2.0 core, Business and Service Provider modules under the Restow license terms, open documented storage format with a standalone restore tool. | Proprietary. Export format not found in the pages checked. |
Where Kaseya is strong
- Covers SharePoint and Teams, and Google Workspace.
- Datto SaaS Protection backs up three times a day; Spanning offers unlimited retention.
- Kaseya 365 User bundles backup with email security, training and SaaS alerting in one subscription.
- Nothing to host or patch; storage is included under per-license pricing.
Where Restow is different
- One Service Provider license (€1,950 once, plus an optional update year at €595 net after the first 12 months) for any number of tenants, instead of a per-user subscription with committed minimums.
- Backups on storage you pick: local disk, S3-compatible or NFS, in your region.
- A weekly restore test per mailbox and OneDrive, shown per tenant.
- No usage reporting to a vendor: what you protect stays between you and your customer.
- An open storage format and a standalone restore tool, so there is no lock-in on exit.
How Kaseya bills Microsoft 365 backup
There are three billing paths. Kaseya 365 User counts seats with a high-water mark. Standalone SaaS Protection moved in December 2025 to a committed minimum quantity plus usage above it, and a tiered Plus option with commitment discounts was scheduled for 5 August 2026. Older subscriptions keep their month-to-month, 1-year or 3-year terms tiered by seat count. Spanning publishes no price and asks for a quote.
For an MSP the practical effect is that backup cost grows with every seat you add. With Restow, the license is paid once, an update year after the first year of updates is optional and priced per edition, not per seat, and the running cost is otherwise the server and storage you choose. The 5-year chart shows a 20-tenant, 1,000-mailbox scenario with every assumption listed.
What Restow does not do (yet)
- Restow does not back up Teams chats. It backs up SharePoint Online sites since 0.4.0, without attachments of list items, site design, navigation and workflows; permissions are kept as information and never restored.
- Immutable backups (new in 0.4.0) are off until an administrator turns them on per repository. S3 Object Lock was tested against a simulated S3 service only, directories and NFS get only a deletion delay, which is not immutability, and the installation's default repository cannot be made immutable.
- In Business, the audit log viewer ships since 0.1.0 and the audit log export since 0.3.1; since 0.3.1 every edition has several administrators with roles. Sign-in with Microsoft and single sign-on (SSO) are planned, and so are four-eyes approval and a signed restore proof.
- The archive is filled by mail import with archiving and, from Business, by capture from the mailboxes (Microsoft Graph, IMAP sync), Exchange Online journal receipt and forwarded copies. Capture from the mailbox is near-time and not complete, and was tested against simulated services only.
- The automated Microsoft 365 backup and restore check against a real tenant is not active yet: check 4 of the release pipeline was skipped in every release so far; Microsoft 365 is covered by tests against a simulated Graph API.
- Licenses include no support, setup, operation or SLA.
- The server and endpoint agent runs on Linux and macOS, file-level; a Windows agent and image backup are planned.
- Restow is a beta: do not use it as your only backup.
Kaseya: the facts, with sources
Each line is taken from Kaseya's own documentation unless the rating says otherwise. "Checked: not found" means we looked in the named sources and did not find it, which is not proof that it does not exist.
| Fact | Source | How solid |
|---|---|---|
| Kaseya's Microsoft 365 backup page names the product Datto SaaS Protection (formerly Backupify). Datto announced its acquisition of Backupify, a cloud-to-cloud backup company, on 11 December 2014. Kaseya's page does not use the name Kaseya SaaS Protection. | Kaseya: Datto SaaS Protection, Backupify: Datto Acquires Backupify (11 December 2014) | Official source |
| A Kaseya 365 User subscription bundles email security, security awareness training, dark web monitoring, SaaS alerting and account locking with one SaaS backup module: either Datto SaaS Protection or Spanning Backup (for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace), plus Datto Backup for Microsoft Entra ID. | KaseyaOne Help: About Kaseya 365 User | Official source |
| Spanning Backup for Microsoft 365 covers Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Microsoft Teams, with daily automated backups, unlimited on-demand backups and unlimited retention. | Spanning: SaaS Backup products | Official source |
| Spanning offers granular search-based restore, point-in-time restore and self-service restore for end users. | Spanning: SaaS Backup products | Official source |
| Spanning publishes no price; its pricing page asks for a quote request. | Spanning: Request pricing | Checked: not found |
| Three different billing paths depending on how it's purchased: Kaseya 365 user subscriptions (high-water-mark, counting active/standard/paused/inactive/archived seats), standalone SaaS Protection (Committed Minimum Quantity plus variable consumption, effective December 2025), and legacy SaaS Protection subscriptions (month-to-month/1-year/3-year, tiered by seat count: 1–99, 100–499, 500+). | Understanding the pricing model | Official source |
| The Committed Minimum Quantity model replaced the prior high-water-mark approach for standalone and legacy subscriptions as of December 2025; monthly billing uses whichever is higher, the committed minimum or actual usage. | Same page | Official source |
| A tiered "Plus" pricing option with commitment-based discounts is scheduled to take effect 5 August 2026. | Same page | Official source |
| Storage is described as unlimited under per-license pricing; archived licenses are billed separately, at list price or a negotiated rate. | Same page | Official source |
| Backups run three times daily for Exchange, Calendar, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams, stored in Datto's own cloud ("Datto Cloud"). | Datto SaaS Protection for Microsoft 365 | Official source |
| Not open source. | Absence checked across the pages above | Checked: not found |
| No customer-storage or BYO-S3 option was found: vendor cloud only, in the pages checked. | Same pages, absence checked directly | Checked: not found |
| Export format and detailed restore-verification specifics were not found in the pages checked this pass. | Not found | Open question |
Frequently asked
Is Kaseya SaaS Protection the same as Datto SaaS Protection?
Yes. Datto is part of Kaseya, and Kaseya's own product page calls its Microsoft 365 backup Datto SaaS Protection, so that is the name to look for. Kaseya 365 User includes either Datto SaaS Protection or Spanning Backup as its backup module.
What is Backupify?
Backupify is the former name of Datto SaaS Protection, according to Kaseya's product page. It began as an independent cloud-to-cloud backup company that Datto announced it had acquired on 11 December 2014; Datto is now part of Kaseya.
What does Kaseya 365 User include?
Email security, security awareness training, dark web monitoring, SaaS alerting and account locking, one SaaS backup module (Datto SaaS Protection or Spanning Backup) and Datto Backup for Microsoft Entra ID, according to KaseyaOne Help, read on 2026-09-29.
Can I store Kaseya backups on my own storage?
We found no such option: the data sits in Kaseya's cloud. Restow writes only to storage you choose.
Does Restow back up Teams and SharePoint like Kaseya?
In part. Restow has backed up SharePoint Online sites since 0.4.0 (document libraries and lists); the feature is new and so far tested against a simulated Microsoft Graph. Teams chats are not backed up: if Teams backup is a requirement today, Kaseya covers it and Restow does not.