Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 vs Restow: alternative and comparison 2026
Veeam sells two different Microsoft 365 products: Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (VBM365), which you run on your own Windows server, and Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365, which Veeam hosts for you. Both are billed per user for as long as you use them.
By Lucas Flores, IT Systeme Flores UG. Last updated
Veeam documentation checked on 2026-09-23 and 2026-09-24, prices re-read on 2026-09-29. Product names and the current version (8.6) re-checked on Veeam's product page and build list on 2026-10-22.
The short answer
Choose Veeam if you need Teams backed up today, want a vendor-run service with 24/7 support, or already run Veeam elsewhere. Veeam covers SharePoint too, where Restow's backup is new in 0.4.0. Veeam Data Cloud starts at $2.63 per user and month and includes storage.
Choose Restow if you mainly protect Exchange mail and OneDrive, prefer a one-time license with optional update years to a fee per user, and want the backups on storage you control, with a weekly restore test that proves they can be read back.
At a glance
| Aspect | Restow | Veeam |
|---|---|---|
| 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. Veeam Data Cloud Foundation $3.50 to $2.63 per user/month, billed annually. Self-hosted VBM365: no public list price, sold through resellers. |
| Where it runs | Self-hosted: one Docker Compose stack on a Linux server or VM you control. | VBM365: Windows Server plus PostgreSQL, which you operate. Veeam Data Cloud: SaaS run by Veeam on Azure. |
| 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. | VBM365: your disks, SMB or object storage. Veeam Data Cloud: Veeam-operated Azure storage in a region you pick; 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. |
| 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 automated test-restore for Microsoft 365 found in the 8.6 documentation. |
| 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. PST export needs a local Outlook installation. |
Where Veeam is strong
- Full Microsoft 365 coverage, including SharePoint and Teams.
- Veeam Data Cloud is fully managed, with storage and 24/7 support in the price.
- Bring-your-own-key encryption through your own Azure Key Vault.
- A free Community Edition for up to 10 users.
- A large partner network and many admins who already know the product.
Where Restow is different
- A license price instead of a monthly fee per user: Business costs €595 once, plus an optional update year at €295 net after the first 12 months, no matter whether you protect 10 or 1,000 mailboxes.
- No Windows server and no separate database to patch: Restow runs as one Linux container stack.
- Your storage, your region, including plain local disks or NFS.
- Every week Restow reads a sample from each backup back through the restore path and verifies it against the recorded hashes. A backup that has not been checked shows as Unverified, never as ready.
- Open source core and an open storage format, so leaving Restow does not mean losing access to your backups.
5-year cost at three sizes
Restow at list price from release, plus update years, server, storage and admin time, against Veeam Data Cloud (Foundation) at its published list price. Net, in euros.
25 mailboxes
Veeam Data Cloud (Foundation) is €2,680 cheaper
150 mailboxes
Restow is €12,616 cheaper
MSP, 20 tenants, 1,000 mailboxes
Restow is €147,123 cheaper
Veeam Data Cloud includes storage, 24/7 support, SharePoint and Teams; Restow backs up SharePoint sites only since 0.4.0 and does not cover Teams. Not like for like. In the MSP case each tenant is priced at Veeam's end-customer list price; partner prices are not public and are likely lower. Every assumption and source · calculator with your numbers
What Veeam costs over five years
Veeam publishes list prices only for Veeam Data Cloud. At the Foundation rate, 150 users cost $3.15 per user and month, which is about $28,350 over five years before tax, storage included. The self-hosted Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 is priced per user through resellers, and you add the Windows server, its license, the database and the storage yourself.
For Restow the license is a one-time €595 (Business), plus an optional update year at €295 net after the first 12 months, and you pay for the server, storage and the time you spend running it. Our 5-year cost chart puts both side by side with every assumption listed. At very small sizes a per-user service can be cheaper; the gap turns in Restow's favour as the number of mailboxes grows.
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.
Veeam: the facts, with sources
Each line is taken from Veeam'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 |
|---|---|---|
| Veeam sells the self-managed software as Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 (VBM365; the newest build in Veeam's build list is version 8.6, dated 2026-09-14) and the hosted service as Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365. Both cover Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. | Veeam: Backup for Microsoft 365, Veeam: build numbers and versions of Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 | Official source |
| VBM365's self-hosted server component requires 64-bit Windows Server (2016–2025) or Windows 10/11; backup proxies run on Windows, or on Linux only for object-storage repositories; a local, remote or Azure-hosted PostgreSQL 15.9+/16.4+ database is required. | Veeam system requirements | Official source |
| Licensed per protected user, sold as a subscription or, for service providers, a monthly rental. No perpetual license is documented in official sources. | Licensing and License Types, Rental License | Official source |
| A free Community Edition exists, unlimited in time: up to 10 user accounts, 1 TB of SharePoint data, 10 Teams; restoring does not need a license at all. | Licensing and License Types | Official source |
| After a license lapses: a one-month grace period for subscriptions, two months for rental licenses; after that, backup jobs stop but restoring already-backed-up data stays possible. | Subscription License | Official source |
| Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 publishes list prices, billed annually, backup storage and 24x7 support included: Foundation $3.50 (10 to 50 users), $3.15 (51 to 250) and $2.63 (251+) per user per month; Advanced $3.71 per user per month ($3.33 with volume discount); Premium $7.00. Prices may vary by region. | Veeam Data Cloud pricing and purchasing options (read 2026-09-29) | Official source |
| Veeam Data Cloud (the SaaS product) is billed per user (covering their mailbox, OneDrive and personal site) on annual, multi-year or monthly terms. If a protected object has no restore point for 31 days, its individual license is released and stops counting toward the total licensed count (freeing it up, rather than a penalty). | Veeam Data Cloud licensing | Official source |
| Veeam Data Cloud stores data in dedicated, Veeam-operated Azure storage accounts in a region you pick, including Germany West Central and the EU Data Boundary; the Express plan instead uses Microsoft 365 Backup Storage. No option to use your own storage was found. | Region availability | Official source |
| Encryption keys for Veeam Data Cloud are bring-your-own via the customer's own Azure Key Vault. Veeam does not hold the key material itself. | BYOK encryption | Official source |
| No automated, SureBackup-style test-restore feature for Microsoft 365 backups was found in the 8.6 release documentation; a Veeam product manager stated on the community forum (26 September 2023) that no such feature existed at that time. | Veeam community forum | Moderate |
| PST export is available through Veeam Explorer, but requires a local Microsoft Outlook installation to run. | One-click export | Official source |
| No open-source edition or AGPL/GPL licensing was found for either product; both are proprietary commercial software. | Absence checked across the licensing pages above | Checked: not found |
Frequently asked
Is Restow a replacement for Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365?
For Exchange mail and OneDrive, yes. 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. For Teams, no: Restow does not back up Teams chats. If you need Teams today, Veeam covers it and Restow does not.
How much does Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 cost?
Veeam lists Foundation at $3.50 per user and month for 10 to 50 users, $3.15 for 51 to 250 and $2.63 from 251 users, billed annually, storage and support included. Advanced is $3.71 and Premium $7.00. Veeam notes that prices can vary by region. Checked on 2026-09-29.
Does Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 need Windows?
Yes. The server component requires 64-bit Windows Server 2016 to 2025 or Windows 10/11, plus a PostgreSQL database. Restow runs on Linux in Docker.
Can I keep my backups when I stop paying?
With VBM365, backup jobs stop after a grace period but restores stay possible. With Restow there is nothing that expires: the license is permanent, and the storage format is open, so a standalone tool can restore without a running Restow server. Without an update year, every version released until then keeps running with all modules, but gets no more security fixes.