What does Microsoft 365 backup cost per user?
By Lucas Flores, IT Systeme Flores UG. Last updated
A self-hosted Microsoft 365 backup with Restow costs about €4.86 per mailbox and month at 25 mailboxes, €1.37 at 150 mailboxes, and €0.62 for an MSP with 1,000 mailboxes spread over 20 tenants (as of October 2026). That is the license plus the 4 update years needed to stay current, spread over five years, plus a rented VM, object storage and admin time at €80 an hour. These are model calculations with the assumptions listed below, not quotes.
- 25 mailboxes, Business
- €4.86
- per mailbox and month, €7,294 over five years
- 150 mailboxes, Business
- €1.37
- per mailbox and month, €12,300 over five years
- 1,000 mailboxes, 20 tenants, Service Provider
- €0.62
- per mailbox and month, €37,443 over five years
A model, not a quote. The license and update-year prices are list prices; VM, storage and admin time are assumptions you can replace with your own. Restow sells software licenses, not hosting, support or operation, so what you really pay depends on your own setup.
How are these figures calculated?
For each scenario the license and the update years are spread over 60 months and added to the monthly VM, storage and admin cost; the sum is divided by the mailboxes. The page computes this when it is built, with the same function that draws the cost chart and drives the calculator on the compare page, so the page and the calculator cannot disagree.
| Scenario | License | Update years | VM | Storage | Admin time | Five years | Per mailbox and month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 mailboxes, Business | €595 | €1,180 | €329 | €389 | €4,800 | €7,294 | €4.86 |
| 150 mailboxes, Business | €595 | €1,180 | €509 | €416 | €9,600 | €12,300 | €1.37 |
| 1,000 mailboxes, 20 tenants, Service Provider | €1,950 | €2,380 | €1,769 | €2,544 | €28,800 | €37,443 | €0.62 |
The assumptions behind it:
- Data: 10 GB per mailbox, stored once deduplicated (factor 1.5, a cautious assumption, not a measurement).
- License: Business €595 for 25 and 150 mailboxes, Service Provider €1,950 for the MSP, list price, one-time, net.
- Update years: 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. An update year costs Business €295, Service Provider €595 net per year, bought one at a time. Without an update year, every version released until then keeps running with all modules, but gets no more security fixes.
- VM: Hetzner Cloud CX23, CX33 or CX53 by size, €5.49, €8.49 and €29.49 per month, net (read 24 September 2026).
- Storage: Hetzner Object Storage, €6.49 per month including about 0.93 TB, then €6.26 per TB (read 24 September 2026).
- Admin time: 1, 2 or 6 hours per month at €80 an hour for patching, monitoring, housekeeping and the occasional restore drill. An assumption, not a measurement.
- Period: 60 months. The license is a one-time purchase; update years are optional, bought one at a time, never renewed automatically.
Every input with its source and read date is also listed under assumptions and sources on the compare page.
How does that compare with per-user subscriptions?
Per mailbox, self-hosting gets cheaper the more mailboxes share the same VM, storage floor and admin time, while a subscription stays at its price per user or per GB. The table puts the model next to the subscription prices that vendors publish, converted at the ECB rate and not discounted.
| Per mailbox and month | Restow (model) | Veeam Data Cloud Foundation | Microsoft 365 Backup | Per-seat SaaS, illustrative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 mailboxes | €4.86 | €3.08 | €1.32 | €4.39 |
| 150 mailboxes | €1.37 | €2.77 | €1.32 | €4.39 |
| MSP, 1,000 mailboxes | €0.62 | €3.08 | €1.32 | €4.39 |
- At 25 mailboxes the modelled €4.86 is above both published list prices: €3.08 for Veeam Data Cloud Foundation and €1.32 for Microsoft 365 Backup. The VM, the storage floor and the admin time do not shrink with the mailbox count.
- At 150 mailboxes the modelled €1.37 lies between the two published list prices: €2.77 for Veeam Data Cloud Foundation and €1.32 for Microsoft 365 Backup.
- At 1,000 mailboxes the modelled €0.62 is below both published list prices: €3.08 for Veeam Data Cloud Foundation and €1.32 for Microsoft 365 Backup.
Veeam Data Cloud Foundation: $3.50, $3.15 and $2.63 per user and month by size, billed annually, storage and 24/7 support included; the MSP scenario prices each of the 20 tenants as its own customer (read 29 September 2026). Microsoft 365 Backup: $0.15 per GB and month, so 10 GB per mailbox (read 29 September 2026). The per-seat SaaS line is a round example of $5.00 per user and month, not the price of any named vendor. Veeam Data Cloud also protects SharePoint and Teams, and Microsoft 365 Backup covers SharePoint; Restow backs up SharePoint sites only since 0.4.0 and does not back up Teams. Dollar prices are converted at 1 EUR = 1.1378 USD (ECB, 28 September 2026). NAKIVO publishes a floor price of €0.80 per user and month (billed annually, at least 10 users, read 5 October 2026) but no price per scenario, so it is not in the table.
Is self-hosting always cheaper?
No. At 25 mailboxes the modelled €4.86 is above both published list prices: €3.08 for Veeam Data Cloud Foundation and €1.32 for Microsoft 365 Backup. The VM, the storage floor and the admin time do not shrink with the mailbox count. In the model, admin time alone is €3.20 of the €4.86 there. With very few mailboxes, or if you value your own time at little, a subscription can be the better deal. The more mailboxes you protect, the more it counts in your favour that neither the license nor the update years are priced per mailbox.
What if I already have a server?
Then the VM line drops out. Without it the model gives €4.64 at 25 mailboxes, €1.31 at 150 and €0.59 at 1,000 mailboxes per mailbox and month. Existing hardware has running costs of its own (power, space, maintenance), which the model does not include.
Can I run my own numbers?
Yes. The calculator on the compare page takes your mailbox count, data per mailbox and years, and shows the totals for Restow, Microsoft 365 Backup, Veeam Data Cloud and an illustrative per-seat service, computed in your browser from the same data as this page. For the reasoning behind a one-time license, see Microsoft 365 backup without a subscription.
Frequently asked
Is a self-hosted backup cheaper than a per-user subscription?
It depends on the size. In this model the fixed costs (VM, storage floor, admin time) are shared by more mailboxes as you grow, while a subscription stays at its price per user. At 25 mailboxes the modelled €4.86 is above both published list prices: €3.08 for Veeam Data Cloud Foundation and €1.32 for Microsoft 365 Backup. The VM, the storage floor and the admin time do not shrink with the mailbox count. At 150 mailboxes the modelled €1.37 lies between the two published list prices: €2.77 for Veeam Data Cloud Foundation and €1.32 for Microsoft 365 Backup. At 1,000 mailboxes the modelled €0.62 is below both published list prices: €3.08 for Veeam Data Cloud Foundation and €1.32 for Microsoft 365 Backup.
What does the figure include, and what does it leave out?
It includes the Restow license at list price, the update years needed over five years, a rented Hetzner VM, Hetzner Object Storage for the deduplicated data and a monthly allowance for admin time, all net. It leaves out VAT, any support, setup or operation contract (a license includes none of them), a second storage location for copies, and the Microsoft 365 licenses themselves.
Which Restow price does the model use, pre-sale or list?
The list price: €595 for Business and €1,950 for Service Provider, net and one-time, plus the update years the model adds. The current pre-sale prices (€476 and €1,560) would lower the figures, because a pre-sale license is cheaper and includes every 1.x update; they are left out on purpose, so that a five-year total never looks better than what a buyer pays after general release.
Why is admin time the biggest line at 25 mailboxes?
The model assumes 1 hour of admin time per month at €80 an hour, whatever the size. Spread over 25 mailboxes that is €3.20 of the €4.86, or 66 percent. It is an assumption, not a measurement; if your own time is cheaper or already paid for, the real figure is lower.
What does Microsoft's own Microsoft 365 Backup cost?
Microsoft lists $0.15 per GB of protected content and month, pay as you go (read 29 September 2026). At 10 GB per mailbox that is €1.32 per mailbox and month at the ECB rate of 28 September 2026. It depends on your data volume, not on the number of users.
Are SharePoint and Teams part of the comparison?
Only in part, and that matters. Restow backs up Exchange Online mail, calendar, contacts and OneDrive, IMAP mailboxes and, since 0.4.0, SharePoint Online sites (document libraries and lists; the feature is new and so far tested against a simulated Microsoft Graph) and, since 0.4.5 and opt-in, the calendar and conversations of Microsoft 365 groups. It does not back up Teams chats, nor attachments of list items, site design, navigation or workflows. Veeam Data Cloud covers SharePoint and Teams and Microsoft 365 Backup covers SharePoint, so the table still does not compare like with like: Teams is missing on Restow's side, and the depth of the SharePoint backup may differ. Check what you need to protect before you look at the price.
Sources
Read in September and October 2026: Veeam Data Cloud pricing (29 September 2026), Microsoft Learn: Microsoft 365 Backup pricing (29 September 2026), NAKIVO Microsoft 365 Backup (5 October 2026), Hetzner Cloud prices (24 September 2026), Hetzner Object Storage (24 September 2026), ECB euro reference rate (28 September 2026). Restow prices are read from the license service at build time. Prices change; if you find an outdated figure, write to info@it-flores.de.
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