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Bacula Enterprise vs Unitrends comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Bacula Enterprise
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
27th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (19th)
Unitrends
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
28th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Bacula Enterprise is 1.0%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Unitrends is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Bacula Enterprise1.0%
Unitrends0.7%
Other98.3%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

GiovanniRamirez - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Consultant at Xerif
Solid backup tool with good scalability
The last scenario in which I used Bacula was for a customer who needed some open-source tool which could support encryption at that time. We managed to convince the customer to use Bacula to deploy it in their environment It was a very good project. The Bacula concept, topology, and networking…
Derek Schneider - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager, Information Technology at a hospitality company with 201-500 employees
Daily recovery tests have validated restore readiness and ensured consistent data protection
The best features of Unitrends include the daily reporting functionality. When backups fail, it is obvious in the logs what caused the issue. Most times it is a credential problem, which is relatively easy to resolve. Though I have experienced a few more challenging issues, nothing has affected critical backup restore functionality. Every time I have needed to restore something, it has worked successfully. The support team is readily available when I need assistance, and they help walk me through issues, solving them within a reasonable timeframe. The automated backup scheduling feature has helped our organization in managing backup timelines and consistency by handling all the work automatically. We set the schedule, breaking things into smaller chunks since our main common area for files is large. I have staggered the backups so some areas receive more attention than others, particularly for less active data. Adding, removing, excluding, and inputting elements is straightforward. The system makes it simple to schedule portions and generate reports on their functionality. The impact of Unitrends' instant recovery features on strengthening data security measures is significant. I generally use instant recovery when restoring specific files or instances where we need data that has changed. The process involves loading the backup, selecting the desired version, waiting for it to unpack, and retrieving the file. Every restore attempt has been successful. I run instant recovery daily in test mode on two virtual machines. I use it to test my domain controller and file server to ensure they communicate properly in the test environment. This ensures that in case of failure, I can activate the recovery and restore server functionality.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the support for Linux servers."
"Bacula Enterprise, so far, has never let us down with their service and support."
"The solution has extensive documentation and a very active community."
"It is easy to scale Bacula Enterprise even if your system is growing tremendously in data and servers."
"It brought many advantages - such as the learning curve being very light."
"The support is outstanding and world-class."
"Bacula is pretty stable."
"It can be used in virtually any environment we have onsite."
"It is very easy to set up and get started. Almost too easy. We racked this device and had it up and running in less than 15 minutes."
"VM backup is much faster and more reliable, as I can test my backups with Data Copy Access jobs."
"This product has given us the ability to remote manage, monitor and report multiple client sites and we have relied on this appliance several times to recover our clients from crypto viruses that have locked their files for ransom."
"Iinstant recovery (allows a spin-up of your image as a VM on the appliance)."
"It is a quick and easy way to organize my backups and to keep track of them."
"Less headaches to worry about backups."
"Unitrends has helped us cut down the time that it takes to restore a server to its original configuration."
"I really like the reporting options you get for various email reports, and I look forward to looking at those each day, which gives me a great overview of the current status of the whole Unitrends Backup system."
 

Cons

"The interface needs to be easier for adding new devices to be managed."
"The initial setup could be a bit easier."
"Relying solely on a desktop is a bit frustrating as its GUI isn't exactly responsive."
"We are looking for a unique interface that can rule both enterprise and open source editions. Such a thing does not yet exist."
"It could improve its interface or offer a specific screen for the manager of the company."
"Bacula needs a graphical user interface because, for administrators, the command-line interface is okay, but for the average user it is not very easy."
"Easier setup and configuration, perhaps including a GUI, would be an improvement."
"A more user-friendly interface (GUI) can be developed."
"Technical support has not been very helpful when there are complex issues. It is sometimes difficult to find someone who can answer questions the right way."
"Every few years, an update may not be applied right and we may have to manually reload the software."
"There are a few quirks where the GUI, agent, and back-end are not precisely meshed."
"Stabilizing SQL database backups: They are way too sensitive and I am having to constantly fix SQL level backups."
"For smaller K12 schools, I wish they offered a beefier free version with more storage and options."
"Making the seeding process more accessible and easier to understand. Also, make more of the undocumented best practices easier to find."
"The ability to run just differentials without pulling the full on your archive."
"Comparing the features and the working pattern, definitely they have to come down on pricing if they want to compete in the market."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open-source solution."
"We have a perpetual license."
"When we renew the Unitrends maintenance contract and update it to the latest version, the cost would be $5,000 per year. There are no hidden costs. They've been transparent with the costs."
"Their licensing depended on the number of CPUs you had."
"When you purchase initially, get into the program which gives replacement hardware for free when you renew your support agreement."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten. The licensing is yearly and it depends on the customers."
"Pricing model constantly changes."
"Unitrends is an expensive solution."
"No comment."
"With respect to cost, my advice is to get what you need."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
8%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Bacula Enterprise?
Bacula is more expensive than various other solutions. It’s almost completely commercial now. Products like Veeam software are much more expensive.
What needs improvement with Bacula Enterprise?
Many features have been converted to commercial licensing, which restricts their availability.
What is your primary use case for Bacula Enterprise?
The last scenario in which I used Bacula was for a customer who needed some open-source tool which could support encryption at that time. We managed to convince the customer to use Bacula to deploy...
What needs improvement with Unitrends?
I would evaluate the impact of Unitrends' ransomware detection for strengthening our data security measures as somewhat misleading. The ransomware detection from the appliance incorrectly identifie...
What is your primary use case for Unitrends?
Our main use case for Unitrends is taking our on-premise virtual machines or bulk data store and backing it up on a daily basis, or more frequently depending on requirements, and testing the virtua...
What advice do you have for others considering Unitrends?
Regarding Unitrends' integration with leading cloud services, I utilize Spanning, which handles Microsoft 365 environment backup for a location without direct file server access. Their SharePoint d...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NASA, SwissCom, Navisite, Turner Studios, Bank Austria, Caixa Bank, SdV Plurimedia, Leibniz University Hannover, Zeta Global, Tricore, NetLog, Siemens, LocaWeb, wbsGo, itesys, Queens School of Computing, Escrypt.
NHL Players Association, Salvation Army, Sligro Food Group, Mason General Hospital, Tec Group, Saldab IT, Baker Tilly, Clinton Savings Bank, Ennit Magna Bank, Manukau Institute of Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about Bacula Enterprise vs. Unitrends and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.