IDrive
Multi-device cloud backup that doubles as bulk cloud storage.
What is IDrive?
IDrive, from Pro Softnet, is a cloud backup and storage service that protects multiple devices under a single account with continuous, incremental backups. It also offers object storage, NAS and server backup, and physical disk shipment for large data sets.
Best known for: Affordable multi-device cloud backup
Key features
- Multi-device backup, one account
- Continuous incremental backups
- Private-key end-to-end encryption
- Physical disk data shipment (Express)
- Server, NAS and endpoint backup
- File sync across devices
Who IDrive is best for
- Backing up multiple computers and devices at once
- Small businesses needing server and NAS backup
- Users wanting lots of storage cheaply in year one
Ideal team: Individuals and small-to-midsize businesses focused on backup and archival of many devices, rather than real-time team collaboration.
IDrive pricing
Basic
$0
- 10 GB, no credit card required
- Backs up multiple computers
- Enough to protect documents, not a media library
Personal 5 TB
$6.99/flat / mo (first year)
- $6.99 for the first year, then $9.99 on renewal
- One user, unlimited computers and mobile devices
- Scales to 100 TB on the same plan family
Team
$6.99/flat / mo (first year)
- From 5 TB pooled across 5 users and 5 computers
- Centralized admin and sub-account control
- Scales to 500 TB and 500 seats
Business
$13.99/flat / mo (first year)
- Unlimited users and computers from 500 GB
- Server, database, NAS, and bare-metal recovery
- SSO and priority support
e2 Object Storage
$6/per TB / mo
- S3-compatible API with no charge for API calls
- Free egress up to 3x your stored volume each month
- No minimum retention period and no deletion fees
Costs to watch before you commit
- Every headline rate is a first-year price. The page states it plainly: the discount applies to the first year and standard pricing resumes from the second year, so Personal 5 TB moves from $6.99 to $9.99
- Server backup is a separate $5 per server per month, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace backup is $20 per seat per year on top of the subscription
- Storage tiers are fixed buckets rather than metered, so passing your limit means upgrading the whole plan rather than paying for the overage
- It is backup-first, so live sync, file collaboration, and sharing are weaker than Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive
- e2 egress is free only up to three times your stored volume each month; past that it is $0.01/GB, which matters if you restore or serve files often
IDrive pros and cons
Pros
- One subscription covers unlimited computers and mobile devices, where most backup services charge per machine
- A genuinely free 10 GB tier with no credit card, which is enough to protect documents if not a media library
- Backs up the awkward things: servers, databases, NAS boxes, and full bare-metal images, not just a home folder
- e2 object storage sits in the same account at $6 per TB, S3-compatible, with no charge for API calls
- No minimum retention on e2, so deleting an object stops the billing rather than triggering an early-deletion fee
- 4.6 across 1,200 reviews, a large sample for a category where most competitors have a few hundred
Cons
- Every advertised rate is a first-year price, and Personal 5 TB goes from $6.99 to $9.99 on renewal
- Server backup is another $5 per server per month, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace backup is $20 per seat per year
- Storage is sold in fixed buckets, so passing your limit means upgrading the whole plan rather than paying an overage
- Backup-first by design: sync, sharing, and collaboration are all weaker than Dropbox, Drive, or OneDrive
- The interface covers a lot of ground and shows it; this is not a product you set up in five minutes
- e2 egress is free only to three times your stored volume each month, then $0.01/GB
IDrive review: a closer look
Unlimited devices is the reason to look at it
Most backup services price per computer. Backblaze charges around $9 a month for one machine, and that is a fine deal until you have four. IDrive charges for storage instead, and one Personal plan covers every computer and phone you own. For a household with a couple of laptops and a desktop, or a small business with five machines that nobody wants to administer separately, that single decision usually settles the comparison before any feature list matters. The corollary is that if you only have one computer and want the simplest possible arrangement, per-machine unlimited backup is the better shape and IDrive is solving a problem you do not have.
Read the renewal, because there is always a renewal
This is the thing to settle before you buy. Every headline figure on their pricing page is a first-year rate, and the page says so directly: the discount applies to the first year and standard pricing resumes from the second. Personal 5 TB is $6.99 a month in year one and $9.99 after. That is not hidden and it is not unusual in this category, but it does mean the honest way to compare IDrive against Backblaze or pCloud is to use the year-two number. Do that and the gap narrows considerably. It is still competitive; it is just not the gap the marketing implies.
The parts of your infrastructure nobody else backs up
Consumer backup tools protect a user folder. IDrive Business will image an entire machine for bare-metal recovery, back up SQL Server, Exchange, Hyper-V, and VMware, and pull from a NAS. For a small business with one server in a cupboard that everything depends on, that is the difference between a backup product and a disaster recovery plan. Two caveats. Server backup carries its own $5 per server per month, and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace mailbox backup is $20 per seat per year, so a ten-person business protecting its email adds $200 a year on top of whatever the storage costs.
e2 is a real S3 competitor sitting in the same account
IDrive e2 is object storage at $6 per TB per month with an S3-compatible API, and it is the part most people do not know exists. Two details make it worth pricing against AWS. There is no charge for API calls, which on S3 is a line item that surprises people running anything chatty. And egress is free up to three times your stored volume each month, which covers normal restore and serving patterns; past that it is a cent per gigabyte. There is also no minimum retention period, so deleting an object stops the meter rather than billing you for the remainder of a 90-day window, which is the specific thing that makes Wasabi awkward for short-lived data. At $6 per TB it is priced level with Backblaze B2 rather than under it, so choose between those two on region, tooling, and which console you can stand.
How it compares
Against Backblaze, Backblaze is simpler and better if you have one computer, while IDrive wins on multiple devices and on backing up servers and NAS boxes at all. Their object storage is priced identically, so that is not the deciding factor. Against pCloud, pCloud sells a lifetime plan and is really a storage locker; IDrive is a backup product with scheduling, versioning, and disaster recovery. Against Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive, those are sync-and-collaborate tools that happen to hold files, and they will propagate a deletion everywhere, which is the exact failure a backup exists to survive. Against Tresorit, that is end-to-end encrypted collaboration for teams handling sensitive material and a different purchase entirely. The honest summary: buy IDrive when you have several machines or a server to protect, and buy something else when you mainly need files in two places at once.
Who should use IDrive?
A good fit
IDrive fits households and small businesses of roughly 1 to 50 people who have more than one computer to protect and would rather pay for storage than per machine. It suits anyone with a server, a NAS, or a database that a consumer backup tool cannot reach, and anyone who wants cheap S3-compatible object storage without opening an AWS account. The free 10 GB tier is a genuine way to test whether the scheduling and restore flow suit you before paying anything.
Look elsewhere if…
If you have exactly one computer and want the least possible thought, Backblaze's per-machine unlimited plan is the better shape. If what you actually want is files available on every device with easy sharing, this is the wrong category and Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive will serve you better. Buyers who dislike renewal step-ups should look at pCloud's lifetime plan, which removes the recurring cost entirely. And teams whose requirement is that the provider cannot read the data should price Tresorit or Sync.com, where zero-knowledge encryption is the product rather than an option.
The verdict
IDrive is one of the better values in backup, and the reason is structural rather than promotional: it charges for storage instead of per machine, so the second, third, and fourth computer are free. Add server, NAS, and bare-metal imaging that consumer tools cannot touch, plus e2 object storage at $6 per TB in the same account, and it covers more ground than anything else at the price. Two things to be clear about before buying. Every advertised rate is a first-year price, and Personal 5 TB renews at $9.99 rather than $6.99, so compare on the year-two figure. And this is a backup product, not a sync product; if you came looking for files that follow you between devices, you will find the sharing and collaboration thin no matter how good the price is.
Top IDrive alternatives
Popular Cloud Storage & File Sharing tools teams evaluate alongside IDrive.
SimpleBackupsAutomated backups for servers, databases, storage buckets, and SaaS apps.
Google DriveGoogle's cloud storage tied to Docs, Gmail, and Photos.
TresoritSwiss end-to-end encrypted storage for security-first businesses.
NextcloudOpen-source, self-hostable storage and collaboration platform.
BackblazeUnlimited computer backup plus low-cost B2 object storage.