Veeam vs Synology Active Backup vs CloudAlly: Backing Up Microsoft 365
Microsoft’s own retention and recycle-bin features are not a backup: deleted mail, SharePoint files, and Teams data can still be lost to admin error, a hostile insider, ransomware syncing through OneDrive, or a retention policy someone changed by accident, and Microsoft’s shared-responsibility model is explicit that protecting your own data past its retention windows is on you, not them. This article compares three ways small businesses actually solve that: a purpose-built cloud backup service (Veeam Data Cloud), a free package bundled with hardware you may already own (Synology Active Backup), and a specialist third-party SaaS-backup vendor (CloudAlly, now part of OpenText).
Search intent
Someone searching “Microsoft 365 backup for small business” already knows relying on Microsoft’s built-in retention isn’t real backup, and is comparing dedicated backup tools — usually deciding between paying a per-user subscription for a cloud-native service versus backing up to hardware (a NAS) they already own or are considering buying.
Quick take
- Already own, or are buying, a Synology NAS for other storage/backup needs: Synology Active Backup for Microsoft 365 — free, but requires the NAS.
- Want a cloud-native service with no hardware to manage and predictable per-user pricing: Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365.
- Want to compare an established specialist SaaS-backup vendor against Veeam before committing: CloudAlly (OpenText).
The three options
Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 is a cloud-hosted (SaaS) backup service — no server or NAS required — that protects Exchange Online mail, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams data. Pricing is per Microsoft 365 user per month, billed annually, across three tiers confirmed on veeam.com: Foundation starts around $2.63/user/month (with volume pricing — around $3.50/user/month at 10-50 users, dropping at higher volumes), Advanced around $3.33/user/month, and Premium around $7.00/user/month for the most complete feature set (longer retention options, more granular recovery, compliance features). All tiers include unlimited storage with no separate storage fee, and Veeam does not offer a free tier or perpetual free plan for this product — every user account must be protected under a paid plan.
Synology Active Backup for Microsoft 365 is a free software package bundled with Synology’s DSM operating system — there’s no license fee for the package itself, confirmed directly by Synology and by Microsoft’s own marketplace listing, and it backs up an unlimited number of Microsoft 365 accounts. The catch is the obvious one: it only runs on a Synology NAS, so the real cost is the hardware (and the drives, and the UPS to protect it — see the buying guides linked below) rather than a subscription. This is the same free-with-hardware pattern as Synology’s Active Backup for Business, covered in our Veeam vs Synology Active Backup vs UrBackup comparison for VM/server backup — if you already run a Synology NAS for file storage, this is close to a zero-incremental-cost add-on.
CloudAlly, now branded as OpenText Cloudally Backup following OpenText’s acquisition of the CloudAlly product line (cloudally.com now redirects to opentext.com’s cybersecurity site, confirmed directly), is a long-established cloud-native SaaS-backup specialist covering Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and other SaaS platforms. Its current official pricing page is quote-only — “Get pricing” contact form, no published per-user rate — so treat any specific number you see elsewhere as unverified; third-party trackers cluster around roughly $30/user/year (about $2.50/user/month), which lines up close to Veeam’s Foundation tier, but that figure is not confirmed directly by OpenText and should be checked against a real quote before budgeting.
Cost compared (2026)
| Veeam Data Cloud | Synology Active Backup | CloudAlly (OpenText) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per user/month, billed annually | Free package (requires owning a Synology NAS) | Per user; official pricing is quote-only |
| Entry tier | ~$2.63/user/month (Foundation, volume-dependent) | $0 software cost + NAS hardware cost | ~$30/user/year per third-party estimates (unverified) |
| Storage limit | Unlimited, included | Limited by your NAS’s own storage | Not publicly specified |
| Hardware required | None — cloud-hosted | Yes — a Synology NAS | None — cloud-hosted |
| Free tier | None | The package itself is free (with NAS) | Not published |
Which one should you actually pick?
- Already have (or are planning to buy) a Synology NAS for general file storage: Synology Active Backup for Microsoft 365 is close to free money — see Synology vs QNAP vs TrueNAS if you haven’t picked NAS hardware yet.
- Don’t want to manage any hardware and want predictable, published per-user pricing: Veeam Data Cloud’s Foundation tier is the most transparently priced cloud-native option of the three.
- Already run Microsoft 365 alongside Google Workspace or other SaaS tools and want one vendor covering all of them: get a real quote from CloudAlly/OpenText and compare it against Veeam’s published rate before deciding — don’t budget off the unverified third-party number alone.
- Haven’t finalized whether Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace is the right hosted suite yet: see Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 vs Zoho Workplace first.
Cloud backup software referral placeholder — swap for a real affiliate link once a program is confirmed, for readers signing up for a paid Microsoft 365 backup subscription.
Bottom line
None of Microsoft’s built-in retention tools are a substitute for a real backup. Synology Active Backup is effectively free if you already own compatible hardware; Veeam Data Cloud is the most transparently priced pure-cloud option with no hardware dependency; CloudAlly/OpenText is a credible third option but needs a direct quote since it doesn’t publish rates.