Carbonite

Carbonite is cloud backup software for individuals, families, small businesses and IT teams. It automatically copies selected computer files to Carbonite cloud storage and supports later recovery.

The personal Carbonite Safe range includes Basic, Plus and Prime plans. Business-oriented Carbonite products support broader endpoint, server and workload protection through OpenText Cybersecurity.

OpenText acquired Carbonite in December 2019. The company was incorporated in 2005 and historically maintained its principal office in Boston, Massachusetts.

Carbonite provides automatic and continuous backup for documents, photographs, music, videos and other supported files. Users can restore individual items, folders or larger sets of backed-up data.

Personal plans provide unlimited cloud backup for one computer. Plus and Prime add external hard-drive backup, while Prime also includes courier recovery and Webroot antivirus.

The service offers encrypted backup, mobile access, file preview, download and sharing through supported account interfaces. Carbonite also documents REST, SOAP and PowerShell APIs for certain endpoint and business products.

Carbonite Safe Basic costs $95.99 per year before promotional discounts and covers one computer. Safe Plus costs $131.99 per year and adds one external hard drive. Safe Prime costs $161.99 per year and adds automatic video backup, Webroot antivirus and courier recovery.

Carbonite advertises a 15-day free trial for Carbonite Safe Basic. Promotional prices can differ from standard renewal pricing, so buyers should confirm the checkout total before subscribing.

Pros:

• Unlimited cloud storage for personal plans.
• Automatic background backup reduces manual administration.
• Supports Windows and macOS computers.
• Offers file-level recovery and mobile file access.
• Higher plans cover external drives and selected recovery services.

Cons:

• Personal subscriptions protect one computer per subscription.
• External-drive backup requires Plus or Prime.
• Linux and Chrome OS are not supported for Carbonite Safe.
• Business API capabilities vary by product and are not presented as a universal consumer integration.
• Independent reviews identify pricing concerns and occasional slow restore experiences.

Backblaze is a comparable personal cloud-backup service with a simple unlimited-computer backup model. IDrive is another alternative, especially for users needing multiple devices and broader backup controls.

Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office combines backup with security features. CrashPlan is a comparable option for organizations seeking endpoint backup and administrative controls.

Does Carbonite offer a free plan?
Carbonite offers a 15-day free trial for Carbonite Safe Basic. A permanent free personal plan was not verified.

Which operating systems does Carbonite support?
Carbonite Safe supports current Windows and macOS versions. Carbonite Mobile supports supported Android and iOS versions. Linux and Chrome OS are not supported for Carbonite Safe.

Does Carbonite provide an API?
Carbonite documents REST API, SOAP API and PowerShell integration for certain endpoint, backup and availability products. A general-purpose public API for consumer Carbonite Safe was not verified.

Does Carbonite integrate with other software?
Business products document administrative APIs and selected integrations, including Okta single sign-on for OpenText Core Endpoint Backup. A broad consumer integration marketplace was not verified.

Can Carbonite back up external hard drives?
Yes. External-drive backup is included with Safe Plus and Safe Prime, but not Safe Basic.