4 Best Unlimited Online Backup Plans

A List of Unlimited Online Backup Services

By
Tim Fisher
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Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

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Updated on June 1, 2023
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Fact checked by Patrice Williams
  • Temple University
Patrice J. Williams is a lifestyle and travel content creator and fact checker and author of thrift shopping book Looking Fly on a Dime. 
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LifeWire / Design by Amelia Manley

Unlimited online backup plans are just that: plans by online backup service providers that offer an unlimited amount of storage space for your data.

Several years of tax returns, some music, and even a video or two might do just fine on a free online backup plan. A bit more data than that might be well suited with a standard plan from any of the popular online backup services out there.

However, if you have 10,000 MP3s, 40 ripped Blu-ray movies, and a few virtual machines that you can't live without, an unlimited online backup plan is probably a better fit for your data.

Below is a list of the best unlimited online backup plans, ranked by personal preference based on our experiences with each.

Backblaze

Backblaze logo

Backblaze
What We Like

  • Relatively inexpensive.

  • No confusion when choosing a plan.

  • It's fast.

  • Can keep file versions forever.

What We Don't Like

  • No offline backup option.

  • Unlimited file versioning comes with an added cost.

Our Review of Backblaze

Backblaze offers our favorite unlimited plan for online backup because it's super-simple.

Few, if any, would have trouble figuring out how to install their backup software and get everything important backed up to the cloud.

Backblaze costs $7 /month for unlimited online backup for one computer, or you have the option to purchase a yearly plan for only $70 annually. It's discounted even further if you opt for the 2-year plan.

A big plus in our book is the clear, no-strings-attached, way in which Backblaze explains their unlimited plan:

There are no limits to how much data you can backup with Backblaze so you can be sure you won't go over any backup limit.

Carbonite

carbonite logo

Open Text Corporation
What We Like

  • Offers multiple plan choices.

  • Backing up specific files is really easy.

What We Don't Like

  • No month-to-month payment option.

  • File versioning isn't unlimited.

  • Doesn't back up all file types by default.

  • Missing advanced options for limiting bandwidth usage.

Our Review of Carbonite

Carbonite has three unlimited online backup plans, all of which must be paid in a one-year increment.

Carbonite Safe Basic comes in at $4.92 /month; Carbonite Safe Plus at $7 /month; and Carbonite Safe Prime at $8.75 /month. The more expensive the plan, the more features you get. You can read all those details in our review.

Carbonite is a very solid company with a long history (internet-relative, of course) of keeping data securely backed up. If Backblaze doesn't fit your needs, Carbonite is a fantastic choice!

Carbonite's least expensive Basic plan seems to not support backup of videos, but it does—it just excludes them by default. You can remove this exclusion in Carbonite's software.

OpenDrive

OpenDrive logo
© OpenDrive
What We Like

  • Choosing a plan is very straightforward.

  • Lets you customize the plan to your specifications.

  • Works on several platforms.

What We Don't Like

  • Uploading is limited when using the web app.

OpenDrive offers three unlimited backup plans. Personal Unlimited is $9.95 /month, Business Unlimited is $29.95 /month, and Reseller Unlimited will run you $59.95 /month.

Most of the elements of these plans are identical, but the Business Unlimited and Reseller options have different custom branding features.

Order any of these on a yearly basis to get what equates to two months free.

Livedrive Backup

Livedrive logo
© Livedrive Internet Ltd
What We Like

  • Adding additional computers to back up is relatively inexpensive.

  • Includes advanced options while backing up files.

  • Provides a good selection of plan tiers.

  • Works well from mobile devices.

What We Don't Like

  • The multitude of plan options can be confusing.

  • Forces the backup of entire folders instead of specific files.

  • Lacks support for backing up locked files.

  • Not all file types can be backed up.

The Livedrive Backup plan is Livedrive's cheaper unlimited online backup plan and costs $8.99 per month. The other is Pro Suite and comes in at a higher $25 per month. You can pay per year for a discount.

Livedrive Backup is cheaper because it works on only one computer, whereas the Pro Suite plan can be used on up to five computers.

One interesting thing about Livedrive's plans: they're relatively inexpensive if you want to add more computers, at just $1.50 per month for each additional one. Some services force you to purchase a higher tiered plan, sometimes with more computers than you need, just to get the other one in your house on the account. Most require another full priced account altogether.

Does Unlimited Really Mean Unlimited?

For the most part, yes. You should be able to back up as many of whatever types or sizes of files you like. However, you should read the small print before purchasing any unlimited online backup plan, especially if you have a massive amount of data to back up.

See our Online Backup FAQ to read more on file type limitations and why some people choose a plan that doesn't offer unlimited storage.

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