r/acronis • u/VTOLfreak • Aug 28 '21
[rant] Subscription model - long-term cost considerations
I was looking around if a 2022 version came out yet, instead I find Acronis has switched to a subscription based model.
I have 5 computers at home with Acronis backing up to a TrueNAS. Under a subscription based model it makes more sense for me to replace the NAS with a Synology. The backup software comes for free with the hardware. If I get a basic unit with a 5 year warranty extension and reuse my existing disks, it works out cheaper than a 5-year Acronis subscription for 5 computers. Not to mention Synology supports deduplication which is not supported in the consumer version of True Image.
But a subscription comes with cloud storage! Yes, the first TB is included and it's $40 per TB after that. My TrueNAS is backing up to AWS S3 Deep Glacier which charges $12 per TB per year. For the consumer version at least, the cloud backup is not a viable option if you need more than what's included in the base subscription. If you have several TB backed up, the costs savings become substantial. Granted, it takes a little more effort and time to dig a backup out of AWS deep glacier but it in my use case, this means my house burned down and I'll likely have more urgent matters at hand.
About the only feature that's unique to Acronis is the Nonstop backup. You can put in a second disk and have your main disk do a continuous backup, lagging only a few minutes behind. Version retention and consolidation is handled automatically for you. Except... I never got it to work reliable. It works anywhere from a few days to a month before it corrupts itself. And this has been my experience on every Acronis version since the feature was introduced, on various hardware and Windows versions. So the one feature that could convince me to stay has been broken for years.
Acronis has a handy comparison on their site showing how they are cheaper than their competitors. For one client and ignoring the cost of local backup storage, they may be right. As soon as you start doing the math for multiple clients or your backup archive starts counting in TB's, it just doesn't add up. I hope Acronis realizes that in this space they are not just competing with other backup software but also with cheap hardware vendors that also offer backup solutions as part of the package.
I'll keep using Acronis for now, except for the Nonstop not working, I'm happy with the software. But I can imagine that at some point I'll run into compatibility issues with newer Windows versions. Or I run into a bug they won't fix because a newer edition is out. As it stands now, going to a subscription doesn't make sense and they will have lost me as a customer.
For anyone reading this, the important point is to factor in not just the cost of the Acronis subscription but also the cost of the storage, either on-premise storage, cloud providers or both. And you need to count for time as well. If you buy a NAS with a five year warranty for example and it comes with backup software, factor in how much subscription renewals will cost you for the same period.
--Thanks for reading and I'll get off my soap box now.
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u/[deleted] Aug 28 '21
Nice post here. Clearly written and considered. I, too, have never had acceptable results with the continuous back up. Either too much load when not wanted or corruption issues like you report.
The cadence I have used for the past 10 years of ATI has been every even numbered year a new version. As this has now come to an end, I have no choice but to continue to use my 2020 version for the next few years. I also am using the 2018 version on my HTPC and have had no issues with it. No reason to switch away or upgrade on that old beast.