Compare the true cost of on-premise, cloud, and hybrid backup solutions over 3 years. Find the right approach for your budget and protection needs.
| Criteria | On-Premise NAS | Cloud (Cloudswitched) | Hybrid (Local + Cloud) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront Cost | High (£500–£3,000+) | None | Moderate (£300–£1,500) |
| Monthly Cost | Low (£10–£30) | From £25/mo | From £40/mo |
| Off-site Protection | No | Yes (UK data centres) | Yes |
| Ransomware Protection | Limited | Immutable backups | Immutable + local speed |
| Recovery Speed | Very Fast (LAN) | Moderate (internet) | Fast (local) + Cloud DR |
| Management Required | Self-managed | Fully managed | Fully managed |
| Monitoring & Alerts | Manual | 24/7 automated | 24/7 automated |
| Scalability | Hardware limited | Instant scale-up | Cloud scales, local fixed |
| Disaster Recovery | No (same site) | Full DR capability | Full DR capability |
| Compliance Reporting | Manual | Automated (Enterprise) | Automated (Enterprise) |
Cloudswitched backup plans: Starter £25/mo (50GB), Business £45/mo (250GB), Professional £75/mo (1TB), Enterprise £125/mo (5TB). All prices exclude VAT. View full plan details
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Cloud backup for a small business typically costs £3-£10 per device or £0.03-£0.10 per GB monthly depending on retention and provider, meaning a 20-user office often pays £150-£400 per month for a managed solution. On-premise NAS has lower ongoing costs but higher upfront hardware spend.
On-premise NAS has a higher upfront cost (typically £500-£2,000 for hardware) but lower ongoing fees, while cloud backup spreads cost monthly with no hardware to maintain. Most UK SMEs land on a hybrid approach, combining local backup for fast recovery with cloud backup for off-site protection against site loss.
Hybrid backup combines a local device for fast, everyday restores with cloud replication for disaster recovery if the site is lost. It typically costs 20-40% more than cloud-only but is worth it for businesses where downtime is expensive, since local restores are usually much faster than downloading from the cloud.
Cost scales primarily with total data volume and retention length rather than headcount directly, though more employees usually means more data. A business generating heavy file volumes (design agencies, video production) will pay more per user than one mostly using email and documents.
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