BackupAssist vs N-able Cove Data Protection comparison

Why PeerSpot?

BackupAssist and N-able are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. BackupAssist is ranked #61, while N-able is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.0. BackupAssist holds a 0.8% mindshare in BRS, compared to N-able’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of BackupAssist users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of N-able users who would recommend it.

BackupAssist

Read 5 BackupAssist reviews

2,921 Views
2,804 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

N-able Cove Data Protection

Read 24 N-able Cove Data Protection reviews

10,124 Views
5,872 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

BackupAssist

N-able Cove Data Protection

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

BackupAssist and N-able Cove Data Protection are robust data protection solutions. While BackupAssist is favored for its pricing and support, N-able Cove Data Protection stands out for its feature set, making it worth the higher price.

Features: BackupAssist offers reliable backup and recovery options, ease of use, and advanced scheduling capabilities. N-able Cove Data Protection excels in cloud integration, automated backup processes, and advanced data security measures.

Room for Improvement: BackupAssist could enhance its cloud backup functions, provide more detailed documentation, and improve user interface design. N-able Cove Data Protection could benefit from more intuitive configuration, smoother performance during large data operations, and quicker restoration times.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: BackupAssist is noted for its straightforward installation and solid customer support. N-able Cove Data Protection, while slightly more complex to deploy, offers extensive support and detailed guidance.

Pricing and ROI: BackupAssist is recognized for its cost-effectiveness, lower setup costs, and satisfactory ROI. N-able Cove Data Protection, with higher upfront costs, offers significant long-term value, providing better ROI despite the initial expense.

To learn more, read our detailed BackupAssist vs. N-able Cove Data Protection Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist vs. N-able Cove Data Protection

October 2026

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Helped 920,929 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

BackupAssist

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

61st

Ranking in MSP Backup

12th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

N-able Cove Data Protection

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

28th

Ranking in MSP Backup

2nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (20th), SaaS Backup (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of BackupAssist is 0.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N-able Cove Data Protection is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
N-able Cove Data Protection	1.5%
BackupAssist	0.8%
Other	97.7%

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

RichardMukarakate

Director at Gemini Systems

Provides ransomware protection, does good reporting, and is close to perfect for our use case

The main challenge that I have had with it was no line of support, but I've anyway taken away the Linux machine that I was using. So, I don't need that anymore. I'm migrating my Exchange to the cloud. So, I probably will stop using the exchange backup side of it sometime next year, but the rest of the virtual machines that I have on-premises are very well covered by it. To be able to back up my online Exchange, I know there is a backup in the cloud, but I prefer to have something physical with something on my premises as well. It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it.

Read full review

Grace Myna

HR Consultant

Secure reminders have improved HR document control and support better client deadline management

I really love the reminders feature of N-able Cove Data Protection because I have many dates to keep in mind while working with multiple clients. The access settings are important for me too, and the fact that HR documents are personal means I do not want everyone seeing everything, especially because in HR we talk mostly about confidentiality. It is important that not everyone gets to see everything unless they have access, and I also appreciate being able to tell which copy is the final one. The reminders feature stands out for me the most because I deal with many dates and deadlines. The reminders work well for me in practice because they make it easy for me; I do not have to keep checking my calendar, even though I also use other calendars such as Calendly. The reminders come in handy because I do not have to keep going back to that, helping me ensure that I meet deadlines and do not miss client meetings, making it easier for me to stay organized.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"I have found that the backups are usually very successful."

"What you want is software that can be relied upon at the moment when a server goes down, you can backup simply and reliably, BackupAssist fulfilled this criterion."

"I find BackupAssist very convenient to work on and I really like its user interface."

"I get my reports. It is generally very reliable. Unless there is a major change, it doesn't stop backing up. I've got my server room set up with everything connected to the same power, and I never have power issues or failures of backups because a sub-site has gone off."

"The most valuable features of BackupAssist are ease of use, configure is simple, and more importantly, ease of recovery. If you needed to do a complete system recovery or another recovery it is straightforward."

"I would definitely recommend this solution to others."

"We can configure the notifications themselves so that the right people get the notifications. This is very helpful. It allows key stakeholders to know if backups have happened and to remind each other to check the backups if something is not right."

"We managed to have good backups which were easy to recover, and easy backup of MS Exchange and SQL databases."

More BackupAssist pros

"Now, we're able to offer an extremely well-priced solution to our clients that is thousands of dollars less than any of the competitors I've used."

"It provides a single dashboard for all types of data protection, we monitor everything through a single dashboard. It simplifies everything overall. It allows us to see everything, whether passing or failing any issues, any problems through a single pane of glass that we don't have to click through or adjust as we go forward."

"Cove Data Protection has streamlined how we handle data protection, as an MSP, saving me time with a single console to administer all client backups and dramatically improving the service levels I can offer customers while giving me confidence in reselling a trustworthy service and company."

"SolarWinds has just completely flipped that around, and that's true for other people inside our org as well."

"The most valuable aspect is the added protection of having a cloud-based backup service. It provides redundancy in case of data loss."

"I know I won't have an issue if the data is there. The reliability and the confidence that we have is amazing. It doesn't matter. We've had customers have ransomware. We've had customers that have had corruption. We've had customers that have had employees destroy their data. As long as it's been backed up, I know that I can get it back and I know I have nothing to worry about. Our confidence level is very high."

"The most valuable feature by far is the Virtual Disaster Recovery. On top of that is the bare-metal recovery. The recovery options that we have are great. We have tested the Virtual Disaster Recovery and the bare-metal recovery in just about any scenario you can think of. We have even restored bare metal, a full server, to a laptop, and had full functionality. It's just insane how well it works and how simple it is. It does most of the work for you."

"The reliability and the confidence that we have in this product is extremely high."

More N-able Cove Data Protection pros

Cons

"Many solutions become stagnant over time. However, BackupAssist has been consistent in updates but they must continue to innovate and improve to avoid stagnation."

"In the future I would like to see more support for Linux."

"Has a few problems working with snapshots time-outs and failed backups."

"It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it."

"The solution needs a dashboard or some form of central control from which you can manage all backups."

"One issue I had with this program, was that I couldn't get it to back up my Linux virtual machines."

"The one thing they don't are Linux servers, it's Windows only. I understand that directive. I have another product that I use for our Linux servers and stuff, but it would be nice if they had that flexibility on the Linux side. I understand the development and the world is geared towards Windows in 365, I know that's where the clienteles are and the business and the money is."

"Having the licensing available for partners to be able to take advantage of testing without paying would make a big difference."

"N-able Cove Data Protection for Microsoft 365 is an area with shortcomings that need improvement."

"An area for improvement that would really work out well would be if there were a little bit more of an elegant handshake relationship between SolarWinds RMM and the PCs that are being backed up, to advise regarding "up" status... Since RMM is an agent that feeds back that a machine is alive and on, I don't see any reason why they can't either tap into that one feature or build the same exact polling within the backup agent, to update right away and say the system is online or offline."

"There aren’t any challenges. Regarding the additional features, Cove is limited to disaster recovery with Azure. It would be great to make disaster recovery compatible with AWS."

"A better default view on my dashboard would be great. There is a lot of useless information there that it pulls up. They could present the dashboard slightly better, in terms of the extra information after the first five columns. The first five columns are awesome. After that, I don't care about the rest, and there are another seven things after that."

"This solution is not very good for image restores, but really excellent for files, databases and System State restores."

"We don't use the solution’s automated recovery testing because SolarWinds made me cross."

More N-able Cove Data Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's on a yearly basis, but I'm not the one who does the licensing on that. I don't have any figures, but it's on a yearly basis, and I believe it's reasonable."

"There's a yearly licensing cost. The costs might be around $2000 USD annually."

"The product pricing here in Zimbabwe is good, I cannot complain."

"The cost of the solution is reasonable and there are add-on options that can be purchased. I have used other solutions that are a lot more expensive that are not as good. The ability to get support is very simple and very reasonable from a cost standpoint."

"The pricing, for now, is good. The package that they gave us recently is pretty good. It depends on how many clients you have, and you pay for certain terabytes per license. These terabytes, if not used, are pooled together."

"The pricing is very competitive and it's well worth the price."

"Cove only takes the data you have on the physical server. I can back that up for long periods of time, and I don't accrue high charges to have the data in the cloud. It stays at one rate. This allows me to forecast payment for the next one or two years and show clients their estimated growth."

"The cost is around ten dollars per workstation a month and that includes a certain amount of data."

"The price isn't extreme, but I'd love to pay less."

"There is no per node cost, at least not the way I am doing it. I am on bulk. New customers can be set up on a trial, where they can get things all squared away, then they can switch over to being a billed customer."

"When you have a device/appliance on the site quite a lot of the other enterprise class backup people insist that you have their appliance, which is frankly offensively expensive. Because when you pry the top off, it's just a standard 19-inch tin box with a standard Intel I5 in it, some RAM, and a hard drive. Then, you go, "Why have they just charged me 5,500 quid for a box, which I could have probably build for under 500." Whereas, with the SolarWinds product, they don't have that. The backup appliances that we have onsite are just plain cooking PCs. We can build our own machines, which is reflected in the price that we can offer a customer."

"The pricing is affordable. N-able Cove Data Protection has a direct-to-cloud architecture, but it also allows saving backups locally without extra storage costs."

More N-able Cove Data Protection pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

29%

Comms Service Provider

19%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

13%

Construction Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	1

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for N-able Backup?

We have not needed interns for a long time. For the one year, we did not need an intern because initially, we wanted interns because sometimes our team would be overwhelmed.

See all answers

What needs improvement with N-able Backup?

For now, I do not have anything else to add about the features apart from the confidentiality aspect; it helps me ensure that HR documents are personal, so someone who does not have access to them ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for N-able Backup?

My main use case for N-able Cove Data Protection is to rely on it mostly for HR related documents, and I have been using it for quite some time. I normally open it when I need to check signed docum...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist

November 2026

Download BackupAssist product report

Buyer's Guide

N-able Cove Data Protection

October 2026

Download N-able Cove Data Protection product report

Also Known As

No data available

N-able Backup, SolarWinds Backup, SolarWinds MSP Backup & Recovery, SolarWinds MSP Backup

Overview

BackupAssist is a versatile backup software offering tape and drive backups, customizable alerts, Exchange and SQL backups with options for network and cloud data storage, including AWS and Wasabi, ensuring data safety and ease of recovery.

BackupAssist provides reliable backup solutions for businesses with its intuitive interface and straightforward recovery process. It supports a range of storage media and offers cloud storage solutions. While consistently updated, it faces compatibility issues with Linux virtual machines and iSCSI connectivity. There's room for improvement in its marketing and a centralized dashboard is needed. Its Exchange backup processes require attention, and it lacks a dedicated support line, impacting user experience. Deployment covers a variety of servers including file and active directory, demonstrating flexibility in server management and backup processes.

What are the important features of BackupAssist?

Versatile Backup Options: Supports tape, drive, and cloud storage solutions including AWS and Wasabi.
Customizable Alerts: Keeps stakeholders informed with adjustable notifications.
Exchange and SQL Support: Provides dedicated support for critical applications.
Ransomware Protection: Incorporates ransomware checks to enhance security.
User-Friendly: Features an easy-to-navigate interface simplifying backup management.

What benefits should users expect in reviews?

Easy Recovery: Ensures straightforward data restoration processes.
Comprehensive Support: Knowledgebase resources aid in troubleshooting and feature evolution.
Reliable Updates: Regular updates promise continuous improvement.
Flexible Cloud Integration: Options for AWS and Wasabi cater to diverse requirements.
Stability During Power Outages: Maintains data integrity when power issues occur.

In industries, BackupAssist is implemented extensively for server backups, particularly in managing Hyper-V hosts to iSCSI devices, covering vast data volumes and supporting numerous virtual machines. It plays a crucial role in backing up essentials like Exchange, databases, payroll systems, and active directory across multiple sectors by providing on-premise and offsite data retention solutions.

BackupAssist

N-able Cove Data Protection delivers cloud-based data backup and disaster recovery with features like ease of use, automation, and efficient data transfer. Its unified dashboard and virtual disaster recovery options are key highlights for simplifying data management.

N-able Cove Data Protection stands out for its comprehensive cloud-based architecture, offering reliable backup, disaster recovery, and archiving solutions across industries such as legal, healthcare, and finance. Users benefit from features like virtual disaster recovery, bare-metal restore, and efficient data transfer. Cove's straightforward setup and resource efficiency make it popular among managed service providers, as it supports diverse environments, including Windows, Linux, and macOS systems. Despite its strengths, users have noted areas for improvement, such as dashboard navigation, cloud integration, and prolonged initial backup times.

What are the key features of N-able Cove Data Protection?

Ease of Use: Simplified setup and management with an intuitive interface.
Automation: Streamlined processes for efficient data handling.
Cloud-Based Architecture: Reliable backup and recovery from any location.
Virtual Disaster Recovery: Enables swift data restoration scenarios.
Bare-Metal Restore: Facilitates complete system recovery from hardware failures.

What benefits can users expect when evaluating data protection?

Resource Efficiency: Optimizes system resources to minimize overhead.
Remote Access: Simplifies data management with a unified dashboard from any location.
Scalability: Suits diverse organizational sizes and needs.
Integration: Supports Windows, Linux, macOS, and virtual environments.

Industries like legal, healthcare, and finance utilize N-able Cove Data Protection for its robust server, workstation, and Office 365 data backup capabilities. With support for SQL, MySQL, Exchange, and file backups, Cove aids managed service providers in efficiently managing both local and remote environments, offering strong disaster recovery, testing, and item-level restoration options.

N-able

Sample Customers

Monash University, NASA, NYU, Pfizer, RAF Association, Rockwell Colins, University of Arizona, US Department of State, Volvo

Computer Depot, Leading Edge Computers, IT Logic Australia

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist vs. N-able Cove Data Protection

October 2026

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