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N-able Cove Data Protection vs StorageCraft ShadowXafe [EOL] comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

N-able Cove Data Protection
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (30th), Cloud Backup (19th), SaaS Backup (8th), MSP Backup (3rd)
StorageCraft ShadowXafe [EOL]
Average Rating
0.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Per MøllerJacobsen - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior consultant at Azend A/S
Delivers cost-effective data backup with room for search improvements
The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems. You cannot just search for something—you need to know where it was and when it was there to restore it, plus it would be nice to take out data from Microsoft 365 in some portable format, which is currently not an option. I would like to extract the data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format, something like a database or maybe just to take out a PST file or SharePoint and Teams files to the file system. Especially in these times, where we discuss potential risks with the Microsoft cloud for European companies, companies would want to know how to access their data from the backup if they suddenly don't have a tenant. I believe there should be the ability to take out data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format. I know that Cohesity is working on making such a thing. It's not there yet; I asked last week for something for forensics, and the support team said it's not possible yet, but I know from our technical account manager they are working on some solutions.
reviewer1281621 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder/CEO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
An expensive next-generation data recovery and backup software solution with poor data restoration
Their restoration protocols could be better. I pulled all my clients out of their cloud mostly because I wasn't confident that they could restore out of the cloud. This was backed up by friends who had been burned by stuff like that. We moved away because of the lack of resources to restore from a potential catastrophic failure. It's challenging, and in some cases, they couldn't do it because they didn't have enough resources. For example, if there was a major disaster, and everybody needed their images out of the cloud, they couldn't give them to everybody.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The integration of N-able Cove Data Protection into our existing infrastructure is easy."
"Overall, our team is much more satisfied, I don't have to bite my fingernails every morning wondering "What happened here?" and pretty much when things don't back up, it's usually either a machine failure or their network went down or something else is screwed up."
"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."
"For starters, this is one of few databases that allow us to backup MySQL databases, most others only support Microsoft SQL. This solution also has a very user-friendly interface accessed through a web browser. Additionally, backups can be easily configured through N-able Backup."
"N-able Cove Data Protection is user-friendly and straightforward, and the dashboard is clear."
"The ability to back up, restore, and do different types of testing for the preventative maintenance has really increased our importance to these clients because they see the value in how fast we can get them back up and running. We're saving them money in that way."
"One of the bigger features and advantages of the solution is that it is easy to integrate with my RMM which is also N-able."
"The solution has reduced backup times by an immeasurable amount. Its backups are incremental, so you are only backing up data changes based on the last 24 hours or so. If you are also maintaining the stored images, the restores are also only incremental, happening in minutes. Whereas, with a lot of the other solutions that we have looked at, each time it goes to refresh the restore, then it has to build a completely new image. That takes forever. This solution also improves recovery time."
"I like that they have some new devices that are simpler to use because they kind of tie right into the cloud."
"The technical support has been very good."
"The most valuable feature is the backups."
"I like that they have some new devices that are simpler to use because they kind of tie right into the cloud."
 

Cons

"There could be a possibility to create a local NAS backup for infrastructure."
"A disaster recovery console would be an improvement for the product."
"For the MSP side, they could have more of a "security user" that can go in and only see certain clients. If you give somebody access as a technician, they can see all the clients."
"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 would like to have better reporting."
"Currently you can't dump the files that were backed up. You have to use the web interface and you can only see 30 files at a crack."
"N-able Cove Data Protection does not provide a lot of SaaS backup products, which is an area they can improve. Additionally, there are some limitations on the storage side, where I cannot have a lot of employees backing up their data."
"Their restoration protocols could be better. I pulled all my clients out of their cloud mostly because I wasn't confident that they could restore out of the cloud. This was backed up by friends who had been burned by stuff like that. We moved away because of the lack of resources to restore from a potential catastrophic failure. It's challenging, and in some cases, they couldn't do it because they didn't have enough resources. For example, if there was a major disaster, and everybody needed their images out of the cloud, they couldn't give them to everybody."
"StorageCraft ShadowXafe should improve the on-premises console management controls and protection and recovery."
"StorageCraft ShadowXafe should improve the on-premises console management controls and protection and recovery."
"I wouldn't use it. It failed me every time I tried to use it in a real-life scenario."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of SolarWinds seems to be fair compared to the rest of the industry."
"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."
"N-able Cove Data Protection is an averagely-priced product."
"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."
"The pricing is very competitive and it's well worth the price."
"The cost is around ten dollars per workstation a month and that includes a certain amount of data."
"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."
"I believe that the price is very reasonable in comparison to other options. It is cheaper than both Redstor and Acronis and, since we are now using our own on-premise cloud, there is absolutely no comparison since we have unlimited storage rather than paying per gigabyte used for their onsite storage. We are currently able to backup fifty computers for the same price that we use to backup five computers."
"They are more expensive than some of the others out there. We have gone away from their cloud due to pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise1
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for N-able Backup?
In terms of pricing, N-able Cove Data Protection is neither cheap nor expensive compared to other competitors.
What needs improvement with N-able Backup?
The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems. You cannot just search for s...
What is your primary use case for N-able Backup?
Our main use cases for enabling N-able Cove Data Protection include backing up our customers' data on servers hosted in data centers and servers hosted in our own data center, as well as a few onsi...
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Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Computer Depot, Leading Edge Computers, IT Logic Australia
Kawasaki, NASA, Amazon, Sonic, Callaway
Find out what your peers are saying about Veeam Software, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Rubrik and others in Backup and Recovery. Updated: May 2026.
892,868 professionals have used our research since 2012.