Skip to Content

Macrium vs Acronis: Which is Best for Data Backup?

Macrium vs Acronis: Which is Best for Data Backup?

In this article, we are going to compare Macrum vs Acronis and help you select the data backup option that best fits your demands. Let’s get started by looking into how Acronis and Macrium are different from each other.

The statistics show that more than 140,000 hard drives fail every week, while more than 90% of companies go out of business after data loss.

Products such as Macrium or Acronis provide protection against hardware failure, malware attacks, or accidents that can jeopardize the safety of your files.

Backing up the data you use for personal or professional purposes is the best way to ensure that you won’t lose a single file in case of a security breach or if your computer malfunctions.

With so many different data backup software products on the market, it can be difficult to find the one that meets all your needs.

Bottom Line Up Front Summary: While Macrium is an ok custom backup solutions for PC devices, I much preffer the multi-device, operating system, cloud backup, and advanced encryption offered by the Acronis suite available here.

Main Differences between Macrium vs Acronis

The main differences between Macrium vs Acronis are:

  • Macrium can only clone partitions on PC computers, whereas Acronis can be used to clone and backup data on many devices
  • Macrium only allows for a one-time payment, whereas Acronis offers subscriptions payment options
  • Macrium doesn’t offer the option to back up files on the cloud, whereas Acronis features a cloud backup option
  • Macrium offers a variety of backup schedule templates, whereas Acronis doesn’t allow its users to schedule backups
  • Macrium only encrypts the data, whereas Acronis encrypts both the data and the storage

The exact set of features you will have at your disposal depends on the Macrium’s or Acronis’ product you purchase. That’s why you must make sure that the data backup solution you’re interested in has all the options you need to keep your files safe and secure.

Comparing the Macrium vs Acronis Features

96% of businesses that have a backup and disaster plan don’t suffer from the consequences of ransomware attacks. Both Macrium and Acronis offer a range of products that are designed for use in private and professional contexts.

Macrium’s business solutions include the following options:

Macrium Reflect Workstation

Moreover, the company lets you choose from a variety of site backup options that allow you to monitor and manage all of the business’ online activities. This software manufacturer offers the Home Edition version of its data backup application that is best suited for personal use.

Macrium’s business products are aimed at IT technicians or companies that need an efficient way to backup data from multiple PCs or servers.

Rapid Delta Cloning (disk cloning software), Sata SSD (solid state drive) Trim support, Image Guardian technology (image backup) or Rapid Delta Recovery are just a few among numerous features Macrium’s products provide.

However, you can only use these products on Windows operating systems, since currently, this software manufacturer doesn’t offer data recovery applications that are compatible with Mac computers or iPhone and Android devices.

The data backup and recovery options produced by Acronis include:

acronis home page

In addition, small and medium-sized businesses can choose from a variety of add-ons and applications that grant them complete control over the backup settings.

Each of these software products can create a mirror image of a computer’s system or a single partition which enables you to recover data quickly. Moreover, you can backup individual files and folders in case you don’t want to clone the entire system.

Acronis enables you to migrate your data while using your computer without any interruptions so that you can perform other tasks while moving your OS to a new hard drive disk.

The fact that you can only use Macrium on PCs without the possibility to store your data in the cloud makes it a much less attractive option than Acronis that can be used to backup and restore data on different types of devices.

Macrium vs Acronis: How much do Macrium and Acronis cost?

The licenses to use any of Acronis’ or Macrium’s products are based on two different pricing models. Both software manufacturers offer trial versions of their software products, which enables you to test them before opting to purchase them.

The price of Macrium’s data backup software depends on how many PCs you would like to back up, and the number of devices you can protect is not limited to the business packages. However, the versions of Macrium that are designed for private use cannot be installed on more than four devices.

macrium business products

The single PC license costs $69.00, while you must pay $139.95 for a four PC license. Pricing options for businesses start at $75.00 per device, but if you purchase a license for more than ten PCs you will be charged $67.50 per PC.

Besides, one-time purchase, you can opt for the annual subscription model if you decide to clone and backup your data with Acronis.

The cost of the software depends on the number of computers your license includes, but you should keep in mind that you cannot use Acronis’ products designed for personal use on more than five devices.

Moreover, you can request a quote from Acronis if you are planning to purchase a license that enables you to backup and manage large numbers of devices or servers (disk management).

The least expensive version of Acronis’ software can be purchased for just $49.99, while the lowest amount you can spend on the annual subscription is $69.99.

Even though Macrium and Acronis offer products in a similar price range, Acronis is a slightly more affordable option.

The exact cost of a particular license increases with each new device you add, which is why it is important to know exactly how many Mac or PC computers you would like to backup before purchasing any of the available subscription models.

Check out our data backup softare solutions roundup if you would like to find out how Macrium and Acronis’ prices compare to other data backup software products.

Syncing and backing up files with Macrium and Acronis

Even though Acronis’ installer is quite large, as it has over 500MB, it won’t take more than a few minutes to complete the installation process.

When done you can start customizing your backup settings, and decide if you want to mirror the entire hard drive or just the most important files you keep on your computer.

The software lets you choose if you want to back up your data locally or in the cloud, but keep in mind that selecting both options at the same time is not possible. Moreover, Acronis enables you to delay your backups and specify the amount of time that should pass between two backups.

How long the backup is going to last depends on the size of the files you are working with, but Acronis can perform cloud backups 13 times faster than its competition.

Acronis is compatible with Smartphones, Mac and PC computers, which enables you to install this software on multiple devices and seamlessly sync the data.

Macrium, on the other hand, is only compatible with different versions of the Windows OS, and you can’t use it to sync the data from devices that run on macOS, iOS or Android operating systems.

Both Acronis and Macrium feature a bare-metal restore option, although storing your files in the cloud with Macrium isn’t possible. Scheduling backups is somewhat easier with Macrium than with Acronis since Macrium features a number of predefined backup plan templates.

The Super-Fast Imaging, Rapid Delta Cloning and Rapid Delta Restoring technologies shorten the amount of time you are going to need to clone or restore files with Macrium.

In addition, you can mount images you create with this data recovery software in Windows Explorer, if you want to have quick access to each file you would like to restore.

Acronis’ products have more to offer than those that Macrium provides, to individual users and organizations that are searching for a quick and efficient way to protect their data against unexpected hardware failure or security breaches.

Does Acronis offer Better Security and Privacy Options than Macrium?

Ransomware is the second-largest cybersecurity threat retail companies can encounter. Macrium and Acronis data backup software products provide protection against ransomware attacks and help companies avoid potential financial losses.

Acronis features the Active Protection technology that utilizes the heuristic rules while monitoring your files for suspicious behavior. This feature will detect all attempts ransomware makes to encrypt your files, and it successfully recovers all files that got encrypted during the attack.

acronis Ransomware

The software manufacturer uses end-to-end encryption which prevents anyone from learning the contents of your backups. In addition, you can also set up an encryption key, but you should keep in mind that you cannot retrieve it if you forget it or lose it.

Macrium is equipped with the Macrium Image Guardian protection architecture that safeguards the backed-up files against unauthorized modification attempts.

Unlike the Acronis’ Active Protection technology that also monitors the files that have not yet been backed up, MIG only prevents changes of the files you already backed up.

Macrium accesses, stores, collects, uses and transfers the following types of personal data:

  • Identity data
  • Financial data
  • Technical data
  • Usage data
  • Contact data
  • Profile data
  • Marketing and communications data
  • Transaction data

Macrium’s capacity to protect your data against ransomware attacks is limited only to the files that are already backed up on a USB or a local hard drive. Additionally, Macrium’s software products access your personal data and use it for different purposes.

Acronis’ data backup software products fight off all ransomware attacks efficiently which makes them a better option than those offered by Macrium.

Looking into Macrium and Acronis’ Interface

Getting used to a software interface shouldn’t take too much time, as all of its most important features should be only a click away.

Sadly, Macrium may only be easy to use for seasoned IT professionals as its outdated interface can be overwhelming for newcomers to the world of data backup.

Even so, all of the menus and options are organized in a predictable manner, and you shouldn’t have too much trouble mirroring your OS or backing up folders and individual files.

All Acronis’ software products have modernly designed interfaces that are easy to navigate through, which makes it easy to backup, archive or sync your files.

All of the most important options are located in the toolbar on the right side of the software’s main window and you can access them by simply clicking on the option you want to use.

Even though Macrium’s interface can have some appeal to PC users who like the retro look, the software products Macrium offers seem outdated and blocky.

Acronis’ data backup applications are simply a better option for all Mac and PC users because they have intuitively designed interfaces that enable you to perform all tasks effortlessly.

Macrium vs Acronis Pros and Cons

Macrium Pros

  • Features Super-Fast Imaging technology
  • Equipped with Rapid Delta Cloning architecture that boosts the cloning speed
  • Enables users to mount images in Windows Explorer
  • Offers a rich selection of pre-designed backup plan templates

Macrium Cons

  • Only compatible with different versions of Windows OS
  • No cloud backup options

Acronis Pros

  • Direct cloud to cloud backups of Office 365 accounts
  • Easy selection of the files, folders or systems you want to backup
  • All backups run in the background without interrupting a computer’s performance
  • Change-Block Tracker technology makes backup updates faster

Acronis Cons

  • Backing up multiple devices with Acronis is expensive
  • No backup schedule templates

Our Recommendation: Picking the Best Data Backup Option for your Home or Business

Data backup software products are equally useful to individuals and small or medium-sized businesses because they eliminate the possibility of data loss.

Macrium and Acronis offer a host of applications that make the process of hard disk mirroring, archiving and backing up files quick and smooth. Macrium, however, doesn’t provide the option to store files in the cloud and it can only be used on PC computers.

Even so, cloning or backing up files with any of the Macrium’s software products won’t take a lot of time, even if you are working with multiple devices at the same time.

Despite all of the data backup and recovery features Macrium offers, Acronis is still a better option simply because it provides you with more flexibility. Besides being compatible with Smartphones, Mac and PC computers, Acronis also provides the option to store data in the cloud.

We recommend opting for one of Acronis’ data backup software products because you are going to have a wider range of options at your disposal, and you’ll be able to access the files you backed up whenever you want.

If you would like to learn more about different data backup options you can click here or follow this link.

Conclusion: Acronis or Macrium?

Cybersecurity is becoming more important as we rely more and more on our computers in our private and professional lives.

Macrium and Acronis data backup applications are equipped with powerful features that keep your digital files safe from hard drive failures, ransomware, and other similar threats. Which data backup and recovery software are you going to choose? Let us know in the comments.

Bottom Line Summary: While Macrium is an ok custom backup solutions for PC devices, I much preffer the multi-device, operating system, cloud backup, and advanced encryption offered by the Acronis suite available here.

Macrium vs Acronis Frequently Asked Question

Can I backup individual files with Macrium?

Yes, all Macrium’s software products enable you to choose if you want to backup files, folders or clone the entire system.

Does Macrium offer different subscription models?

No, all Macriums data backup options can be acquired with a one-time purchase.

How long does it take to backup files with Macrium?

The duration of the backup depends on the overall size of the files you are backing up, but Macrium is equipped with technologies that speed up this process.

How much online storage space does Acronis offer?

The amount of available online storage space Acronis offers depends on the subscription plan you choose.

Does Acronis provide protection against ransomware?

Yes, Acronis is equipped with Active Protection technology that detects ransomware attacks and recovers files that get encrypted without your permission.

Further Reading on Disk Imaging Software and Acronis Backup Competitors: