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Acronis backup storage cost analysis
A 2025 Acronis Backup Storage Cost Analysis for EU Businesses
Your Acronis software effectively protects your data, but where you store those backups determines your true cost and compliance risk. An incomplete Acronis backup storage cost analysis overlooks hidden fees from non-EU cloud providers that can inflate budgets by over 70%.
Key Takeawys
A true Acronis backup storage cost analysis must include unpredictable egress fees and API call charges, which can increase total costs by over 50%.
Storing Acronis backups with a sovereign EU cloud provider eliminates CLOUD Act exposure and ensures GDPR compliance by keeping data under EU jurisdiction.
Using S3-compatible storage with Object Lock (Immutability) for Acronis backups provides a critical defense against ransomware at no extra operational cost.
For IT leaders and MSPs using Acronis Cyber Protect, the choice of a backup storage target is a critical financial and regulatory decision. Storing backups with hyperscale providers often introduces unpredictable costs like egress fees and API call charges, which are rarely factored into initial calculations. Furthermore, reliance on non-EU providers creates significant compliance risks under regulations like GDPR and exposes company data to foreign laws such as the CLOUD Act. This analysis explores how a sovereign, S3-compatible cloud storage solution with a predictable cost model offers a financially stable and compliant alternative for European businesses in 2025.
Deconstructing the True Cost of Acronis Backup Storage
A proper Acronis backup storage cost analysis must extend beyond the advertised price-per-gigabyte. Many businesses discover that retrieving their own data incurs substantial egress fees, sometimes adding up to 50% to their monthly bill. API call charges for backup, management, and restore operations represent another layer of hidden expenses that can accumulate quickly with daily backup cycles.
These variable costs make accurate budget forecasting nearly impossible for both enterprises and MSPs. A 2025 survey showed that over 50% of public cloud users cite regulatory constraints and unpredictable costs as top obstacles. This financial uncertainty directly impacts profitability and complicates IT planning.
Furthermore, storing data with non-EU providers, even in European data centers, creates legal and financial risks. The U.S. CLOUD Act allows U.S. authorities to demand access to data controlled by American companies, regardless of its physical location. This jurisdictional conflict undermines GDPR protections and can lead to fines of up to 4% of global turnover for non-compliance. A comprehensive cost analysis must therefore account for these significant compliance risks.
Achieving Predictable Costs with a Sovereign Storage Model
A sovereign cloud storage model offers a direct solution to the cost unpredictability and compliance risks inherent in traditional cloud storage. By choosing a European provider like Impossible Cloud, your Acronis backups are stored exclusively in certified EU data centers, ensuring they remain under the protection of EU law. This design eliminates exposure to the CLOUD Act and simplifies GDPR compliance.
The financial benefits are equally clear. A transparent pricing model with zero egress fees, zero API call costs, and no minimum storage duration transforms your cost structure. Your monthly bill is based on one simple metric: the volume of data you store. This predictability allows MSPs to build profitable Backup-as-a-Service (BaaS) offerings with stable margins and enables enterprises to forecast their IT spend with 100% accuracy.
This approach aligns with the goals of European initiatives like Gaia-X, which promote data sovereignty and interoperability to reduce dependency on a few large providers. By geofencing data at the country level, organizations gain full control over data residency, a critical requirement for regulated industries. This shift towards predictable, sovereign storage is not just a technical choice; it's a strategic business decision.
Strengthening Ransomware Defense for Acronis Backups
Cost and compliance are critical, but the primary purpose of a backup is recovery after an incident. Modern ransomware attacks increasingly target backup repositories to prevent restoration, making storage-level security essential. Using S3-compatible storage with Immutable Storage (Object Lock) provides a powerful defense layer for your Acronis backups, adding virtually zero complexity.
Here is how immutability enhances your security posture:
It prevents any user, application, or threat actor from deleting or modifying backup files for a defined period.
It creates a guaranteed-unaltered copy of your data, ensuring you have a clean version to restore after an attack.
It helps meet compliance requirements for data integrity and retention under regulations like GDPR and NIS-2.
It provides an air-gapped-like security level within a hot, instantly accessible storage tier.
Immutable backups render ransomware's encryption of backup files useless, reducing recovery time from weeks to hours. This capability is a core component of a resilient backup strategy and must be considered in any holistic cost analysis, as the cost of a successful ransomware attack can reach millions. This proactive security measure is fundamental to modern data protection.
Meeting 2025 EU Regulatory Demands by Design
The European regulatory landscape is evolving, with new directives demanding greater data control and security. A sovereign storage strategy for Acronis backups helps you meet these requirements proactively. The NIS-2 Directive, for example, mandates robust backup management and disaster recovery capabilities to ensure business continuity for critical entities.
Key 2025 regulations addressed by a sovereign storage approach include:
GDPR: Storing backups within the EU ensures data residency and simplifies compliance with data transfer rules under Article 32.
NIS-2 Directive: Immutable storage and resilient EU-based infrastructure directly support the required risk management and business continuity measures.
EU Data Act: Applying from September 2025, this act promotes data portability and makes it easier to switch cloud providers without lock-in, a principle supported by using open, S3-compatible standards.
Compliance is not an IT-only issue; it is a competitive advantage that builds customer trust. By aligning your Acronis storage with these regulations, you reduce the risk of fines and demonstrate a commitment to data protection that resonates with clients. This forward-looking approach turns regulatory burdens into business enablers.
The Partner Advantage: Building Profitable Services on Predictable Storage
For MSPs, resellers, and system integrators, predictable costs are the foundation of sustainable service margins. Building an Acronis-based BaaS or Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS) offering on storage with no egress or API fees provides a decisive competitive edge. You can price your services confidently, knowing your underlying costs will not fluctuate unexpectedly when a client needs to perform a large-scale restore.
Impossible Cloud is partner-ready, with features designed to simplify channel operations. The multi-tenant partner console allows for centralized management of client accounts with role-based access control (RBAC) and multi-factor authentication (MFA). Automation via a full API/CLI toolkit and detailed reporting streamlines onboarding and administration, reducing your operational overhead by up to 30%.
With growing distribution momentum through partners like api in Germany and Northamber plc in the UK, local access for resellers is expanding. This ecosystem focus ensures that MSPs have the tools and support needed to deliver high-value, compliant, and profitable data protection services. This partner-centric model is key to scaling your backup solutions.
Practical Steps to Optimize Your Acronis Storage Strategy
Migrating your Acronis backup storage to a sovereign, S3-compatible provider is a straightforward process that can yield immediate cost and compliance benefits. The full S3-API compatibility ensures your existing Acronis configurations, scripts, and tools continue to work without modification, minimizing migration risk and protecting your initial investment in the platform.
Follow this checklist for a seamless transition:
Endpoint Configuration: Simply update the storage target in your Acronis Management Console to the new S3 endpoint URL provided by your sovereign cloud provider.
Credential Update: Enter the new S3 access key and secret key for authentication.
Policy Review: Verify that your existing backup, retention, and replication policies align with your business and compliance goals.
Enable Immutability: Activate Object Lock on the new storage bucket to protect your backups from ransomware.
Test Restore: Perform a test recovery of a sample dataset to validate the configuration and ensure data integrity.
This simple migration path allows you to enhance your data protection posture in just a few hours. For a detailed guide, see our article on transparent pricing. Taking these practical steps is the final piece of your cost and security optimization.
More Links
Wikipedia provides a general overview of cloud storage, its concepts, and applications.
Eurostat presents statistics on cloud computing usage by enterprises in Europe, based on Eurostat data.
Destatis provides information and statistics on IT usage in Germany, including aspects related to society, environment, income, consumption, and living conditions.
Europa.eu explains the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and its implications for businesses dealing with customers in Europe.
DIHK presents a survey on digitalization among businesses in Germany, conducted by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
Grand View Research provides an outlook on the cloud backup market in Europe, including market trends and forecasts.
Statista offers market forecasts and statistics related to cybersecurity in Germany.
DLA Piper provides information on data protection laws in Germany from a global law firm.
European Commission outlines its policies and strategies related to cloud computing.
FAQ
How does Impossible Cloud's pricing model provide a more accurate Acronis backup storage cost analysis?
Our model is based solely on the amount of storage you use. We have no egress fees, no API request charges, and no minimum storage durations. This eliminates all variable costs, allowing you to perform an Acronis backup storage cost analysis with 100% predictability and avoid any surprise fees.
Is it difficult to migrate my existing Acronis backups to Impossible Cloud?
No, the process is simple. Because we are fully S3-API compatible, you only need to update the storage endpoint and credentials in your Acronis Management Console. Your existing backup jobs and policies will continue to run without any changes.
How does Impossible Cloud help my business comply with the NIS-2 Directive?
The NIS-2 Directive requires robust measures for backup management and disaster recovery. Our platform supports this through EU-only data residency, strong encryption, and immutable storage (Object Lock). These features help you build a resilient and compliant backup strategy to protect against cyber threats.
Can I manage multiple clients as an MSP on your platform?
Yes. Impossible Cloud is designed for our partners. We provide a multi-tenant partner console that allows you to manage all your clients from a single dashboard, with granular role-based access control (RBAC) and reporting to streamline your operations.
What does 'sovereign by design' mean for my data?
It means our entire company, infrastructure, and operations are based in Europe and governed exclusively by EU laws. Your data is stored in certified European data centers and is never subject to foreign jurisdictional claims like the U.S. CLOUD Act, guaranteeing true data sovereignty.
What is an 'Always-Hot' storage model?
Our 'Always-Hot' object storage model means all your data is immediately accessible at all times, with no delays or extra fees for retrieval. This is crucial for fast recovery scenarios and eliminates the complexity and hidden costs of tiered storage systems (hot, cool, archive) used by other providers.
