Backup is one of the few IT costs you can price almost to the dollar before you buy it. The inputs are things you can count this afternoon, and the prices are usually per unit. What makes backup budgets go wrong is not the arithmetic. It is leaving out the parts that make a backup worth having.

This article sets out a way to build the number, prices one example line by line, and shows how to weigh the total against the cost of a day without your systems.

Count four things first

Before any quote, write down:

  1. Devices. Every laptop and desktop that holds work, including the owner’s.
  2. Servers. Physical servers, virtual machines and any NAS that holds shared files.
  3. Cloud users. Every Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace account, including shared mailboxes and the accounts of people who have left but whose mail you keep.
  4. Data size. Roughly how many terabytes sit on the servers and NAS.

Those four numbers drive most of the monthly cost. Everything else is a decision about how much proof and speed you want.

Three layers of spending

Think of the budget in three layers, and price each one separately.

  • Copies. The recurring cost of backing things up: per device, per server, per user, per terabyte.
  • Proof. Restore tests on a schedule, with written results.
  • Speed. Anything that shortens the time to get running again, such as a standby server in the cloud or a written runbook.

Many budgets stop at the first layer. That leaves the business with backups nobody has restored from. Sophos’s State of Ransomware 2025 found that “only 54% of companies used backups to restore their data,” the lowest share in six years. That survey covered 3,400 IT and cybersecurity leaders at organizations of 100 to 5,000 employees in 17 countries, so it describes larger companies than many readers run. The gap it points at still applies: having backups and restoring from them are different things, and the second needs its own line in the budget.

Example: pricing a 30-person insurance agency

Take a 30-person insurance agency. Everyone has one laptop or desktop and a Microsoft 365 account. There are two servers: a file server with about 2 TB of backup data, and an agency-management server with less than 1 TB.

Here is the layer of copies, at Ezbre’s indicative from-prices, before sales tax:

Line Quantity Unit price Monthly
Workstation Backup 30 devices $12 $360
Server Backup, 1 TB included per server 2 servers $89 $178
Extra server storage 1 TB $15 $15
Microsoft 365 Backup 30 users $4 $120
Copies, per month $673

The extra terabyte is for the file server: its 2 TB uses the 1 TB included with its plan plus 1 TB more. Storage is billed on what is actually stored after deduplication and compression, so the real figure may be lower.

Over a year, the copies cost $673 × 12, which is $8,076.

Now add proof. The Restore Drill plan is from $240 per quarter, or $960 a year. It is included free for clients with 3 or more servers on Server Backup; with two servers, this agency pays for it. Copies plus proof come to $9,036 a year. Spread across 30 people, that is $25.10 per person per month.

Then speed, which is optional and worth pricing system by system:

  • Standby Recovery for the agency-management server, from $149 per server per month, adds $1,788 a year, for a total of $10,824. It requires Server Backup, which that server already has.
  • A Recovery Runbook, from $1,500 one-off, brings the first year to $12,324. It does not recur in later years.

There is no setup fee on monthly plans for 5 or more devices or users, and every plan runs month to month with 30 days’ notice. All of these figures are indicative, and every price is listed on the pricing page.

Plan the cash, not the total

The yearly figure is useful for deciding. The timing is useful for paying. In the example, the copies arrive as one monthly bill of $673. The drill arrives as $240 each quarter. The runbook, if you buy it, is one fixed invoice in the month the work is done, quoted in writing before it starts. Put each on the calendar where it actually lands, and the budget will match the bank statement.

What moves the number most

Once you have the four counts, a few choices change the total far more than others:

  • Servers. Each one adds a monthly line, and each one can carry its own standby line. It is the biggest lever in most budgets.
  • Data size. Every terabyte beyond the included allowance adds a fixed amount per month. Old archives that never change still count.
  • The third server. On Server Backup, the Restore Drill is included free from 3 servers. At that size, proof stops being a separate line.
  • Which cloud suite you use. Microsoft 365 Backup and Google Workspace Backup are both from $4 per user per month, so switching suites does not change this line.
  • Headcount churn. Accounts of people who have left still hold mail you may need. Keep them in the count while you keep the backup.

Workstation counts change the total steadily but predictably. Servers and storage are where a budget can surprise you, so look at those first.

Weigh it against a lost day

A budget number means little on its own. Compare it with what an outage costs you.

The basic sum is people affected, times their loaded hourly cost, times hours down, plus revenue you cannot earn while systems are out. Say the agency-management server fails and 20 of the 30 staff cannot quote or service policies for an 8-hour working day. At a loaded cost of $45 an hour, that is 20 × $45 × 8, or $7,200, before any lost sales.

That figure is not a reason to buy every line. It is a way to see which line pays for itself. If one lost day costs more than a year of Standby Recovery for that server, the standby line is worth a closer look. If your main system can wait two days without real harm, it may not be. Every business has different numbers, which is why the downtime cost calculator asks for yours.

Deciding how long each system can be down is its own exercise. Recovery point and recovery time, explained is the short guide.

Where backup budgets go wrong

  • Pricing storage, not service. A low price per terabyte says nothing about who watches failed jobs or tests restores.
  • Forgetting cloud apps. Mail and shared files in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace need their own backup line.
  • Ignoring growth. Data on a file server grows every year. Ask what the next terabyte costs before you need it.
  • Long contracts for a discount. A lower rate tied to a multi-year term can cost more than it saves if the service disappoints.
  • Forgetting the exit. Ask what it costs to get all your data back if you leave. With us, a full export in standard formats is free, with 30 days’ notice.
  • Repeating the one-offs. A runbook or a migration is a fixed project. Budget it in the year you do it, not every year.

A one-page budget worksheet

Use this to build your own number:

  • Count devices, servers, cloud users and terabytes.
  • Mark the two or three systems the business cannot do without for a day.
  • Price copies for everything.
  • Price proof: at least one tested restore a quarter.
  • Price speed only for the systems you marked.
  • Add one-off projects to the year they happen.
  • Total it per year and divide by headcount for a per-person figure.
  • Compare the total with the cost of one lost day from the calculator.
  • Ask every provider the same exit question.

The Server Backup plan page lists what is included per server, if you want to check the details behind the line items above.

A calm next step

You can build this budget yourself in an hour. If you would rather start from what you actually run, the free backup check takes 45 minutes, remotely, and includes one test restore and a written page of findings. Book a free backup check when it suits you.