# SimpleBackups vs SnapShooter

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/simplebackups-vs-snapshooter/

Every value below is read from SimpleBackups's and SnapShooter's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | SimpleBackups | SnapShooter |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| What the free plan includes | The Basic plan at $0: one backup job and 1 GB of included storage, with your own storage connectable without limit. | One backup job, daily, with daily retention and 500 MB of included storage. The card is titled Free and its call to action is Register rather than the Try for free used on paid cards — but it also prints $14 a month, which is the Lite price, and the page shows Lite at both $14 and $13 elsewhere. Recorded as printed; the $14 on a plan called Free is not resolved here. |
| Entry paid plan | $49 a month for Lite, which includes 5 backup jobs, 50 GB of storage and a floor of 12 hours between runs. | $14 a month for Lite, covering up to 3 backup resources with 10 GB of included storage and daily runs. |
| Pricing model | Per backup job, in plan-sized blocks of 1, 5, 20 and 100, with storage included at each step and unlimited bring-your-own storage alongside it. The tier also sets how often a job may run — 12 hours, 1 hour, then 5 minutes — so the plan buys recovery point objective as much as it buys capacity. | Per backup resource — 3, 20, 50, then 250 — with included storage at each step and unlimited bring-your-own storage throughout. As with SimpleBackups the tier also buys frequency, from daily to twice daily to every 5 minutes, so the plan is really priced on how much you protect and how recently. |
| Backup retention | Customer-defined on every paid tier, described only as flexible retention and schedule rather than as a fixed number of days. | Daily only on the entry plan; daily, weekly and monthly rotation from the $39 Startup plan upward. Retention rotation is a paid feature rather than a default. |

## Where they differ

### What the free plan includes

- SimpleBackups: The Basic plan at $0: one backup job and 1 GB of included storage, with your own storage connectable without limit. ([source](https://simplebackups.com/pricing))
- SnapShooter: One backup job, daily, with daily retention and 500 MB of included storage. The card is titled Free and its call to action is Register rather than the Try for free used on paid cards — but it also prints $14 a month, which is the Lite price, and the page shows Lite at both $14 and $13 elsewhere. Recorded as printed; the $14 on a plan called Free is not resolved here. ([source](https://snapshooter.com/pricing))

### Entry paid plan

- SimpleBackups: $49 a month for Lite, which includes 5 backup jobs, 50 GB of storage and a floor of 12 hours between runs. ([source](https://simplebackups.com/pricing))
- SnapShooter: $14 a month for Lite, covering up to 3 backup resources with 10 GB of included storage and daily runs. ([source](https://snapshooter.com/pricing))

### Pricing model

- SimpleBackups: Per backup job, in plan-sized blocks of 1, 5, 20 and 100, with storage included at each step and unlimited bring-your-own storage alongside it. The tier also sets how often a job may run — 12 hours, 1 hour, then 5 minutes — so the plan buys recovery point objective as much as it buys capacity. ([source](https://simplebackups.com/pricing))
- SnapShooter: Per backup resource — 3, 20, 50, then 250 — with included storage at each step and unlimited bring-your-own storage throughout. As with SimpleBackups the tier also buys frequency, from daily to twice daily to every 5 minutes, so the plan is really priced on how much you protect and how recently. ([source](https://snapshooter.com/pricing))

### Backup retention

- SimpleBackups: Customer-defined on every paid tier, described only as flexible retention and schedule rather than as a fixed number of days. ([source](https://simplebackups.com/pricing))
- SnapShooter: Daily only on the entry plan; daily, weekly and monthly rotation from the $39 Startup plan upward. Retention rotation is a paid feature rather than a default. ([source](https://snapshooter.com/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick SimpleBackups if Backing up many different things on a schedule you choose and being told when one stops working: 5 jobs at $49 a month rising to 100 at $299, with unlimited storage of your own alongside whatever the plan includes.

Pick SnapShooter if Protecting a handful of servers or DigitalOcean resources without paying for a platform: $14 a month covers three, with daily runs, 10 GB included and unlimited bring-your-own storage on every tier including the free one.

Consider something else: SimpleBackups — You protect one or two things. The free plan allows a single job with 1 GB, and the next step is $49 — Snapshooter covers three resources for $14 and five times that for $39.

Consider something else: SnapShooter — You need backups encrypted or rotated. Backup encryption is listed from the $79 Business plan and weekly and monthly retention from $39, so the entry tier keeps daily copies in whatever state they arrived.

## Documented by only one

- SOC 2: SimpleBackups: Listed as a feature of the $299 Max plan rather than as a property of the company, which is an unusual way to present an attestation and is recorded as the page frames it.
- Encryption at rest: SnapShooter: Listed as a feature of the $79 Business plan and above, so the two cheapest paid tiers do not name it.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: SimpleBackups or SnapShooter?**

SimpleBackups: $49 a month for Lite, which includes 5 backup jobs, 50 GB of storage and a floor of 12 hours between runs.
SnapShooter: $14 a month for Lite, covering up to 3 backup resources with 10 GB of included storage and daily runs.

**Should I choose SimpleBackups or SnapShooter?**

Pick SimpleBackups if Backing up many different things on a schedule you choose and being told when one stops working: 5 jobs at $49 a month rising to 100 at $299, with unlimited storage of your own alongside whatever the plan includes.
Pick SnapShooter if Protecting a handful of servers or DigitalOcean resources without paying for a platform: $14 a month covers three, with daily runs, 10 GB included and unlimited bring-your-own storage on every tier including the free one.