Should you build or buy SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace & Salesforce)?
SaaS backup software protects data inside Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce from accidental deletion, ransomware, and configuration mistakes that the SaaS vendor's own retention tools don't cover. IT and security teams buy it because native export tools inside these platforms are not built to be a recovery mechanism.
Pick the vendor whose coverage matrix and restore fidelity match your tenants, and run a restore test before you sign. For Microsoft 365, evaluate native Backup or a partner built on its Backup Storage platform first, then add a separate service for Google Workspace, Salesforce or an independent copy.
Build it, buy it, or bridge?
When building makes sense
There is essentially no case for building SaaS backup yourself, and the evidence backs that up rather than just asserting it. SoftwareMill published and open-sourced a Google Drive backup tool using the Drive API and Admin SDK with parallel processing to scheduled ECS tasks on S3, which is a genuine engineering effort, but the team never called it a production system and never demonstrated a full restore. No comparable named case exists for Microsoft 365 or Salesforce. The reason isn't lack of ambition; it's that Microsoft Graph throttles requests with 429 errors, Salesforce orgs hit API limits near 100,000 requests a day, and a Salesforce restore means rebuilding object relationships and metadata, not just re-uploading records. Google Vault, the platform's own retention tool, is explicitly documented as not a backup mechanism. Building only makes sense as an academic exercise or a narrow single-object export. It has not been shown to substitute for a tested restore across a whole tenant.
When buying makes sense
Buy this without much deliberation; the price makes it an easy call. Microsoft 365 Backup, Microsoft's own native offering, provides 10-minute recovery points across Exchange, SharePoint, and OneDrive at $0.15 per gigabyte per month with restores included at no extra charge, and its Backup Storage APIs let partners build additional tooling on top of that engine. Third-party vendors price similarly low: Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365 runs roughly $2.63-$7 per user per month, and Spanning is reported near $48 per user per year. What you're buying isn't storage, it's engineering against Microsoft Graph's throttling, Salesforce's API request limits, and the relationship and metadata rebuilding a real restore requires, work that no independent team has published a finished version of. Pick the vendor whose coverage matrix and restore fidelity match your actual tenants, and run a real restore test before you sign rather than trusting the sales deck.
The desk read
Build-versus-buy analysis for SaaS Backup (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace & Salesforce) is being written. In the meantime, the framework that drives every B4 call is on the B4 Index page.
Frequently asked
What is SaaS backup for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce?
SaaS backup protects Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce data from deletion and ransomware that native retention tools aren't built to recover from. Microsoft's own native Backup product prices at $0.15 per gigabyte per month, and third-party tools run a few dollars per user monthly.
Isn't native retention (like Google Vault) already a backup?
No. Google's own documentation is explicit that Vault is not a backup mechanism; it's an e-discovery and retention tool. Microsoft 365's native Backup product is closer to a real backup, with 10-minute recovery points, but third-party coverage still adds Google Workspace and Salesforce, which Microsoft's own tool doesn't touch.
Has anyone actually built a working self-hosted alternative?
Only partially. SoftwareMill open-sourced a Google Drive backup tool using the Drive API and Admin SDK, but never demonstrated a full production restore, and no comparable effort exists for Microsoft 365 or Salesforce. API throttling and metadata rebuilding make this a harder problem than it looks.
How much does SaaS backup typically cost?
Microsoft's native 365 Backup runs $0.15 per gigabyte per month with free restores. Third-party tools like Veeam price around $2.63-$7 per user per month for Microsoft 365, with Own, AvePoint, and Keepit quoting separately for broader coverage.
What are the main SaaS backup vendors?
Representative vendors include AvePoint Cloud Backup, Keepit, Own Recover, Veeam Backup for Microsoft 365. B4 Pro includes the category score and the full vendor list.