Ultimate Guide to Salesforce Backup Solutions
In the world of Salesforce, ‘backup’ is just as imperative as other systems – especially because a CRM is a living, breathing system with tens, hundreds, or even thousands of users adding records or changing fields every minute of every day. Having a robust Salesforce backup solution in place is essential.
Let’s take a look at the difference between data and metadata backup, as well as the best native and third-party solutions available.
Why Do I Need a Salesforce Backup Solution?
While the possibility of Salesforce losing your data exists, this is not the primary reason you need a Salesforce Backup solution. The most likely cause of losing data will come from user error and could be for one of the following reasons:
- Mass Data Import: With tools such as the Data Loader, an admin can modify thousands of records in a few seconds. If a mistake has been made, records and field values can be wiped off the CRM forever.
- Rogue Automation: Deploying a buggy Apex Trigger or Flow that overwrites data could mean mass data loss or corruption.
- User Error: General mistakes from an admin or a user are entirely possible at any time.
Data vs. Metadata
When you think of a Salesforce Backup solution, you are probably thinking of backing up Salesforce records, but it’s also important to backup your metadata.
Metadata is the information about your configuration in Salesforce. This could include features such as custom fields, page layouts, Apex triggers, or any other part of Salesforce that you have customized.
Just as it makes your bones chill thinking about mass deleting thousands of records, can you imagine overwriting a complex Apex trigger with no backup in place?
Metadata backups are just as important!
Native Salesforce Backup Solutions
Salesforce provides numerous native tools that can be used to back up your data. Most of these tools are manual and will only export your data – they will not restore in the event of data loss.
The exception to this is Salesforce’s Backup native tool, which was made generally available in August 2023.
Data Backup
Backup & Restore: Salesforce’s most comprehensive backup solution. Backup & Restore is a paid add-on, and will automatically backup, as well as restore your data in the event of data loss.
Data Export Service: Allows you to perform a manual or scheduled backup of your data via the Salesforce UI. This will organize your data into a set of CSV files
Data Loader: This allows you to export data using the Data Loader. This option requires more manual steps but does give you more control over the data you are exporting.
Report Export: A simple way to export data out of Salesforce using the reports interface.
Metadata Backup
Change Sets: You can use Change Sets to copy metadata from a Salesforce org to another, such as from production to a sandbox or developer org.
Sandbox Refresh: By refreshing a sandbox, you are essentially taking a fresh copy of your production org.
Force.com Migration Tool: A more advanced tool that can be used with a command line interface to migrate changes from one org to another.
Third-Party Salesforce Backup Solutions
If Salesforce offers native solutions, why might you need a third-party solution?
Salesforce AppExchange partners have been building their solutions long before Salesforce announced their Backup & Restore product at the end of 2021. This means that the third-party solutions below are arguably much more comprehensive, and in most cases will back up data and metadata.
1. OwnBackup
The market leader when it comes to Salesforce Backup. OwnBackup has over 4,000+ customers and provides comprehensive backup and recovery solutions.
2. Spanning Backup
Spanning is another established player in the Salesforce Backup space. They’ve been around since 2010, have a comprehensive platform, and also provide backup for GSuite & Microsoft 365.
3. Gearset
Gearset is one of the leading DevOps platforms for Salesforce. They also have a comprehensive platform for data and metadata backup.
4. AutoRABIT
AutoRABIT’s Salesforce DevOps platform includes a data protection tool called Vault that provides off-platform backup and recovery for Salesforce data and metadata structures.
5. Odaseva
Odaseva come from a slightly different angle, selling themselves as an “Enterprise-proven Salesforce data management” solution. This includes data backup, as well as data privacy and compliance tools.
6. CloudAlly
CloudAlly is a long-standing SaaS Backup company that provides services for many other platforms, including Salesforce.
6. AvePoint
AvePoint are a long-standing enterprise grade Backup provider that has over 9 million+ users across Salesforce, Google, Azure & Microsoft 365.
7. Veeam
A global leader in backup is now available for Salesforce. Veeam Backup for Salesforce gives you the power to control where your data is stored. On-premises, in AWS, Azure, and more. Fast, flexible recovery for data, files, and metadata.
8. Flosum
Flosum Platform: Salesforce DevOps Leader with seamless Security orchestration and Data Backup. Offers a comprehensive platform for data and metadata backup, keeping control in your hands.
Which Solution Do I Pick?
I hope this article leaves you feeling more confident about the Salesforce Backup space before reading it, but it still may leave you wondering, which solution is right for my company?
The answer is going to completely depend on your unique situation. Questions to ask yourself include:
- How much does the business depend on Salesforce?
- What would the restore process be in the event of data/metadata loss?
- How long does this process take and what would the impact be to the business?
- How many Salesforce deployments are you performing on a monthly basis? Deployments will always have risk associated for data/metadata loss to occur. The more deployments you are carrying out, the higher the risk.
The native Salesforce Backup solutions will be suitable for some businesses. But I would recommend checking out some of the paid solutions available – in some cases they are a lot more comprehensive.
infocadmandode
You have forgotten to mention “sfApex” 😉
darrel
You are missing sfApex/ Druva’s backup solution. We think it’s great!
Jude
@darrel
Is sfApex as costly as OwnBackup?
darrel
Jude, I am not sure how OwnBackup pricing works, but I have found sfApex to be priced relatively competitively.
Christopher Hickman
Missing Grax! https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000FMtthUAD
Christopher Hickman
Also DBSync https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N300000016a1REAQ
Ram Majji
NEC backup for salesforce
Bryant Bell
This is great, but who backs up and restores the Marketing Cloud?
Yogesh Vig
Spanning Backup for Salesforce currently supports Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and apps built 100% on Force.com.
However, Spanning will back up any data that Marketing Cloud outputs into Salesforce, such as marketing campaigns, email activity, etc.
Michael
You also missed Skyvia Backup for Salesforce (https://skyvia.com/backup/salesforce-backup). Using it, you can configure Salesforce backup in just a couple of minutes in a convenient GUI and restore data at any time.
Btw, it also supports marketing cloud.
Mukesh
what charges for this as I didn’t find or website
Michael
It starts from the free tier (up to 1 Gb of storage and limited functionality). The paid tier starts from $7 per month for 20 Gb of storage and all functionality included. The charge is not for users, but for storage space only. You can read here in detail – https://skyvia.com/pricing/
Matt
Salesforce announced earlier this year they were adding another option for native backup solution.
Do you have a point of view on this being a viable option?
Any access to features/constraints of this product?
Do you know if data is available external to Salesforce, eg. in the instance Salesforce has an extended outage I can access my data via another application?
Lucy Mazalon
Hi Matt, not yet. We will update this post once we hear, and will answer the questions you’ve raised as best as possible.
Kim
Here you go: https://www.salesforce.com/products/platform/solutions/data-security/backup-restore-data-recovery/
Martin
Is there a specific solution you’d recommend for Marketing Cloud or are they all cross-cloud compatible?
Tom
I noticed that in these guides authors don’t list some apps from the same category. For example, in the backup category, there are really good apps that can easily compete with the listed ones. The same for other categories. Is there a reason for this?
Christine Marshall
Hi Tom,
Do you have any in mind? Leave a comment! There are quite a lot of Apps that do the same thing or similar so we can’t list them all. But we’d love to hear of any good ones you think should be included.
Prashant
Is there a Matrix grid listing key features and comparing these platforms for better analysis. I am sure each solution has it’s own unique feature but when it comes to viable product, one can quickly compare and decide. This comparison should certainly include cost metrics as well.
Mari Vänttinen-Kari
Hi!
ref. Emails to Cases in Salesforce Service Cloud
What is your recommendation for backupping incoming emails ie. “email-to-Salesforce-cases” emails?
There is a need to store the emails (email discussions) for round two years.
Preferrably those archived emails (Cases) should still be accessible simply via Salesforce.
All tips would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Brg,
Enfo/Mari
David
You have missed on Archive on Cloud, https://www.archiveon.cloud/
I think It’s a wonderful tool.
Gaurav
Hi Ben! Very thoughtfully written article. I think this blog covers everything for a complete understanding of Salesforce backup solutions.
biswajit
Hi Ben! Very impressive written article. I think this blog covers everything for a complete understanding of Salesforce backup solutions. here is the wonderful tool. https://www.archiveon.cloud/
Jeff
You also forgot to add https://sesamesoftware.com/ … Which has been around since Salesforce started and can restore your data in the event of data loss. One of the best in this space is Relational Junction from Sesame Software.
Cesar
Another great tool in the market is AvePoint’s Cloud Backup for Salesforce: https://www.avepoint.com/products/cloud/backup/salesforce
AvePoint discusses the importance of Salesforce metadata data recovery in this post as well: https://www.salesforceben.com/demystifying-metadata-backup/
John
What about Metallic SF Backup? Does anyone have any experience with them?
Rightontechnology
Thank you for sharing this informative topic.
Dhanunjaya
Thank You for this wonderful and much required information top cloud backup solutions companies in india
Giuseppe Rogahn
There are many out there you could choose from, but my experience says N2WS hands down. They are more relevant to AWS backup and disaster recovery, so if it works for you, you should definitely check them out. What’s good about them is that they use incremental-forever sort of technology.
Wenetech
Hi Ben! Very thoughtfully written article. I think your blog covers everything in terms of Salesforce backup solutions. Thanks for this wonderful and much needed information.
Gustavo
I believe we are missing the Flosum Data Backup & Restore, also listed on the AppExchange.
Alison Connor
I would also like to add Veeam’s one Backup for Salesforce on the App Exchange https://appexchange.salesforce.com/listingDetail?listingId=a0N3u00000PuyFpEAJ&tab=e
Righton Technologies LLC
Thank you for you valuable information.
TeraDrive Data Recovery
Information regarding Salesforce data backup, an important part of data management and security, is provided in this blog post. This page explains all you need to know about backing up, from the various options available to you to the advantages of each. The piece is well-written and informative, and it will help Salesforce users who are concerned about their data security.