We integrate with public cloud storage providers. If you want your data protected off-site, in secure cloud storage, then you need to select a cloud storage provider and would need to pay for the storage. If you're concerned about cost, using a provider like Wasabi or Backblaze B2 would provide cloud storage at $5-6 / TB per month. If you only want local backups, then you can register a File System account and back up to a NAS or external hard drive at no additional cost. But we recommend cloud storage for most use cases to ensure your data is protected off-site.

Thank you for your reply. So, I've got it right, but then there is a question. Why do I need CloudBerry when most of public storage providers provide means for storing your data already. I mean even if I go with paid backup providers and sign up with iDrive or Carbonite, it will be probably even cheaper than getting a storage account (with corresponding storage) on Azure or Amazon or Google. I checked a few pricing plans for providers that listed in your wizard interface and they are quite pricey, so the idea of having it for free became a bit questionable. In other words, you provide only interface for storing and restoring data, is it correct?

That's correct. Cost depends entirely on how much data you have. By integrating with public cloud storage, you get to own your own cloud storage and are not bound by a persistent subscription to a service. You also get choice, which is great for our international customer base so they can select a cloud storage provider in their region without the need, for example, to send data from the EU to the US. And they get a variety of pricing models and cloud storage options, like storage classes in Amazon's AWS. Data is compressed and only file changes are backed up after the initial backup. If you had less than 1 TB of compressed backup data, your cost would be $6 / month with Wasabi, as an example.

To your other point. Cloud storage is not backup in of itself. Copies of data are subject to deletion and removal by the cloud provider if you use a product like OneDrive, which is only copies of production data. If you get hit by ransomware, the cloud would likely delete all the data as it's deleted locally, renamed, and you'd end up with a copy of ransomware encrypted files in cloud storage. Our product is true backup. You can keep any number of versions of your data and for as long as you need. If you're working on files actively for a job and want to keep 10 copies of your data, you can do that, and do so for 180 days while retaining the oldest copy so it can be restored any time past your retention period. Plus, all the data is encrypted using AES-256 encryption to prevent someone from getting into your cloud account and accessing your data.

Keep in mind we work with Managed Service Providers and internal IT teams with our managed backup product. We also work with a lot of small businesses and consumers with the paid CloudBerry Backup products - and these customers need true backup.

It may not be a good fit for you, but since there's a free version, you can play around with it, ask questions here, and see if it meets your requirements for what you need.

You wrote "it said that I need a Storage Account"

To backup your files to a local disk on your computer, choose File System. Then you do only have to name the account and point it to the location were you want to store the backup.

For cloud backups, yes then you need to create an account for your preferred cloud provider.

The naming is a bit confusing since the is no account with name and password one need to create when storing the backups locally.