This is a guest post by Peter Zaborszky, who runs BestBackups.com. The website has reviewed over 50 backup providers, so he has a lot of experience in the backup industry.
There are approximately 35.1m iPhones currently in use in the US, and even more worldwide. Thanks to Steve Jobs these phones have become such an integral part of our lives that we have our calendars on them, photos, emails, everything important. The problem is if the iPhone fails, or you lose it, you could lose a bunch of photos or contacts that aren’t necessarily synced. My sister only synced her phone once a year with her PC, so she had a lot of data at risk.
Apple did initially try some sort of cloud backup system with MobileMe and TimeMachine on the Macs, but they weren’t as popular as they expected. MobileMe cost quite a bit of money, and wasn’t easy to use.
A very smart move by Apple was to create iCloud, which automatically backs up almost everything on your phone. But there is a problem, iCloud only gives you 5GB free, and after that the prices are a bit expensive. $20 a year for 15GB is ok, but there are much better options out there when you look for them. The online backups industry has grown to about 50 providers now, all competing for storing your data, which has bought the prices down quite a bit.
Another reason you might want to back up somewhere else, is what if you don’t actually want Apple to have access to all of your data? We’ve already found out they track the location of your iPhone constantly, what will they do with your data?
Here’s a list of the five best providers of online backup services for your iPhone. These companies are specialist backup companies, with great prices.
Best iCloud Alternatives to Backup Your iPhone and iPad Data
1. JustCloud
Let’s start off with a bang, JustCloud actually offer unlimited space! You can get unlimited space for $6.95 per month, which is a great price. This is if you pay for 2 years upfront. If you don’t want that, it is still only $9.95 if you pay monthly. Their software is easy to use, and they have good customer service as well (reply within 24 hours).
That price includes backing up your PC, and your phone. In fact you can back up as many devices as you want.
2. SugarSync
While there is no unlimited space, their per GB price is great. You can also back up as many devices here as you want. they also offer a file sharing option, which makes it easy to send any files you want to other users.
Also Check : Top 5 Online Backup Services to Protect Your Data and Recover Files
3. SOS Online Backup
Boasting online backups for $18 per device, SOS Online Backup also has a great price, their minimum storage space if 50GB and they go up to 250GB. While their software is not perfect, it has the features you could want. As a bonus, they also offer backups of your entire Facebook profile, and they are the only service that offer this.
4. Mozy
One of the oldest companies around, Mozy's prices are not the lowest but they are still competitive. Their software is the simplest we’ve seen ever, although it is 90MB for some reason.
5. iBackup
While their website and software are not the most user friendly, they offer a solid service with plenty of the features you’d want, including iOS backups.