Cloud vs On-Prem Backup for Mid-Market Companies: What’s Right for You?

In today’s landscape of rising cyber threats, evolving compliance needs, and growing data volumes, choosing the right backup strategy isn’t just a technical decision. It is a way to protect the trust your business relies on every day.

Mid-market companies often sit at a crossroads between enterprise-scale requirements and SMB-level resources. At CyberFortress, we work closely with organizations in this space and understand that every decision needs to balance resilience, cost, and simplicity.

So how do you choose between cloud and on-premises backup? Let’s walk through the facts.

Cloud Backup: Gaining Momentum for Good Reason

Recent data from Gartner and IDC shows a significant shift toward cloud-based backup. By 2025, over 55% of organizations are expected to adopt a cloud-centric data protection strategy, with cloud backup spending projected to reach $13.8 billion by 2028.

Why the movement? For mid-sized businesses, cloud backup offers flexibility, ease of use, and strong built-in protection against disasters. There’s no hardware to manage, no complex upgrades to plan, and no need to worry about offsite rotation. It just works.

Benefits:

• Offsite by default, protecting against local threats like fire or ransomware
• Scales with your business, from 500 GB to 50 TB and beyond
• No upfront hardware costs or infrastructure headaches
• Accessible from anywhere, which is ideal for hybrid teams

Considerations:

• Ongoing subscription costs instead of one-time capital expense
• Dependence on a stable internet connection for backup and restore
• Some businesses prefer to keep sensitive data in-house due to compliance

On-Prem Backup: Familiar, but Demanding

On-premises backup solutions give IT teams full control over data, hardware, and process. They can be a good fit for businesses with in-house expertise and stable infrastructure needs.

But control comes with responsibility. On-prem backup systems require proactive management, ongoing hardware maintenance, and budget planning for replacement cycles.

Benefits:

• Full control of infrastructure and data storage
• Fast local recovery times, especially for large file restores
• No recurring cloud storage fees

Considerations:

• High upfront hardware and software costs
• Requires regular maintenance and monitoring
• At greater risk if disaster, theft, or ransomware hits your local environment

A 2025 analysis found that setting up an on-prem solution for 10 TB of data cost between $23,000 and $61,000 up front, with an additional $16,000 to $32,000 per year in maintenance. In comparison, cloud-based backup cost just $3,000 up front and around $3,600 annually—an 80% savings in ongoing operating costs.

What About Hybrid Backup?

Hybrid models—where you keep a local backup copy for speed and a cloud copy for resilience—are increasingly popular. They offer the best of both worlds and are especially useful in environments where both rapid recovery and offsite protection are essential.

Ransomware Recovery: A Real-World Stress Test

According to Sophos’ 2023 ransomware report, 97% of attacks now target backup systems. That means your backup strategy must be designed to withstand sabotage.

Cloud backups tend to offer built-in safeguards like geo-redundancy and immutability that make it harder for ransomware to succeed. A recent Veeam report found that only 57% of backup jobs and 61% of restore attempts were fully successful. Without regular testing and offsite protection, backups can fail when they’re needed most.

CyberFortress customers often ask us: “What if something goes wrong?” That’s exactly why we build in multiple layers of protection—both technological and human. You get automated, secure backups with the peace of mind that a real person is just a phone call away, 24/7.

So, What’s the Right Choice for You?

The right solution depends on your infrastructure, compliance needs, and how much control your team wants to maintain.

If you…	Consider
Have IT staff and want full control	On-Prem
Need scalability, simplicity, and resilience	Cloud
Want fast restores and offsite protection	Hybrid Backup

Whether you’re evaluating options for the first time or reassessing after a close call, CyberFortress is here to help you protect what matters most.

Not Sure Where to Start? Talk to a Backup Expert

Choosing the right backup strategy isn’t always straightforward—but you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Talk to a CyberFortress Expert and get guidance tailored to your infrastructure, your budget, and your business goals.

Because when it comes to backup, confidence starts with a conversation.