NAS or cloud backup for a small business?
What a NAS does well, where cloud backup wins, and why most businesses end up using both.
Updated 26 Oct 2026
Every business needs a copy of its data that survives a failed disk, a deleted folder or ransomware. The two common answers are a NAS (network storage in your office) and cloud backup. They solve different problems.
What a NAS is good at
- Fast restores. Copying files back over the office network is much faster than downloading them from the internet.
- Shared files. A NAS doubles as the office file server, with user permissions.
- One-time cost. You buy the box and the drives; there is no per-gigabyte monthly fee.
- Snapshots. Most business NAS models can take read-only snapshots, which help recover from ransomware.
Where cloud backup wins
- Off-site. Fire, theft or flooding in the office does not touch the cloud copy.
- No hardware to look after.
- Laptops outside the office can back up from anywhere.
The usual answer: both
The widely used 3-2-1 rule says: keep 3 copies of your data, on 2 different kinds of storage, with 1 copy off-site. A NAS in the office plus a cloud copy of the NAS covers all three. Many NAS brands can send their backups to cloud storage directly.
Sizing a NAS
Add up the data you have today, allow for growth over three to five years, then allow for the space RAID uses for protection. With RAID 5 or RAID 6 you lose one or two drives' worth of space. The NAS sizing tool on this site does this sum for you and suggests models.
What to ask sellers
- Usable capacity after RAID, not raw capacity
- Drive type: NAS-grade drives, not desktop drives
- Snapshot and ransomware protection features
- Warranty on the box and on the drives
- Whether they will set up backups and test a restore