Backups used to be the safety net that made ransomware survivable. Attackers know that, so they now go after the backups first: deleting snapshots, wiping repositories, encrypting backup servers and stealing admin credentials to change retention settings. If they succeed, the choice narrows to paying or rebuilding from nothing. Automated and AI-assisted intrusion tooling has shortened the time between initial access and that backup attack, which leaves less room to notice.
Immutable and air-gapped backup is the answer. Immutable storage cannot be changed or deleted until a retention period ends, even by an administrator with valid credentials. Air gaps, logical or physical, keep a copy out of reach of the production network. The best platforms add malware scanning of backup data, clean recovery point identification and orchestrated restores, because a backup you cannot restore quickly and cleanly is only half a solution.
We compared these ten immutable backup and ransomware-proof recovery providers on how they protect backup data, how they find a clean restore point and how fast they bring systems back. If you are building a wider plan, our ransomware attack response guide covers what to do when recovery starts.
| Company | Headquarters | Best For | Core Services |
| Veeam | Kirkland, USA | Mixed estates that want flexible immutable targets | Immutable backup, malware scanning, Veeam Vault, Coveware response |
| Rubrik | Palo Alto, USA | Enterprises that want pre-calculated clean recovery points | Air-gapped immutable backup, clean recovery, identity rebuild |
| Cohesity | Santa Clara, USA | Large organizations recovering hundreds of VMs at once | Immutable snapshots, DataLock, FortKnox vaulting, instant recovery |
| Commvault | Tinton Falls, USA | Teams that want an isolated cleanroom for recovery | Air-gapped immutable backup, Cleanroom Recovery, recovery validation |
| Druva | Santa Clara, USA | Organizations that want fully managed SaaS backup | Air-gapped immutable SaaS backup, Safe Mode, managed DDR |
| ExaGrid | Marlborough, USA | On-premises backup storage with a non-network-facing tier | Tiered backup storage, Retention Time-Lock, delayed deletes |
| Object First | Denver, USA | Veeam users that want an on-premises immutable appliance | Ootbi immutable backup storage for Veeam |
| Acronis | Schaffhausen, Switzerland | SMBs and MSPs that want backup and security in one agent | Immutable backup, anti-ransomware, disaster recovery |
| Arcserve | Eden Prairie, USA | Mid-sized organizations needing immutable storage on hardware or VM | Immutable storage, backup, recovery validation |
| HYCU | Boston, USA | Organizations protecting many SaaS applications | SaaS and cloud backup, R-Shield, recoverability validation |
Veeam, which moved its headquarters to Kirkland, Washington in 2024, is one of the most widely deployed backup platforms in the world. Its Zero Trust Resilience approach pairs immutable-by-design protection with automated malware scanning, so recovery points are checked before data comes back. Veeam Vault provides fully managed cloud storage for offsite backup, cloud disaster recovery and clean rooms, giving teams an offsite immutable copy without running the storage themselves.
Veeam stands out for what surrounds the backup. It acquired Coveware, the ransomware response and negotiation specialist, so customers have a route to extortion response and recovery expertise from the same vendor. Its Cyber Secure Program focuses on hardening the backup environment before an attack and confirming recovery afterward, with a warranty attached. Veeam is best for organizations with mixed physical, virtual and cloud workloads that want flexibility in where immutable copies live.
Rubrik, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, built its platform around the idea that backup is a security control. Its data protection product delivers air-gapped, immutable backups that attackers cannot encrypt or delete, and the wider platform adds threat detection and data security on top of the backup data.
The distinguishing feature is preparation. Rubrik pre-calculates clean recovery points before an attack happens, so teams do not spend the first days of an incident testing snapshot after snapshot to find one free of malware. It can also rebuild applications and identity providers automatically, which matters because a compromised Active Directory or IdP often blocks everything else. Rubrik’s stated goal is restoring a minimum viable business in minutes rather than weeks. It suits enterprises that want security and backup teams working from one platform.
Cohesity, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, completed its acquisition of Veritas Technologies in December 2024, bringing two large data protection customer bases together. Its backup snapshots can be made immutable, and DataLock applies WORM protection so backup data cannot be changed or deleted. Zero Trust controls such as multifactor authentication, role-based access and quorum approval stop a single compromised admin from destroying data.
For isolation, FortKnox provides SaaS-based cyber vaulting of backup copies. On the recovery side, Cohesity can instantly restore hundreds of VMs, NAS datasets and databases to a chosen point in time using fully hydrated snapshots, and RecoveryAgent automates recovery blueprints that teams build and test in advance. Anomaly detection and threat scanning help pick clean data, and the Cohesity CERT team offers incident response support. It is a strong fit for large organizations with heavy virtual and file workloads.
Commvault, headquartered in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, protects backups with multi-layered zero-trust access controls and air-gapped, immutable storage, including isolated cloud instances that keep copies away from malware and infected hardware. Its Isolated Recovery Environment is a persistent, hardened, air-gapped environment that holds immutable copies of critical data.
Commvault Cleanroom Recovery is the standout. It provides a separate cloud environment for forensic analysis, testing and restoration, apart from the production network, so teams can verify systems are clean before bringing them back. It can restore systems and applications from a predefined, validated image, runs post-recovery threat hunting, and orchestrates application recovery validation. Teams can also test cyber recovery plans without buying dedicated infrastructure. Commvault suits regulated organizations that must prove recovery works, not just claim it.
Druva, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, delivers backup as a cloud-native, fully managed SaaS platform, so there is no backup infrastructure for attackers to target on your network. Its zero-trust architecture uses a physical air gap and stores backups in immutable storage that cannot be modified or deleted. Safe Mode restricts platform access during an incident, pausing scheduled backups and blocking administrators from deleting data or running restores.
Druva also helps find clean data. Threat hunting searches historical backup metadata for indicators of compromise, and Recovery Intelligence shows snapshot health and anomalies to identify the best recovery point. Accelerated Ransomware Recovery automates large-scale restores, and a Managed Data Detection and Response service watches backup environments around the clock. Druva backs this with a Data Resiliency Guarantee of up to $10M. It is best for organizations that want strong immutability without running backup hardware.
ExaGrid, headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, makes tiered backup storage appliances that work with existing backup applications. Each system has a disk-cache Landing Zone that holds the most recent backups for fast restores and VM boots, and a separate repository tier that is not network-facing, creating what ExaGrid calls a tiered air gap.
Retention Time-Lock is the ransomware feature that matters. It combines delayed deletes with immutable deduplicated objects, so if an attacker issues delete commands, the data in the repository tier stays intact for a set period. After an attack, teams can restore or boot VMs directly from ExaGrid while all retained backups remain available. ExaGrid is a good fit for organizations that already run Veeam, Commvault or similar software and want a hardened on-premises storage target.
Object First, with its office in Denver, Colorado, makes one product: Ootbi, an on-premises backup storage appliance built specifically for Veeam. The 2U model can be racked and ingesting backups in about 15 minutes, and up to four nodes can be clustered with automatic scaling and load balancing. A smaller Ootbi Mini desktop model serves smaller sites.
Object First calls its approach absolute immutability. The storage enforces zero access, so nobody can alter or delete backup data, even with admin credentials. That removes the most common way attackers get around immutability: stealing an admin account and changing settings. Because the appliance is purpose-built, there is little to configure or get wrong. It suits Veeam customers, especially mid-sized organizations without dedicated storage engineers, who want an immutable on-premises target that is simple to deploy.
Acronis, headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, combines backup, disaster recovery and endpoint security in Acronis Cyber Protect. Immutable backup is part of its cyber resilient backup for physical, virtual, cloud and mobile workloads, and its security layer adds AI-based ransomware protection, anti-malware and exploit prevention.
Acronis focuses on making sure you restore clean data. Backups stored in Acronis Cloud can be scanned for malware, and cloud replicas are checked for vulnerabilities and malware before being restored to the primary site. Backup validation uses checksums plus post-boot screenshot or heartbeat checks, and disaster recovery supports failover to safe restore points with runbooks. Acronis is widely used by MSPs, and it suits small and mid-sized businesses that want backup and security from one agent and one console.
Arcserve, headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, offers data protection and cyber resilience for mid-sized organizations. Customers can add immutable storage on dedicated hardware or as a virtual machine, which gives flexibility for sites that want a physical appliance and for teams that would rather run it on existing infrastructure.
Arcserve frames its offering around three steps: threat prevention, detection and ransomware recovery. Automated recovery validation checks that backups can actually be restored, which addresses a common failure where teams discover corrupted backups only during an incident. Arcserve is a practical option for mid-sized businesses, public sector bodies and channel partners that want immutable backup without enterprise-level complexity or pricing.
HYCU, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, focuses on the workloads many backup tools miss: SaaS applications. It protects systems of record such as Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Jira, Okta, GitHub, Box, Atlassian Cloud and Google Workspace, keeping them backed up, versioned and restorable. HYCU says it serves customers in 78 countries.
Its R-Shield capability aims to stop threats before they reach the backup estate and continuously validates recoverability, and HYCU promises recovery of any workload, anywhere, without scripts or vendor calls. A ransomware readiness calculator helps teams estimate exposure. HYCU is best for organizations whose critical data now lives in dozens of SaaS tools, where an attacker with a stolen identity could delete records that no on-premises backup ever saw. Confirm immutability options for each target during evaluation.
Immutability is now a baseline feature. The differences lie in how it is enforced and how fast you can recover.
Ask exactly how immutability is enforced. Look for compliance-mode locks, zero-access storage, quorum approval for destructive changes and delayed deletes. If a single admin can shorten retention, the backups are not truly ransomware-proof.
Follow the 3-2-1-1 pattern: three copies, two media types, one offsite and one immutable or air-gapped. SaaS vaults, cloud object lock and non-network-facing tiers all qualify. Keep backup credentials separate from your main identity provider.
Attackers often sit in networks for weeks before encrypting. Restoring the latest snapshot can bring the malware back. Prefer platforms that scan backups, flag anomalies and recommend clean recovery points.
Restoring one VM in a demo proves little. Run full recovery tests, including identity systems, and measure how long they take. Isolated recovery environments make this easier. Insurers increasingly ask for this evidence, as do frameworks covered in our small business cybersecurity checklist.
Backup vendors vary in how much incident support they provide. Some include response teams or warranties; others leave it to you. Line up an incident response company in advance and confirm it knows your backup platform.
Ransomware-proof recovery comes down to backups attackers cannot touch and a fast path to clean data. Veeam, Rubrik, Cohesity and Commvault give enterprises immutable storage plus clean recovery tooling, Druva removes infrastructure entirely with managed SaaS, ExaGrid and Object First harden on-premises targets, Acronis and Arcserve serve smaller teams and MSPs, and HYCU covers the SaaS apps others overlook. Whichever you choose, test a full restore before you need one.