Datto vs NAKIVO: Complete Comparison 2026

An in-depth comparison of features, pricing, and user experience to help you make the right choice.

Datto

8.8(3,400 reviews)

MSP-focused business continuity and disaster recovery platform with integrated backup appliances and instant cloud virtualization.

8.0(1,800 reviews)

VM backup and disaster recovery solution for VMware, Hyper-V, and Nutanix with affordable licensing and a clean, fast management interface.

Aspect	Datto	NAKIVO
Best For	MSPs providing managed BDR services who need reliable instant recovery for small business clients	Mid-market companies running VMware or Hyper-V that find Veeam too expensive for their VM count
Pricing Model	Subscription	Subscription
Starting Price	$100/mo	$229/mo
Deployment	hybrid	on premise, cloud, hybrid
Platforms	WEB, WINDOWS, LINUX	WEB, WINDOWS, LINUX
Rating	8.8/10	8.0/10

Instant virtualization on local appliance or Datto cloud gets servers back online in minutes, not hours
Inverse Chain Technology keeps the latest backup as a complete image—fastest possible restore of the most recent state
Screenshot verification automatically proves every backup is bootable with daily OS-level confirmation
Purpose-built for the MSP channel with multi-tenant management, automated billing, and partner support
Cloud replication to Datto-owned infrastructure provides a true offsite safety net without third-party dependencies

Hardware appliance costs ($2,500+) plus monthly cloud fees make it significantly more expensive than software-only solutions
Kaseya ownership creates long-term pricing uncertainty—MSPs worry about future price increases after the acquisition
Vendor lock-in is real: proprietary appliances and cloud infrastructure make migration to alternatives painful
Not designed for direct enterprise use—the entire model assumes an MSP intermediary managing the deployment
Cloud virtualization bandwidth depends on client internet speed, which can limit RTO for large environments

Perpetual licensing at $229-599/socket is 30-40% cheaper than Veeam over a 3-year period
Web interface is noticeably faster and cleaner — creating backup jobs takes 3-4 clicks
Runs as a virtual appliance or on NAS devices eliminating the need for a dedicated backup server
Screenshot verification automatically tests backups by booting VMs and capturing proof of recovery
Instant VM recovery boots production VMs directly from backup storage with minimal downtime

No Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or any SaaS application backup capabilities
Database-level granularity is limited — full VM restore only, no single-table recovery for Oracle or SQL
No built-in ransomware-specific features like immutable repositories or malware scanning
Partner and consultant ecosystem is much smaller than Veeam making support harder to find
Physical server backup works but is less mature and battle-tested than the VM backup features

Product	Pricing Model	Starting Price
Datto	subscription	$100/mo
NAKIVO	subscription	$229/mo

Choose Datto if...

MSPs providing managed BDR services who need reliable instant recovery for small business clients

Choose NAKIVO if...

Mid-market companies running VMware or Hyper-V that find Veeam too expensive for their VM count

Explore more alternatives or read in-depth reviews to make your decision.