Email archiving vs backup: what is the difference?

The short answer

Backup is for recovery. It takes point-in-time copies of mailboxes, files and sites so you can put things back after accidental deletion, corruption, ransomware or a bad migration.

Archiving is for record keeping. It captures each message as it flows through the mail system, keeps it in storage that cannot be altered, applies retention rules, and lets authorised people search, review and hold mail for disputes, audits and requests.

The two overlap: an archive can restore a message, and a backup holds old mail. But each is weak at the other's main job. A backup is not designed to prove a message has not been altered or to run a legal search across every mailbox; an archive is not designed to roll back a whole OneDrive or SharePoint site.

Side-by-side comparison

The point that most often matters is the third row. If a message arrives and is deleted before the next scheduled backup, a backup can miss it entirely. Journaling copies the message as it is delivered, so the archive has it regardless of what the user does next. Our page on email journaling explains the mechanism.

How NinjaOne handles both

NinjaOne SaaS Backup, formerly Dropsuite, is sold in per-user bundles. The Standard bundle is a backup service. The Archiver bundles add an email archive on top and include everything in Standard, so you do not need to buy backup and archiving separately. NinjaOne's own "Getting started with Archiver" documentation lists what Archiver changes:

The bundles, including the options with Microsoft Entra ID backup, are compared on NinjaOne SaaS Backup Standard vs Archiver bundles, and the archive itself on NinjaOne Archiver. For the backup service on its own, see NinjaOne SaaS Backup on our Cloud Security site, and for licensing detail, Dropsuite on Software Licensing UK.

When backup alone may be enough

Not every organisation needs an archive. Backup on its own may be a reasonable choice if:

• You have no sector record-keeping rules for communications
• Your retention needs are short and the same for everyone
• You rarely face disputes, investigations or subject access requests that depend on email
• Leavers' mail is reviewed and dealt with before their accounts are removed

An archive earns its place when any of these change: an FCA-regulated activity that brings SYSC 10A record keeping into scope, a dispute where you need to prove what was sent, a subject access request that reaches into old mail, or a growing list of former employees' mailboxes you are keeping licences for. Because NinjaOne's Archiver bundles include backup, adding an archive later means moving to a larger bundle rather than adding a second product. Note that NinjaOne's documentation says that once Archiver is enabled for an organisation, it cannot be reverted to the regular SaaS Backup service.

Where Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace retention fit

Neither Microsoft nor Google treats its recycle bins as a backup, and their retention tools are a third thing again.

Microsoft recommends using Microsoft 365 retention to manage data in place where possible, and Microsoft Purview adds retention policies, eDiscovery and holds inside the tenant. Google Vault offers retention, holds and search for Google Workspace, though Google states that "Vault isn't a data archive". These tools keep data inside the service they protect and depend on the right licences staying in place.

A separate archive and a separate backup both hold their copy outside the tenant. Our pages on Office 365 email archiving and Google Vault vs a separate archive compare the native tools fairly. For the backup question, see Microsoft 365 backup on our Cloud Security site.

A worked example

Imagine a sales manager receives an email from a supplier agreeing a change to delivery terms, replies to accept, then tidies their inbox and deletes the thread the same afternoon. Months later the supplier disputes the change.

With backup only, whether you still have the thread depends on timing. If the messages arrived and were deleted between two scheduled backups, they may not be in any backup. If they were captured, IT can restore them to the mailbox, but there is nothing to show the copy is unaltered, and finding the thread means knowing which mailbox and roughly when.

With an archive, journaling copied both messages as they passed through the mail system. A reviewer searches by the supplier's domain and a date range across every mailbox, finds the exchange, tags it, places the relevant mail on legal hold and exports it, with the audit log recording each step.

With both, as in a NinjaOne Archiver bundle, you have the archive for proof and discovery and the backup for restoring mailboxes, files and sites when something goes wrong.

Questions to decide what you need

• Do any rules require you to keep certain email for a fixed period, unaltered?
• Would you need to prove a message was sent, and that the copy you produce has not been changed?
• How often do you search mail for disputes, HR matters or subject access requests?
• Do you keep licences for leavers just to hold on to their mail?
• Who should be able to search all mail, and who should not?
• If a user deleted a whole folder today, how would you get it back?

If the answers point to both, an Archiver bundle covers both under one licence. If you are not sure, contact us and we will talk it through. Pricing is always by quote.