AI Visibility Rankings · Security

Backup software: AI search visibility ranking (2026)

By monitoraeo Last updated July 06, 2026 Refreshed every 30 days

How AI search engines rank backup software by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured monthly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Backup and recovery software used to protect endpoints, servers, SaaS data, and cloud workloads against loss, deletion, ransomware, and outages. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →

Avg visibility across category

Avg citation rate

20/20

Brands successfully audited

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When AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity answer questions about backup software, Acronis comes up first more often than any other brand, appearing in 37.5% of AI visibility and cited as a source in 50% of responses. IDrive and Backblaze follow as the next most-recommended options across the 20 brands tracked, but Acronis holds a clear lead in how consistently AI surfaces it.

The rankings reflect where AI engines pull their information from. The top cited domains include pcmag.com and pcworld.com (established review outlets), reddit.com and youtube.com (community and tutorial content), and acronis.com itself. When aggregator and review sites dominate the citation mix, brands with strong scores on those platforms, and active community discussion, naturally rank higher because AI treats that third-party coverage as authoritative signal.

For a buyer using this page, the practical takeaway is to cross-check a brand's position against its reviews on the specific use case you need, whether that is cloud backup, local backup, or disaster recovery. AI engines reward brands with recent, detailed third-party coverage in those subcategories. A brand ranked 5th overall may still be the top recommendation in the subcategory that matches your actual environment.

At a glance

Category leader Acronis 38% visibility · named in 3 of 8 AI answers

Most cited brand Acronis 50% citation rate · the AI's most-trusted source brand in backup software

Top cited domain youtube.com Referenced by AI across the backup software query set — the highest-leverage PR target in this category

Visibility spread 38pp Gap between top and bottom of the ranking · 15 brands at 0% (invisible to the AI)

What we observed in this category

Acronis leads the backup software category with a composite score of 41.2, more than 12 points clear of second-placed IDrive at 28.8. That gap is significant because the category average visibility sits at just 5.6 percent, meaning Acronis at 37.5 percent visibility is roughly six times the average. Half the 20 brands audited score zero on composite, which means AI responses are highly concentrated among a small cluster of names rather than distributed across the field.

Backblaze presents the clearest divergence between visibility and citation in this dataset. It matches IDrive on visibility at 25.0 percent but holds only a 12.5 percent citation rate versus IDrive's 37.5 percent, suggesting Backblaze is mentioned in AI answers but not trusted as a source. Commvault shows the inverse pattern at rank 5, appearing in 12.5 percent of responses yet holding a 0.0 percent citation rate, meaning it is named without its own content being cited.

Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in this audit, indicating the data reflects a single-engine picture rather than a cross-engine consensus. Among cited sources, youtube.com and reddit.com appear alongside pcmag.com, pcworld.com, and uk.pcmag.com, suggesting AI is drawing on a mix of user-generated discussion and established review outlets. The presence of acronis.com and idrive.com in the top cited sources list means both brands earn direct content citations rather than relying solely on third-party coverage.

Movers & shakers since last refresh

Biggest visibility risers

Acronis 12% → 38% · rank #1 → #1
+25pp
Backblaze 0% → 25% · rank #4 → #3
+25pp
IDrive 12% → 25% · rank #3 → #2
+12pp

Biggest visibility fallers

Veeam 25% → 12% · rank #2 → #4
-12pp

The ranking

#	Brand	Visibility	Citation	Top engine
1	Acronis acronis.com	38%	50%	Google AI Mode
Acronis leads with a 37.5 percent visibility rate and 50.0 percent citation rate, both well above the category averages of 5.6 percent and 6.9 percent respectively.
2	IDrive idrive.com	25%	38%	Google AI Mode
IDrive sits second with 25.0 percent visibility and a citation rate of 37.5 percent, making it the only brand besides Acronis with a citation rate above 20 percent.
3	Backblaze backblaze.com	25%	12%	Google AI Mode
Backblaze matches IDrive on visibility at 25.0 percent but its citation rate of 12.5 percent is 25 points lower, revealing a notable trust gap relative to its peer.
4	Veeam veeam.com	12%	12%	Google AI Mode
Veeam fell two rank positions and lost 12.5 visibility points since the prior period, despite a 12.5 point gain in citation rate, signalling a diverging trajectory.
5	Commvault commvault.com	12%	0%	Google AI Mode
Commvault appears in 12.5 percent of AI responses but holds a 0.0 percent citation rate, the lowest among any brand that registers a positive visibility score.
6	MSP360 msp360.com	0%	12%	Google AI Mode
7	Arcserve arcserve.com	0%	12%	Google AI Mode
8	Barracuda barracuda.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
9	NAKIVO nakivo.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
10	Druva druva.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
11	Carbonite carbonite.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
12	Rubrik rubrik.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
13	Cohesity cohesity.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
14	CrashPlan crashplan.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
15	N-able Cove Data Protection n-able.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
16	Datto datto.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
17	Veritas veritas.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
18	IBM Storage Protect ibm.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
19	Keepit keepit.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
20	Unitrends unitrends.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode

Sources AI engines trust in this category

Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on backup software, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.

youtube.comreddit.comacronis.compcworld.compcmag.comuk.pcmag.comidrive.comninjaone.com

How to read this ranking

Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.

Visibility = being named

A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer. More on visibility →

Citation rate = being trusted

Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence, different from being named. More on citation rate →

Top engine differs by brand

The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps. How AI engines pick sources →

Rankings move month to month

AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically. How AI search ranking works →

Get your own backup software brand audited

The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.

Audit your backup software brand → Browse all rankings Methodology →

Frequently asked about backup software AI visibility

Who leads AI visibility in backup software?

Acronis leads with a composite score of 41.2 and a visibility rate of 37.5 percent, roughly six times the category average of 5.6 percent. No other brand comes close, with second-placed IDrive scoring 28.8 on composite.

What sources does Google AI Mode cite most for backup software research?

The top cited sources include youtube.com, reddit.com, pcmag.com, pcworld.com, and uk.pcmag.com alongside brand-owned domains acronis.com and idrive.com. This mix of user forums, video content, and tech review outlets shapes how AI frames backup software answers.

Which brands are gaining AI visibility in backup software?

Acronis gained 25.0 visibility points and Backblaze rose from 0.0 to 25.0 percent visibility in the current period. IDrive also grew by 12.5 points, moving it to rank 2.

Which brand has the biggest gap between being named and being cited?

Backblaze has a 25.0 percent visibility rate but only a 12.5 percent citation rate, while Commvault is named in 12.5 percent of responses but cited zero times. Both indicate AI mentions them without treating their content as a trusted source.

How concentrated is AI visibility across the 20 brands in this category?

The top five brands hold all meaningful composite scores, and half of the 20 audited brands score zero on composite. This makes backup software one of the more concentrated AI visibility landscapes in the security parent category.

Which brand has lost the most AI visibility recently?

Veeam dropped from rank 2 to rank 4 and lost 12.5 visibility points in the current period, making it the only brand recorded as a significant visibility faller in this audit.