01The short version#
Acronis licenses protection per workload. A workload is any protected server, virtual machine, PC, mobile device, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace seat, or website. There are two ways to buy. Service providers like XcellHost buy monthly and pay for what was used. Companies running Acronis themselves buy annual subscriptions. Most Indian businesses buy through a provider, so this guide starts with that route.
Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud is now Acronis Cyber Platform. Acronis Cyber Protect, the corporate product, now carries the same name. Older quotes, consoles and licence keys may still show the old names.
Solution-based sells one bundle per workload. Service-based charges per workload or per GB, then adds services. Each customer tenant uses only one of the two.
Standard features such as vulnerability assessment and device control are free. Additional services start billing only once you switch them on in a protection plan.
You can store backups in Acronis's cloud (it has had a Mumbai data centre since 2021), with your provider, in your own Azure or S3 bucket, on local disks, or a mix of these. Solution-based bundles include a pooled storage allowance.
Our listed prices start at ₹349 per workstation and ₹1,499 per server a month on the Acronis platform. Direct Backup to your own bucket starts at ₹199 per workload. All are indicative and exclude 18% GST.
Acronis stopped selling new perpetual licences on 1 January 2022 in every country except Japan. If you renew an old perpetual setup today, you are moving to a subscription.
Count your workloads before you compare prices. Make a list of servers, VMs, PCs, mailboxes and sites, and note how much data each one holds. Tools 1 to 4 in this guide use exactly those numbers.
02Product names in 2026#
Acronis has renamed several products since 2024, so quotes, invoices and blog posts often disagree. The table lists the current names, what each product is for, and how it is licensed.
| Current name | Earlier name(s) | Who it is for | How it is licensed | Status · Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acronis Cyber Platform (service providers) | Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud | MSPs and cloud providers, and through them their customers | Monthly, usage-based, with a minimum monthly commitment at partner level | Current renamed 14 Oct 2026 |
| Acronis Cyber Platform (corporate) | Acronis Cyber Protect (Standard, Advanced, Backup Advanced) | Companies running the console themselves, on-premises or Acronis-hosted | Annual subscriptions per machine, host or 5-seat pack | Current same rename |
| Cyber Console | (new) | Administrators of Cyber Platform | The new AI-native interface. Not a separate licence | Early access |
| Acronis Cyber Frame | (new, May 2026) | Providers building IaaS / hyper-converged clouds | Cloud: billed on consumed vCPU, RAM, storage, IPs. Local: billed per physical CPU core | GA 13 May 2026 |
| Acronis True Image | Cyber Protect Home Office (renamed back in 2024) | Home users and very small offices | Consumer subscriptions | Out of scope |
| Acronis Snap Deploy | — | Imaging and rolling out many PCs | Machine or Deployment licences, subscription only since 1 Aug 2023 | Current |
| DeployPilot | — | Software deployment across client estates | Part of Acronis RMM (additional RMM features) | Current |
| Acronis Cyber Files / Files Connect | Files Advanced / ExtremeZ-IP | On-prem file sync and Mac file sharing | Not sold to new customers | End of life reported 31 Dec 2025* |
* The Cyber Files and Files Connect end-of-life notice is published on Acronis's care portal, and Acronis's support pages also link to a "Cyber Files Cloud End of Life" notice. We could not open the care-portal article directly, so treat the date as confirm with XcellHost.
Some Acronis pages, such as the corporate purchasing page, still say "Acronis Cyber Protect". Acronis's renaming post says the products are the same and only the name has changed. Licences bought under the old name stay valid. Only the label differs.
Acronis AI Platform · Acronis Cyber Frame · Workflow automation · Cyber Intelligence · All 73 Acronis services
03Two ways to buy Acronis#
The licence route depends on who runs the platform. A service provider sells you a managed service that it bills monthly. If your own IT team runs it, you buy annual subscriptions. The features overlap, but the commercial rules are different.
| Through a service provider (e.g. XcellHost) | Corporate subscription (you run it) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who signs with Acronis | The provider. You sign with the provider. | You, through a reseller or Acronis's store |
| Billing period | Monthly, for what was protected and used | Annual subscription terms; M365 and Google Workspace packs come in 1, 3 or 5-year terms |
| Unit | Per workload, per GB or per bundle (solution) | Per machine, per hypervisor host, per 5-seat pack |
| Console | Multi-tenant cloud console run by the provider. You can get your own view. | Your own management server, on-premises or in an Acronis data centre (cloud deployment is subscription-only) |
| Adding services | Switch them on in a protection plan. Billing starts when they are used. | Choose a higher edition (Standard → Advanced → Backup Advanced) |
| Storage | Acronis cloud, partner-hosted (e.g. XcellHost Mumbai), public cloud or local | Local by default. Some Acronis Cloud Storage is included with each subscription, and you can buy more |
| Scaling down | The next month's bill falls when workloads are removed | Seats are fixed until the term ends |
| Best for | Most SMBs and mid-size firms, branches and multi-site estates | Large IT teams, air-gapped or strict on-prem sites |
Through XcellHost you get one GST invoice in rupees from an Indian company, so you can claim input tax credit as you would for any domestic B2B service. Buying direct from an overseas store is billed differently. Ask your CA about the GST treatment of imported online services.
04Licensing models on Cyber Platform#
The provider sets the licensing mode for each customer tenant. Acronis's documentation is explicit: a partner tenant can enable every mode, but a customer tenant can use only one. You can change your model later, but you cannot mix two models in one tenant.
Solution-based: one bundle per workload
One SKU per workload covers a set of capabilities, and storage is pooled across the customer. Acronis names three packages for servers, VMs and workstations, and three for Microsoft 365:
| Package | What it includes (per Acronis) | Storage |
|---|---|---|
| Backup + DR | Standard backup and disaster recovery for servers, VMs and workstations | Pooled allowance: 3 TB per server, 2 TB per VM, 300 GB per workstation |
| Security + RMM | Anti-malware, anti-ransomware, EDR/XDR and remote monitoring & management | — |
| Ultimate Protection | Both of the above plus Advanced Backup (application-aware backup, cluster support, off-host processing, one-click restore) and Data Loss Prevention. Also unlocks backup straight to public cloud | As Backup + DR |
| M365 Backup + DR | Daily Microsoft 365 backups and email archiving | Unlimited |
| M365 Security + RMM | Email security and security posture management | — |
| M365 Ultimate | Adds advanced backup up to 6 times a day and collaboration security for OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams | Unlimited |
Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Security Awareness Training (SAT) are billed separately and can be added to any package. Storage used beyond the pool is billed automatically, except for Microsoft 365, which has no overage.
Service-based: pay per workload or per GB, then add services
Service-based licensing bills each service separately. The base protection is billed in one of two units:
- Per workload: a fixed monthly price for each protected workload. Local storage and storage hosted by the provider carry no separate Acronis charge. Fees for Acronis cloud storage apply.
- Per gigabyte: billing follows the total protected data across cloud, provider and local storage, with no limit on the number of workloads.
Both units have the same feature set. Additional services such as Detection and Response, Disaster Recovery and Email Security are licensed and billed automatically when a protection plan uses them. Acronis's documentation says they cannot be changed by hand.
Acronis says a customer's model "can be changed at any time" at customer level. Try one model for a few months, look at the invoice, then decide. Ask XcellHost to show you the usage report before you switch.
05Per workload vs per GB: which is cheaper?#
The answer depends on how much data sits behind each workload. With per-workload pricing, a lightly used PC costs the same as a busy file server. With per-GB pricing, many small endpoints cost little, but one large database server can cost a lot. The break-even point is the per-workload rate divided by the per-GB rate.
Per-workload vs per-GB comparison illustrative
The default rates are XcellHost catalogue prices taken from two different products, the Direct Backup server price (₹999 a month) and XcellBackup Mumbai storage (₹6 a GB a month). They are here only so the maths starts somewhere. Acronis's partner per-workload and per-GB rates are not public. Type in the rates from your own quote.
—
Break-even = rate per workload ÷ rate per GB. Excludes GST, storage location fees and additional services.| Your estate looks like… | Usually fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Many laptops with little local data (files are in OneDrive) | Per GB | Lots of workloads, very little data in each |
| A few large file, ERP or database servers | Per workload | A fixed price per server, however large the data grows |
| A mix, and you want one predictable bill | Solution-based | One bundle per workload, with a pooled storage allowance |
| Data that grows fast, such as CCTV archives or design files | Per workload + local or partner storage | Per-GB bills grow with every terabyte |
06Workload types and how each is counted#
Acronis's documentation names these workload types: workstation, server, virtual machine, web hosting server, mobile device, website, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. One rule matters most: you cannot combine several offering items on one workload. Each machine is counted once, under one item.
| Workload | Counted as | Notes | XcellHost from (per month)* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical server (Windows, Linux) | 1 server workload | Each node in a cluster needs its own licence. Application-aware backup needs Advanced Backup (included in Ultimate) | ₹1,499 platform · ₹999 Direct Backup |
| Virtual machine | 1 VM workload, or a host licence on corporate editions | Supported hypervisors include VMware vSphere, Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, Proxmox (VMs and LXC, agentless), Red Hat Virtualization, Citrix XenServer, Linux KVM and Oracle VM | ₹999 platform · ₹699 Direct Backup |
| Workstation / laptop (Windows, macOS, Linux) | 1 workstation workload | On corporate editions, a Server licence can cover a workstation, but not the other way round | ₹349 platform · ₹199 Direct Backup |
| Microsoft 365 seat | 1 seat per user. Corporate editions count a shared mailbox as a seat too | M365 packages include unlimited storage. Public cloud buckets cannot be used as a destination for M365 backups | ₹149 platform · ₹99 Direct Backup† |
| Google Workspace seat | 1 seat. Sold in 5-seat packs on corporate editions | Public cloud buckets cannot be used as a destination | Price on quote |
| Web hosting server (cPanel, Plesk) | Endpoint workload type | For hosting companies protecting shared servers | Price on quote |
| Website | Website workload | Backs up site files and databases. See also CodeGuard | Price on quote |
| Mobile device (iOS, Android) | Mobile workload | Contacts, photos and other device data | Price on quote |
| NAS / file share | Backed up through an agent reading the share | Ask how your NAS is counted before you sign | ₹499 Direct Backup |
| SAP HANA, SQL Server, Exchange, Oracle | The server they run on + Advanced Backup | On corporate editions, SAP HANA needs Backup Advanced. Check Acronis's compatibility list for versions | Server price + edition |
| Cyber Frame VM | Licensed with Cyber Frame infrastructure | Standard protection, Advanced Backup, RMM and EDR/XDR are included at no extra charge | Price on quote · Cyber Frame |
* XcellHost indicative prices, excl. 18% GST, from the Acronis AI Platform (Essentials edition) and Direct Backup to Public Cloud pages. † See conflicts: our Direct Backup page lists M365 seats, but Acronis says public cloud buckets cannot hold M365 backups. Confirm where M365 data is stored on that plan.
Workload → licence picker
07Standard protection vs additional services#
Older price lists called these "Advanced packs", for example Advanced Security + XDR, Advanced Backup, Advanced Disaster Recovery and Advanced Email Security. Acronis's 2026 documentation calls them additional protection services and, in solution-based licensing, includes some of them in bundles. The table maps the old names to the current ones.
| Additional service (2026 name) | Older "Advanced pack" name | What it adds over standard | In solution bundles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detection and Response (EDR, XDR, MDR) | Advanced Security + EDR / XDR | Centralised incident management, threat feeds, 180-day event storage, URL filtering, endpoint firewall management, backup malware scanning, remote wipe, third-party integrations | Security + RMM, Ultimate. MDR billed separately |
| Advanced Backup | Advanced Backup | Application-aware backup, cluster support, off-host processing, one-click restore | Ultimate |
| Disaster Recovery (complete) | Advanced Disaster Recovery | Production failover, all recovery points, more cloud networks, public IPs, runbooks. Standard has demo limits (32 compute points a month, 5 concurrent test failovers) | Backup + DR (hot DR storage included) |
| Email and Collaboration Security | Advanced Email Security | Real-time protection for Microsoft 365 and Gmail: anti-phishing, impersonation protection, attachment scanning, DMARC analysis | M365 Security + RMM, M365 Ultimate |
| RMM (additional features) | Advanced Management | Patch management, disk health, software inventory, third-party vulnerability assessment, session recording, DeployPilot, BitLocker management, M365 seat security audit | Security + RMM, Ultimate |
| Data Loss Prevention | Advanced Data Loss Prevention | Content-aware control of peripheral and network data flows, ready-made PII / PHI / PCI DSS detection, automatic policy creation | Ultimate (all workloads) |
| GenAI Protection | (new) | Monitors use of generative AI tools, applies DLP to prompts, blocks prompt injection | Service-based only |
| Security Awareness Training | (new) | Courses, phishing simulations, monthly videos, policy acknowledgements | Billed separately |
| Direct backup to public cloud | (new) | Back up straight to Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3 or S3-compatible storage | Ultimate |
An additional service can only run when the service it extends is enabled. And because these services bill on use, one technician ticking "EDR" in a shared protection plan can add a charge for every workload on that plan. Ask your provider who is allowed to edit plans.
XcellHost packages the platform as three editions. Essentials covers backup, anti-malware and monitoring. Advanced adds EDR and AI automation. Complete adds XDR, Service Desk and Studio. These are XcellHost's bundle names, not Acronis SKUs. Your quote shows the Acronis items behind them. See Acronis AI Platform, #CyberFit Score and Email Security.
08Storage options and how storage is charged#
Your licence decides what is protected. Your storage choice decides where the copies live, what you pay for capacity and which laws apply to the data. You can choose a different destination in each protection plan, and a hybrid plan keeps a local copy and a cloud copy.
| Destination | How Acronis charges (service providers) | XcellHost indicative price | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acronis cloud storage | Cloud, geo-redundant and archive storage are billed per GB. Some tiers have minimum retention. Solution bundles include a pooled allowance | ₹2,499 / TB / month* (AI Platform, Warranty pages) | Off-site copies with no hardware to run. Required for the warranty |
| XcellHost-hosted, Mumbai | Per-workload mode: no separate Acronis storage charge for provider-hosted storage | ₹1,999 / TB / month (Direct Backup, Rule 46(8) pages) · XcellBackup ₹6 / GB / month | India residency, daily-backup rules, lower egress worries |
| Your Azure / S3 / S3-compatible bucket | Direct backup to public cloud is an additional service (included in Ultimate). The cloud provider bills storage to you | From ₹199 / workload / month + your provider's storage bill | Firms with existing cloud commitments, such as AWS Mumbai (ap-south-1) |
| Local disk / NAS | No storage charge in per-workload mode. Counted in per-GB mode | Your hardware | Fast restores. Pair it with a cloud copy |
| Disaster recovery (hot) storage | Included in solution-based, not billed separately | On quote | Failover to a cloud recovery site |
| Included storage | Server | VM / virtual host | Workstation | Microsoft 365 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solution-based pool (per workload, pooled per tenant) | 3 TB | 2 TB | 300 GB | Unlimited |
| Corporate subscription (free Acronis Cloud Storage per licence) | 250 GB | 250 GB per virtual host | 50 GB | Unlimited (M365 packs) |
Corporate subscriptions also include 40 GB per public cloud VM licence and 150 GB per Windows Essentials licence. The quota is shared across the account. In solution-based licensing, backup data left behind by deleted workloads ("orphaned" data) is billed as standard storage.
If the data must stay in India, put that requirement in writing and choose the storage location to match: XcellHost's Mumbai data centre, Acronis's Mumbai data centre, or an India region of your cloud provider. Some S3-compatible providers have no Indian region. Also check where the management console and logs are hosted.
Public cloud buckets cannot hold Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace backups. Acronis's documentation says so directly. If one of your plans says "everything goes to our S3", check where the mailbox backups actually land.
09How much backup storage will you need?#
Backup storage is not the same as the size of your data. It depends on how much data changes each day, how long you keep each version, how many full copies you keep and how well the data compresses. Use the planner below for a first estimate, then let XcellHost confirm it from a 30-day trial run.
Storage sizing planner illustrative
| XcellHost-hosted, Mumbai · ₹1,999 / TB | ₹0 |
| Acronis cloud storage · ₹2,499 / TB | ₹0 |
| XcellBackup Mumbai · ₹6 / GB | ₹0 |
10Commitments, usage billing and trials#
Acronis bills service providers monthly for what was used, with a minimum monthly commitment. The provider picks a commitment tier in its agreement with Acronis. Higher tiers give volume discounts, and a provider whose usage grows can move up a tier the following month. Commitments bought through distributors can have different terms.
| Question | Acronis (provider level) | What it means for you through XcellHost |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a minimum? | Yes, a minimum monthly commitment tier per partner. Acronis publishes no rupee or dollar amounts | XcellHost carries the commitment to Acronis. Your minimum term and notice period are in your XcellHost order. Confirm with XcellHost |
| Can I scale down? | Usage is measured monthly | Remove workloads and the next invoice falls, subject to your order terms |
| When do additional services bill? | From the moment a plan uses them, until that use stops | Agree in writing who can switch services on |
| Is there a trial? | "Start free" with a one-month ramp-up for new partners. Corporate products offer "Try now". No fixed trial length is published | XcellHost sets up trial tenants. Length and scope follow Acronis's trial terms |
| Physical data shipping? | Pay-as-you-go | XcellHost seed drive ₹4,999 one-time (Direct Backup) |
Ask for a monthly usage report broken down by workload, GB and additional service. If you cannot match the invoice to the console, raise it in the first month, not after a year.
11Corporate (on-premises) editions#
Running Acronis yourself, with your own management server or one hosted by Acronis, uses corporate subscriptions. Acronis now calls this product Cyber Platform too. Its purchasing page still lists three business editions.
| Edition | Positioned for | Key inclusions / limits |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Small set-ups (Acronis suggests fewer than five devices). Can protect Windows Essentials | Core backup and protection |
| Advanced | Growing businesses with more than five devices | Adds EDR (cloud deployment only), malware scanning of backups and safe recovery |
| Backup Advanced | Backup-heavy estates | The only edition with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and SAP HANA backup. Required for some hypervisors such as KVM and Nutanix AHV |
Corporate licensing rules worth knowing
- One licence per device. Each workstation, server or physical host needs a licence. Each node in a cluster must be licensed.
- Virtual Host licences cover one hypervisor host and an unlimited number of VMs on it.
- Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Email Archiving are sold in packs of five seats on 1, 3 or 5-year terms, with unlimited cloud storage.
- Cloud deployment (the management server in an Acronis data centre) is available only with subscription licences.
- No new perpetual licences since 1 January 2022, except in Japan. Existing perpetual holders get free upgrades within one major version.
- Not transferable. A licence cannot be moved to another person. It can move to a replacement machine only when the original is retired.
- Keys expire. Subscription serial keys are time-stamped and stop working when the paid term ends.
If your backups rely on an expired key, they stop at the end of the term. Note the renewal date wherever your finance team will see it, and renew before the expiry date. Renewals bought before expiry extend from the current end date, so you lose nothing by renewing early.
12How XcellHost bills Acronis in India#
XcellHost bills monthly in rupees, per workload, on one GST invoice from Mumbai. The prices below are copied exactly from our live product pages, and each one links to its page. All are indicative, exclude 18% GST and are confirmed on your quotation.
Acronis platform via XcellHost (backup + security + AI)
| Per workload / month | Essentials | Advanced | Complete |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workstation | ₹349 | ₹558 | ₹768 |
| Server | ₹1,499 | ₹2,398 | ₹3,298† |
| Virtual machine | ₹999 | ₹1,598 | ₹2,198† |
| Microsoft 365 seat | ₹149 | ₹238 | ₹328† |
Source: Acronis AI Platform. On that page, Advanced is 1.6× and Complete 2.2× the Essentials price. † These Complete prices are worked out with that page's ×2.2 rule. The page states only the ₹768 workstation price in words. Yearly billing saves 10%, e.g. Advanced workstation ₹6,026 a year. Add-ons: GenAI Protection ₹99 per user, Email Security ₹79 per mailbox, Acronis cloud storage ₹2,499 per TB a month. Onboarding ₹24,999 one-time.
Direct Backup to Public Cloud (your own bucket)
| Item | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Workstation | ₹199 | per month |
| Server | ₹999 | per month |
| Virtual machine | ₹699 | per month |
| Microsoft 365 seat | ₹99 | per month |
| NAS / file share | ₹499 | per month |
| XcellHost-hosted storage | ₹1,999 | per TB / month |
| Advanced backup pack | ₹149 | per workload / month |
| Onboarding & first full backup | ₹9,999 | one-time, up to 25 workloads; ₹299 per extra workload |
| Seed-drive shipping | ₹4,999 | one-time |
| Quarterly restore drill | ₹4,999 | per quarter |
Source: Direct Backup to Public Cloud. Term discounts on that page: 2 years −8% a year, 3 years −12% a year. Storage in your own bucket is billed by your cloud provider.
XcellHost services around Acronis
| Service | Price* | Page |
|---|---|---|
| #CyberFit assessment & report (up to 25 workloads) | ₹9,999 one-time | #CyberFit Score |
| Managed posture improvement | ₹99 / workload / month | #CyberFit Score |
| Acronis onboarding (tenant, users, policies) | ₹24,999 one-time | AI Platform · Warranty |
| Automation setup (pack of 5 workflows) | ₹24,999 one-time | Workflow automation |
| Cyber Frame HCI assessment | ₹49,999 one-time | Cyber Frame |
| OT backup assessment | ₹49,999 one-time | Acronis for OT |
| Rule 46(8) evidence pack | ₹1,999 / month | Daily backup rule |
| Managed XDR / MDR, Cyber Frame licences, Google Workspace, mobile, website | Price on quote | Acronis services |
- Server backup ₹1,499 vs ₹999. These are two different products. ₹1,499 is the full Acronis platform, Essentials edition. ₹999 is Direct Backup to a bucket you own, with the storage billed separately.
- Microsoft 365 seat ₹149 vs ₹99. ₹99 is listed on the Direct Backup page, but Acronis does not allow M365 backups to public cloud buckets. Confirm where M365 data goes on that plan.
- Storage ₹2,499 vs ₹1,999 per TB vs ₹6 per GB. These are three different storage services: Acronis cloud storage, XcellHost-hosted India storage, and XcellBackup in Mumbai (about ₹6,144 per TB). The ₹1,999 price has no asterisk on the Direct Backup page but is marked "indicative" on the Rule 46(8) page.
- ₹149 appears twice. It is the Essentials M365 seat and also the Direct Backup "Advanced backup pack" per workload. These are different items.
XcellHost's quotation is final. Ask us to confirm any line before you order.
13The Acronis Anti-Ransomware Recovery Warranty#
Acronis offers a recovery warranty on qualifying recovery points. It needs no separate purchase and applies automatically to customers who meet the prerequisites. The covered event does not have to be ransomware.
Prerequisites (per Acronis)
- Endpoint data is backed up to Acronis Cloud Storage
- Two-factor authentication is enabled
- Recovery points are protected by immutable storage in Compliance mode
- Recovery points are validated by an approved method (checksum, screenshot or heartbeat)
Limits
- Reimburses qualifying recovery costs up to the lesser of US$1 million or the fees paid to Acronis for the relevant services in the previous 12 months
- Not cyber insurance, and it does not replace it
- Eligibility, covered events and claims are governed by Acronis's final Warranty Policy and your agreement
Backups kept only on XcellHost-hosted storage, your own S3 bucket or a local NAS do not meet the "backed up to Acronis Cloud Storage" prerequisite. If you want the warranty, add an Acronis cloud copy. See our warranty-readiness page.
14India compliance and your Acronis choices#
No licence makes you compliant on its own. But the edition, storage location and retention you choose decide how easily you can show evidence. The table is general information only, so check it with your counsel or CA.
| Rule | What it asks (summary) | Acronis licensing choice that helps |
|---|---|---|
| DPDP Act 2023 and DPDP Rules 2025 | Reasonable security safeguards for personal data and breach intimation. The Rules were notified in November 2025 and phase in over 18 months | Encryption, immutable copies, DLP (Ultimate or the DLP service), an India storage location, access logs |
| CERT-In Directions, 28 April 2022 | Report specified incidents within 6 hours. Keep ICT system logs for a rolling 180 days in India | Detection and Response (its event storage is 180 days), alerting, logs kept in India |
| Companies (Accounts) Rules, rule 3(5) (amended August 2022) | Electronic books must have a daily backup on servers physically located in India | Daily schedule + India destination (XcellHost Mumbai or Acronis Mumbai) + backup logs |
| Income-tax Rules 2026, rule 46(8) | The same daily India backup under tax law, with server details reported in Form No. 26 | As above. See our Rule 46(8) page |
| RBI-regulated entities | IT governance, outsourcing and business-continuity expectations set in RBI directions | Documented DR drills (Disaster Recovery service), restore tests, location in writing. Map each item with your compliance team |
Acronis opened its first Indian cloud data centre in Mumbai in June 2021. XcellHost runs its own Tier IV data centre in Mumbai. Either can keep backup copies in India. Ask for the exact location of your tenant in writing.
15Worked examples#
These three sample businesses are priced with XcellHost's listed prices. They are not real customers, and all figures are excl. GST unless stated.
CA firm, 12 people, Tally on a server
12 laptops, 1 server, 15 Microsoft 365 mailboxes. Needs a daily India backup for the books and basic anti-malware.
| 12 workstations × ₹349 | ₹4,188 |
| 1 server × ₹1,499 | ₹1,499 |
| 15 M365 seats × ₹149 | ₹2,235 |
| Monthly, Essentials | ₹7,922 |
| With 18% GST | ₹9,348 |
Why: per workload is predictable. Daily schedule to Mumbai storage for rule 3(5) and 46(8). Add ₹24,999 onboarding once.
Manufacturer, 2 plants
40 PCs, 6 servers, 20 VMs, and a plant ERP. Needs EDR and failover, and data must stay in India.
| 40 workstations × ₹558 | ₹22,320 |
| 6 servers × ₹2,398 | ₹14,388 |
| 20 VMs × ₹1,598 | ₹31,960 |
| 8 TB hosted Mumbai × ₹1,999 | ₹15,992 |
| Monthly, Advanced | ₹84,660 |
| With 18% GST | ₹99,899 |
Why: Advanced adds EDR. The DR service is quoted separately. Storage is priced with XcellHost's Mumbai TB price (₹1,999 on the Direct Backup page), so ask for the same rate on the platform.
Startup on AWS Mumbai
25 laptops and 4 EC2 servers. They already pay for S3 and want backups in their own bucket with Object Lock.
| 25 workstations × ₹199 | ₹4,975 |
| 4 servers × ₹999 | ₹3,996 |
| Monthly, Direct Backup | ₹8,971 |
| With 18% GST | ₹10,586 |
| One-time onboarding | ₹9,999 |
Why: storage is billed by AWS. The Advanced backup pack (₹149 per workload) adds continuous data protection where needed.
16Upgrades, renewals and moves#
| Situation | What happens | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials → Advanced → Complete (XcellHost editions) | Additional services start billing from the month you enable them | Upgrade one group of machines first, then compare the invoices |
| Solution-based ↔ service-based | Acronis lets a customer's model change at any time, but only one model applies at a time | Choose a month-end. Export the usage reports first |
| Old perpetual licence (pre-2022) | Free upgrades within one major version only. No new perpetual licences | Plan the move to a subscription or a provider service before support ends |
| Corporate subscription → XcellHost managed | Keep the old backups until their retention expires, then move protection to the provider tenant | Run both in parallel for one retention cycle |
| From another backup vendor (Veeam, Veritas and so on) | Licences don't transfer. Old backups stay readable only in the old tool | Keep a read-only copy of the old tool for audits, and seed the first full backup with a drive |
| Cyber Files / Files Connect users | End of life reported 31 Dec 2025* | Plan a file-sharing replacement. Confirm the dates with XcellHost |
17Mistakes to avoid#
- Comparing "per server" prices from two different products. Platform Essentials and Direct Backup differ in features and in where the storage sits.
- Forgetting storage. Per-workload pricing excludes Acronis cloud storage fees. Size it with Tool 4.
- Switching on services in a shared plan. Additional services bill per workload as soon as they are used.
- Expecting public cloud buckets to hold M365 backups. They can't. Choose another destination for mailboxes.
- Assuming the warranty covers every backup. It needs Acronis Cloud Storage, 2FA, Compliance-mode immutability and validation.
- Licensing only one node of a cluster. Every node needs a licence.
- Letting a corporate key expire. Backups stop when the subscription term ends.
- Leaving orphaned backups. Data from deleted workloads is billed as standard storage.
- Using "India region" loosely. Get the storage, console and log locations in writing.
- Buying for today's names. Quotes may say Cyber Protect Cloud or Cyber Platform. Match line items, not labels.
18Buyer checklist#
Tick the items as you go. Your ticks are saved in this browser only. Download the list as a CSV or print it to PDF.
19Glossary#
- Additional service
- A billable capability on top of standard protection, such as Detection and Response, DR, Email Security, RMM, DLP or GenAI Protection. Formerly called an "Advanced pack".
- Advanced Backup
- Application-aware backup, cluster support, off-host processing and one-click restore. Included in Ultimate.
- Agentless backup
- VM backup through the hypervisor without installing an agent in each guest, where the hypervisor allows it (e.g. Proxmox, Nutanix AHV).
- Commitment tier
- The minimum monthly spend a service provider agrees with Acronis. Higher tiers bring volume discounts.
- Compliance mode
- An immutable-storage setting in which recovery points cannot be deleted before their retention ends. Required for the warranty.
- Customer tenant
- Your organisation's space in the provider's multi-tenant console. One licensing model applies per customer tenant.
- Cyber Console
- Acronis's new AI-native interface for Cyber Platform, in early access in October 2026.
- Cyber Frame
- Acronis's hyper-converged IaaS platform for providers. Cloud is billed on consumed resources, Local per physical CPU core.
- Cyber Platform
- The name since 14 Oct 2026 for Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud (service providers) and Acronis Cyber Protect (corporate).
- #CyberFit Score
- A standard (free) security posture score per workload.
- DeployPilot
- Software deployment across client estates, part of Acronis RMM.
- Direct backup to public cloud
- Backups written straight to Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3 or S3-compatible storage. Not available for M365 or Google Workspace backups.
- EDR / XDR / MDR
- Endpoint, extended, and managed detection and response. Part of the Detection and Response service. MDR is billed separately.
- Geo-replication
- A second copy of cloud backups in another data centre, billed separately.
- Hybrid backup
- A local copy for fast restores plus a cloud copy for disasters.
- Immutable storage
- Backups that cannot be changed or deleted for a set time, which protects against ransomware and rogue admins.
- Offering item
- A licensable line in the Acronis console. A workload cannot have more than one.
- Orphaned backup
- Backup data left after a workload is removed. Billed as standard storage under solution-based licensing.
- Per-GB licensing
- Service-based billing on total protected data across cloud, provider and local storage, with unlimited workloads.
- Per-workload licensing
- Service-based billing at a fixed monthly price per protected workload.
- Ramp-up period
- The one month Acronis gives new partners to get started.
- Solution-based licensing
- One bundle per workload (Backup + DR, Security + RMM, Ultimate) with pooled storage.
- Virtual Host licence
- A corporate licence that covers one hypervisor host and unlimited VMs on it.
- Workload
- Any protected unit: server, VM, workstation, mobile, M365 or Google seat, website, web hosting server.
No terms match.