Hornetsecurity VM Backup Standard

What is included in Hornetsecurity VM Backup Standard?

Hot Backups – Protect running VMs without taking them offline.
Hypervisor Coverage – Backs up Hyper-V, VMware and Proxmox VMs.
Flexible Restores – Clone, file-level and different-host recovery options.
AES Encryption – Military-grade encryption secures stored backup data.
Core Capacity – Protects up to five VMs per host.
Important – No deduplication, cluster or vCenter support included.

What are the main benefits of Hornetsecurity VM Backup Standard?

VM Backup Standard is the entry-level paid edition of Hornetsecurity's backup and replication tool for Hyper-V, VMware and Proxmox, formerly sold as Altaro VM Backup. It protects up to five virtual machines per host with automated, encrypted backups and guided recovery.

Fast Setup – First VM backup runs within fifteen minutes.
Simple Console – Drag-and-drop scheduling avoids complex backup configuration.
Tested Backups – Sandbox restore confirms backups actually boot.
Smaller Backups – Compression reduces backup repository storage needs.
24/7 Support – Premium technical support is included with Standard.
Host Licensing – Perpetual price per host, regardless of sockets.

Data loss is expensive: How backups help you avoid outages
For more background on backup planning, read our guide:

What does Hornetsecurity VM Backup Standard do?

VM Backup Standard creates scheduled, compressed and AES-encrypted backups of virtual machines running on Hyper-V, VMware ESXi and Proxmox, with a per-host limit of five VMs. Backups run hot, so live machines stay online, and schedules can run as often as every five minutes. Recovery is wizard-driven: you can restore a VM as a clone, restore a virtual disk, recover individual files and folders, or restore to a different host. The drag-and-drop console lets you assign VMs to backup schedules without scripting, and Sandbox Verification can boot a backup in an isolated environment to prove it works.

Who is VM Backup Standard best suited for?

Standard fits small, single-site environments that run no more than five virtual machines per host and do not use clustering. Because the perpetual licence is priced per host rather than per CPU socket or per VM, it suits a branch office or small business running a handful of VMs on one or two standalone Hyper-V or ESXi servers. It solves the gap left by Windows Server Backup and PowerShell scripting, which give limited confidence and no central restore testing. Teams that run clustered Hyper-V (CSV), VMware vCenter, or more than five VMs per host will hit Standard's limits and need the Unlimited edition instead.

What is the difference between VM Backup Standard, Unlimited and Unlimited Plus?

Standard is capped at five VMs per host and leaves out several recovery and efficiency features. Unlimited removes the VM cap and adds Augmented Inline Deduplication, Boot from Backup, Exchange item-level restore, and support for Hyper-V Clusters (CSV) and VMware vCenter. Unlimited Plus builds on Unlimited by adding Continuous Data Protection (CDP) with backups as frequent as every five minutes, WAN-Optimized Replication, a cloud management console, and immutable cloud storage for ransomware protection. All three editions share hot backups, scheduling, compression, AES encryption, sandbox verification and 24/7 support.

Does VM Backup Standard support Hyper-V clusters, vCenter or Continuous Data Protection?

No. Standard does not support Microsoft Hyper-V Clusters (CSV) or VMware vCenter, so it connects to standalone hosts only. Continuous Data Protection (CDP) and WAN-Optimized Replication are exclusive to the Unlimited Plus edition, and Augmented Inline Deduplication and Boot from Backup begin at the Unlimited edition. This matters in practice because a clustered Hyper-V environment or a vSphere deployment managed through vCenter cannot be protected on Standard, and there is no every-five-minute CDP option to shrink the recovery point. If those capabilities are required, the host must be licensed for Unlimited or Unlimited Plus rather than Standard.

Which hypervisors and restore types does VM Backup Standard support?

VM Backup Standard protects virtual machines on Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi and Proxmox VE from a single console, and a single instance can mix hosts of different types. Restore options include restoring a VM as a clone, restoring a virtual hard disk, and granular file-and-folder recovery from backed-up Windows VMs. Two limits are worth checking before buying: the free version of VMware ESXi is not supported, and Exchange item-level restore is not part of Standard, only Unlimited and Unlimited Plus. For multi-site setups, each physical location needs its own VM Backup instance, since one console only manages hosts on the same local network.

Frequently asked questions about Hornetsecurity VM Backup Standard

Is Hornetsecurity VM Backup Standard the same as Altaro VM Backup?

Yes. Hornetsecurity acquired Altaro and rebranded Altaro VM Backup as Hornetsecurity VM Backup, with version 9 being the current generation. The Standard edition is the same product line, now sold under the Hornetsecurity name.

Does VM Backup Standard include immutable cloud storage for ransomware protection?

No. Immutable cloud storage, which writes offsite backups to Amazon S3, Wasabi or Azure Blob in a tamper-proof state, is a feature of the Unlimited Plus edition. On Standard you can still keep encrypted backups, but the WORM-style immutability that blocks deletion or encryption by ransomware is not available.

Where can VM Backup Standard store its backups?

Backups can be written to local disks, external storage, iSCSI targets and UNC paths for NAS shares. For a secondary copy, you can use physical devices, network shares or the free Offsite Backup Server application, which connects over LAN or WAN. Choosing a fast primary repository matters because restore speed depends heavily on the storage hosting the backup files.