In short: Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery for Microsoft 365 is a SaaS backup service for Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. It is licensed per user in three editions, Standard, Enterprise and Enterprise with Compliance, which differ in included storage per user, archive mailbox and recoverable items coverage, self-service restore and eDiscovery search.
What it is
Commvault Cloud Backup & Recovery for Microsoft 365 is Commvault's SaaS service for protecting Microsoft 365 data. It backs up Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams on an automatic, policy-driven schedule and keeps the copies outside Microsoft 365, in a separate security domain, so a compromised admin account or a mass deletion in your tenant does not touch the backups.
Microsoft keeps your data available, but its retention features are not designed as a backup you control. A separate backup lets you restore a deleted mailbox months later, roll back a SharePoint site after ransomware or keep a leaver's mailbox in backup after their Microsoft licence is removed. The service runs in the same Commvault Cloud console as the rest of the Commvault Cloud platform.
What is included in each edition
| Feature | Standard | Enterprise | Enterprise with Compliance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Public folders, shared and group mailboxes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Export to PST or CAB | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Included backup storage per user | 5 GB | 50 GB | Confirmed in your quote |
| Exchange Online archive mailboxes and recoverable items | No | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple geographic locations for Exchange and OneDrive | No | Yes | Yes |
| Self-service restore for Exchange and OneDrive | No | Yes | Yes |
| eDiscovery search | No | No | Yes |
Restores are granular and point-in-time, either in place or to a different location, and search helps you find individual items quickly. You can set several retention policies at mailbox level, for example longer retention for directors than for shared mailboxes. Commvault also offers an option that works with Microsoft 365 Backup Storage, Microsoft's own backup storage service, for fast large-scale restores back into the tenant; we tell you whether it is worth adding for your environment.
How it is licensed
The service is licensed per user, at the edition you choose. Each user licence includes the storage allowance for its edition, so the edition decision is partly a question of how much data your mailboxes, OneDrive accounts and SharePoint sites hold. We check your Microsoft 365 usage reports before quoting so you do not buy Enterprise only for storage, or Standard and then run short.
Commvault licences are subscriptions; we confirm the term and billing frequency in your quote and handle user additions and removals as your headcount changes. Ask us for a quote for your user count and edition.
Requirements and deployment
There is nothing to install. You connect Commvault Cloud to your Microsoft 365 tenant by granting the required application permissions, pick a data region and assign a backup plan. Commvault's documentation lists a United Kingdom region for Microsoft 365 workloads, so backups can stay in the UK. Microsoft 365 commercial, GCC and GCC High environments are supported.
Backups are air-gapped from production and protected by zero trust access controls. If you also protect identities, add Active Directory backup so Entra ID users, groups and conditional access policies can be recovered alongside their data.
Who it suits
The service suits organisations of any size that rely on Microsoft 365 for email and files and need longer retention, protection from ransomware and accidental deletion, or eDiscovery for legal and compliance requests. Enterprise with Compliance is worth considering for regulated sectors and for organisations that receive subject access requests under UK GDPR. If you also run Dynamics 365 or Salesforce, Commvault protects those from the same console.
How we help
We size your users and data, recommend an edition, set up the tenant connection, retention and restore permissions, and run a test restore with you. Compare other options in Microsoft 365 backup, including Acronis Microsoft 365 Backup.
How Forever Systems supplies your software licences
Forever Systems Ltd supplies business software subscriptions to UK organisations from one account, with one monthly invoice and a UK team who know the products.
- The right edition first time: we check what you need before you buy, so you are not paying for features you will never use
- Monthly or annual terms where the vendor offers them, and help timing renewals and commitments
- Licence changes handled for you: add or remove users, upgrade editions and true-up without starting a new contract
- Deployment and support from engineers who run these products every day, not just a reseller account
- Consolidated billing and renewal reminders so nothing lapses unexpectedly
We work with businesses, schools, charities and public sector organisations of all sizes.
Need a licence quote or a second opinion on your renewal?
Tell Forever Systems what you need and we will come back to you by email with options, not a hard sell.
Contact usFrequently asked questions
Does Microsoft 365 need a separate backup?
Microsoft keeps the service running and offers retention features, but it does not give you an independent, separately secured copy of your data. A third-party backup such as Commvault's protects against accidental deletion, malicious admins, ransomware and retention gaps.
What is the difference between Commvault Standard and Enterprise for Microsoft 365?
Standard covers Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams with 5 GB of backup storage per user. Enterprise raises that to 50 GB per user and adds archive mailboxes, recoverable items, multiple geographic locations and self-service restore for Exchange and OneDrive. Enterprise with Compliance adds eDiscovery search on top of Enterprise.
Can I back up Teams with Commvault?
Yes. Teams is one of the four core workloads protected in every edition, alongside Exchange Online, OneDrive and SharePoint.
Where is my Microsoft 365 backup data stored?
Outside your Microsoft 365 tenant, in a separate security domain. Commvault lists a United Kingdom region for Microsoft 365 backups, and we choose it when residency matters to you.
Can you supply the Microsoft 365 licences too?
Microsoft licences are handled by Forever Group's Microsoft licensing team, so you can buy both through the group.