ESXi Backup Software from NAKIVO — Simple, Fast and Reliable
Protect your VMs running on standalone and vCenter-managed ESXi hosts with a backup and disaster recovery solution built on native VMware integration—up to vSphere 9.
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ESXi Backup That Works the Way You Do
- No agents. No workarounds.
- Protect every ESXi host.
- Recover VMs in seconds.
- No dedicated infrastructure needed.
Purpose-Built for Standalone and vCenter-Managed ESXi
Agentless ESXi VM Backup
Run incremental, app-aware ESXi VM backups with CBT, no agents inside guest OSs. Use LAN-free transfer, compression and bandwidth throttling to improve speed and reduce impact.
Instant Recovery
Recover ESXi VMs as the incident requires: boot VMs directly from backups with Flash VM Boot, restore full VM, individual files or objects, perform P2V/V2V recovery, recover directly from tape and more.
Ransomware Protection and Recovery
Secure backups in immutable local, cloud, S3-compatible and deduplication storage, plus air-gapped storage on tape. Use Malware Scan to check backups before recovery.
Built-in Disaster Recovery
Create real-time VM replicas with RPOs as low as 1 second. Automate planned failover, emergency failover, failback and DR testing with Site Recovery.
Robust Backup Security
Prevent unauthorized access with Role-based access control (RBAC), two-factor authentication (2FA) and AES-256 encryption at source, in flight and at rest.
Streamlined Tiering
Create backup copies across local, shared, cloud, S3-compatible, tape and deduplication storage to support a 3-2-1-1 strategy.
Flexible Backup Retention
Up to 10,000 recovery points per job with daily, weekly, monthly, yearly or custom rotation schedules to fulfill e-discovery requests more efficiently.
Flexible Deployment Options
Install on Windows, Linux, NAS, as a VMware/Nutanix virtual appliance or AMI — no dedicated backup infrastructure required.
Visibility with built-in VMware monitoring
Real-time CPU, RAM and disk tracking for ESXi hosts, VMs and datastores. Alerts for critical metrics and automated reports by email.
Simple, Automated Administration
Manage all ESXi backup activities from a single web interface with a calendar dashboard, policy-based protection, job chaining and real-time alerts.
NAKIVO Earns Recognition in
Gartner® Peer InsightsTM Voice of the Customer Report for Enterprise Backup and Recovery Software Solutions
*Based on 427 all-time reviews as of February 2024
**Based on 36 reviews as of February 2024
Where ESXi VM Backup Breaks Down
Basic ESXi backup methods work fine for a handful of VMs. As workloads grow, they start to show their limits: longer backup windows, inconsistent coverage and failed or prolonged recovery when it matters most.
Standalone ESXi hosts are easy to overlook
Hosts managed outside vCenter can be overlooked when backups rely on manual tracking or individual (host-by-host) configuration.
Discover and back up VMs across all ESXi hosts, including standalone hosts outside vCenter, without configuring backups for each host individually.
Backup jobs strain busy ESXi hosts
Large VMs, frequent changes and limited maintenance windows slow backup jobs and compete for resources on hosts already running production workloads.
Use agentless, incremental backups that run at the host level to reduce backup windows, save storage, and minimize the impact on production ESXi hosts.
Recovery is harder when the host itself is down
When an ESXi host is unavailable, recovery becomes a real pain for admins, especially when rebuilding from scattered files.
Recover VMs, files and application objects in seconds to available VMware infrastructure when production hosts or datastores fail.
Ransomware or failures can expose ESXi VMs
If ESXi backups are stored locally, a single attack or failure can take out production VMs and their only recovery point together.
Secure backups in immutable and air-gapped storage. Scan backups for malware before recovery to avoid restoring infected data.
No visibility into backup health
Lack of a central dashboard makes it hard to track VM protection status, job failures and which recovery points are actually usable.
Track protected VMs, failed jobs and available recovery points from a central interface instead of piecing together backup health manually.
Enterprise backup tools are too complex and expensive
Full-scale ESXi backup solutions require dedicated infrastructure, complex licensing, and expertise that don't align with smaller deployments.
Scale effortlessly with flexible deployment and licensing that adapts to your growing infrastructure, from small ESXi setups to broad, multi-workload VMware environments.
Affordable ESXi Backup Software
- Pay for the edition that fits your needs
- Choose perpetual or subscription licensing
- Use existing infrastructure for deployment and storage
- Get backup, recovery, DR, cyber resilience and IT Monitoring in one solution
- Access expert 24/7 technical support
See NAKIVO’s Backup Software For ESXi Working on Your Hosts
Start a free trial of NAKIVO’s ESXi backup solution and run real backups and recoveries for your actual workloads—with no feature restriction.
- 15‑day full-featured trial
- Deploy in minutes
- Test the NAKIVO ESXi backup solution at your own pace
- No credit card required, no commitments
Prefer a guided walkthrough? Book a tailored demo with a NAKIVO expert.
Get Started in Three Steps
From download to your first ESXi backup in under five minutes.
Join 16,000+ organizations protecting VMware ESXi environments and more with NAKIVO
What VMware Professionals Say About NAKIVO
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50% Lower costs & faster jobs