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PROS:
CONS:
Zoolz came in 3rd in our best online data backup services category. It performed well in all the tests it was subjected to and it showed a great value for families as well as individual users. The Family plan allows five users and up to 1TB of data for $79.99/year. With good speed results in the backup and file restoration tests, Zoolz performed above average. It could use a cleaner, more accessible design so it would be easier for the less tech savvy users to operate it.
Number three on our list goes to the British based cloud data backup service - Zoolz. Since they partnered up with the Amazon Web Services, Zoolz offers great subscriptions at competitive prices. To evaluate the best value for money service we looked at the cost of an annual upkeep per computer for a storage backup of up to 1TB. We analyzed how economical each service is for large and smaller families as well as individual users.
Value for money
The British service offers four subscription options: Basic, Plus, Family and Heavy. The entry level subscription with the Basic plan will get you a solid 100GB of backup storage space and it will only set you back $14.99/year. The medium Plus subscription comes with a larger storage area of 500GB for up to three users and it it’s priced at $49.99/year. For a family with more than three computers, the Family plan allows for up to 1TB of storage for $79.99/year. The premium, Heavy plan includes 4TB of storage for five users at $299.9/year.
With the Family plan in our main focus, we calculated that the annual cost of backup per computer would be about $16. Since this an average price for the size and user coverage in the category, we gave Zoolz Family plan a B+. We awarded it the same grade when we looked at a smaller sized family, with three users where the plan would amount to less than $27/computer annually. Even for a single user, the Zoolz Family plan is still more affordable than most similar services.
Price: $79.99
Backup
To measure the backup speed of each service, we performed multiple tests at different times of day and night as well as the weekends to make sure we got an optimal conclusion. The tests showed that the average MB/min rate for the upload of 1TB of files is about 16 days. Even with the result of over two weeks, Zoolz beat the industry average time of over 21 days. The backup process is fairly easy to start and operate. Even though there are more accessible programs on the market, you can still perform basic tasks on Zoolz with just a couple of clicks. One of the best additional backup features in this service is the option of a local backup where you can transfer your data to a portable device or another PC.
Restoration
The restoration of files from the Zoolz servers also went smoothly. Similarly to the backup tests, we performed several tests running different restore sets at different times of day and night to get an objective result. After compiling all the results and calculating the average MB/min speed for the restoration of 1TB of data, we concluded that it would take Zoolz a little under seven days to perform this transfer. With the average speed we tested so far being 15 days, Zoolz did remarkably well by splitting that time by more than half. Keep in mind that our results might stand out from your personal experiences, since the restoration speed largely depends on your own bandwidth. Much like the backup process, the file restoration can also be done in a few steps without much hassle. Even though it’s not as intuitive or optimized for novice users as other similar apps, the Zoolz app is still quite easy to use once you get the hang of it.
Protection
Like other top ranking online data backup services, Zoolz also encrypts the data you entrust it for safekeeping with the 256-bit AES encryption. Also following the other top tier products of its kind, Zoolz offers the creation of a unique, personal encryption key that grants you exclusive access to your data. Unfortunately, this perk also comes with a downside. If you forget your password your data will be lost since there is no recovery option.
Ever since Zoolz partnered up with the Amazon Web Services, they rent servers from them. The argument the London based online backup service provider makes is that Amazon is a highly respected authority with strictly enforced security protocols and a massive infrastructure. Even though it is true that the servers are well maintained, the question raised is about privacy and accountability since you are buying a subscription from Zoolz but they are then storing your data on Amazon servers. However, with no security breaches and high levels of precaution taken on both Zoolz’s and Amazon’s sides, this is still a minor fault for this online backup service.
Although it’s not the fastest online backup service, Zoolz is still well above average in all areas it was tested. It uses a high level of encryption and it gives you the opportunity of creating a personalized encryption key. It offers four different plans so that any user can find their most suitable subscription.
Email: To contact customer support via email, you need to fill out a request through this site: www.zoolz.com/contact-support
Phone number: 1-202-697-9164
Website: www.zoolz.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ZoolzCloud
Zoolz offers many ways of contacting a customer support agent. You can reach help by phone, email or live chat on the website. The main site also provides a great FAQ area with many useful explanations and tutorial for the most common issues. With the absence of a community forum you’ll have to consult a Zoolz representative for help.
Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.
By: Hailey | Last updated June 5, 2017 
