Acronis Review: Is It Worth the Investment in 2024?

Octav Fedor (Cybersecurity Editor)

Last edit: November 13, 2024

Acronis Review: Is It Worth the Investment in 2024?

#1 Acronis Review in 2024

As a cybersecurity enthusiast, I've always been intrigued by the claims of various antivirus solutions. Acronis, a Swiss-based player in the cybersecurity industry, has been on my radar for a while. So, I decided to thoroughly examine and see if it lives up to its reputation.

In this in-depth Acronis review, I'll share my hands-on experience with Acronis, covering everything from its installation process to its impact on system performance. Whether you're a tech novice or a seasoned pro, you'll find valuable insights to help you decide if Acronis is the right choice for your digital security needs.

Here's what you'll learn in this review:

How easy (or complicated) it is to set up and use Acronis
The effectiveness of its core antivirus and anti-malware features
The unique tools that set Acronis apart from other security solutions
How it impacts your system's performance
Whether it's worth the investment for your specific needs

Let's examine in detail and uncover what Acronis has to offer!

In a Hurry? Here's a Quick Summary

If you're short on time, here's a quick overview of my findings for this Acronis review:

What You'll Like:

Easy installation process
Intuitive user interface with customizable quick access links
Robust ransomware protection
Advanced backup and recovery options
Unique features like Try&Decide for safe software testing

What You May Not Like:

Above-average CPU usage during full scans
Some tools have outdated user interfaces
Web protection could be improved
Limited cloud storage in the basic plan

What Makes This Acronis Review Different?

Many antivirus reviews you'll find online are shallow, often just repeating information from the product's website. They lack the depth that comes from actually using the software day-to-day. That's not what you'll get here.

For this Acronis review, I spent two weeks meticulously testing Acronis on my personal devices. I installed it on my Dell XPS laptop, putting it through its paces in real-world scenarios. I ran multiple scans, tested its web protection, and explored every feature and tool it offers.

Throughout this process, I captured numerous screenshots, carefully selecting the most informative ones to include in this review. These visuals will give you a clear idea of what to expect when using Acronis yourself.

My goal is to provide you with an honest, detailed account of my experience with Acronis. I'll share both the strengths I discovered and the areas where I think it could improve. By the end of this review, you'll have a thorough understanding of what Acronis offers and whether it's the right fit for your needs.

Buying Acronis

When it comes to purchasing Acronis, I found the process to be clear and user-friendly. I opted for the Advanced version of Acronis for home users, which includes the Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office antivirus program and 50GB of cloud backup. This middle-tier option seemed to offer a good balance of features and value.

The buying process is simple and intuitive. You start by choosing your preferred product, then select the number of computers or users you want to cover. After that, you enter your personal and payment information, and finally review your order.

One thing I appreciated was the option for an initial setup service. For an additional fee, an Acronis employee can install and configure the software according to industry standards. While I didn't opt for this service, it could be valuable for those less confident in their technical skills.

After completing my purchase, I was immediately presented with a webpage containing all the essential information: download links, activation key, installation instructions, and my invoice. Acronis also sent me three separate emails containing this information, including my account username and password, which are necessary for using the antivirus software.

This level of communication impressed me. It ensures that you have multiple ways to access your important account information, reducing the chance of losing critical details in a single misplaced email.

Installation

With my purchase complete, I was eager to get Acronis up and running on my system. The installation process turned out to be quite simple and efficient, though there were a few points worth noting.

I started by downloading the Windows installer from the email link provided. The first thing that caught my attention was the size of the installation kit - it's quite substantial at 900 MB. While this might take a while to download on slower connections, it suggests that Acronis comes packed with features.

The installation options include enabling several components.

The installation itself offers two paths: a one-click install for those who want to get up and running quickly, or a custom installation for users who prefer more control. Being the curious type, I opted for the custom installation to see what options were available.

The custom installation lets you choose which components to install:

Backup and core protection
Anti-ransomware protection, cryptomining protection, and videoconference protection
Real-time protection, antivirus scan and web filtering
Try&Decide tool (more on this interesting feature later)

I decided to install all components to get the full Acronis experience. The installation process took about 2 minutes on my system, which I found reasonably quick given the software's size.

After the installation completed, I was prompted to enter my account username and password. Remember those credentials Acronis sent in the emails? This is where they come in handy. I appreciated that Acronis created the account for me, though I made sure to change the randomly generated password to something more memorable (and still secure, of course).

The final step was entering the activation code, and then Acronis was ready to protect my system. Overall, I found the installation process to be user-friendly and efficient, with just the right amount of customization options for those who want them.

Interface

After installation, I was eager to explore the Acronis interface. My first impression was that it's quite spacious - even at its smallest size, it took up a significant portion of my laptop screen. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it allows for clear presentation of information and easy navigation.

The main interface displays the protection status and last scan results and enables you to start a new scan.

The user interface is divided into two main areas. On the left, there's a sidebar where you can access the main features of the application: backup, protection, archive, sync, tools, account, settings, and help. This layout makes it easy to find what you're looking for quickly.

The main part of the UI displays the options and settings for whichever feature you've selected. At the bottom of each module, you'll find additional settings, options, and actions specific to that feature. This organized layout helps keep things tidy and prevents the interface from becoming overwhelming.

One aspect I particularly appreciated was the language support. Acronis offers 17 languages to choose from, which you can easily switch between in the Settings > Interface language menu. This level of language options is impressive and makes Acronis accessible to a wide range of users globally.

However, I did notice that there's only one theme available - a light theme with blue as the dominant color. While this looks clean and professional, I know some users prefer dark modes or the ability to customize colors. It's a minor point, but something that could enhance the user experience if implemented in future updates.

Despite the lack of theme options, I found the Acronis interface to be well-organized and intuitive. The layout makes it easy to access all the features, and the clarity of the design means you're unlikely to get lost or confused while using the software.

Major Features

Next up in this Acronis review, let's examine in detail the meat of what Acronis offers - its features. I'll take you through each major feature, sharing my experiences and observations.

Web Protection

In today's online environment, robust web protection is crucial. To test Acronis's web browsing security, I visited several known malicious websites across multiple browsers. Here's what I found:

Malicious website test - blocked
WICAR - blocked 13 out of 13 threats
AMTSO - blocked 12 out of 15 threats
EICAR - blocked 2 out of 4 threats

Acronis blocking a malicious website

During these tests, Acronis blocked and isolated 5 threats. This performance is quite good, showing that Acronis is capable of protecting against a wide range of web-based threats. However, it's worth noting that it didn't catch everything, particularly in the EICAR test. While no solution is perfect, there's room for improvement here.

Scan

A key feature of any antivirus software is its scanning capability. Acronis offers several types of scans, each with its own purpose.

Quick Scan

The quick scan is designed to check the most vulnerable areas of your system as well as malware threats like spyware, trojans, and adware, rapidly. In my Acronis review test, it took 1 minute and 6 seconds to complete, scanning 613 files. It detected 1 threat, which was a malicious file I had previously downloaded to test the web protection shield.

Full Scan

For a more thorough check, I ran a full system scan. This took 2 hours and 13 minutes, scanning 376,000 files. Interestingly, it didn't detect any threats during this scan.

The full scan results show number of scanned files, if it found threats, and more.

The scan results provide a clear summary, showing whether malicious files were found, how many files were scanned, if there were any excluded items, how long the scan took, and the scan date. This level of detail is helpful for understanding the state of your system's security.

Scheduled Scan

Acronis also allows you to set up scheduled scans, which I find particularly useful for maintaining consistent system security. You can configure these in the Protection > Antivirus scan tab.

The scheduled scan settings include choosing action on detection, scan type, schedule, and more.

The scheduling options are quite flexible. You can choose the action on detection (quarantine or notify only), scan type (quick or full), and frequency (daily, weekly, monthly, or at startup). You can also set the day of the week and time for the scan to run.

Additional scan options include the ability to skip files larger than 10 MB, scan external drives, scan network shares and NAS, scan only new and changed files, run missed tasks at startup, and prevent the sleep or hibernate mode during scans. These options provide a good balance between thorough scanning and system performance.

Ransomware Protection

With ransomware being one of the most devastating types of malware, effective protection is crucial. To test the ransomware protection for this Acronis review, I used a ransomware simulator.

The results were impressive - Acronis successfully stopped 16 out of 22 ransomware simulation scenarios. This is on par with the industry average, which is a good performance.

The ransomware protection settings in Acronis allow you to:

Enable or disable anti-ransomware protection
Automatically recover files after blocking a process
Protect backup files from ransomware
Protect network shares and NAS
Protect your computer from unauthorized cryptomining

These options provide a comprehensive shield against various ransomware tactics, which I found reassuring.

Vulnerability Assessment

The Vulnerability Assessment feature in Acronis is designed to detect and evaluate vulnerabilities in your system and applications. It runs a daily scan in the background, but you can also initiate a manual scan when needed.

In the vulnerability assessment window, you can enable/disable the module.

To view the vulnerabilities, you navigate to the Protection tab and scroll down to Vulnerability assessment. Clicking on "Detected vulnerabilities" displays the report. You can get more detailed information about each vulnerability by clicking the info icon next to its name.

In my tests, Acronis didn't detect any vulnerabilities on my system:

In my tests, there were no vulnerabilities found.

If vulnerabilities are detected, Acronis recommends installing the latest updates for the affected applications. After updating, you should scan again to ensure the vulnerabilities are resolved. If they persist, it indicates that some apps might still be putting your system at risk. In such cases, Acronis advises backing up your operating system and enabling Anti-malware Protection for full data protection.

This feature provides an extra layer of security by helping you identify and address potential weak points in your system before they can be exploited.

Backup

One of Acronis's standout features is its backup capability. This feature allows you to save your local files (either selected folders or your entire computer) to cloud backup, external storage, your local network, or a local folder.

In the backup screen, you can see the last backup, how much space they occupy, and start a new backup.

You can access the Backup options in the first tab of the main UI. Here, you choose what to back up and where, and then select Options. The backup settings are quite flexible. During my Acronis review tests, I scheduled backups to run automatically (selecting frequency and time of day) and chose actions like waking up a sleeping computer or preventing my computer from sleeping during backup.

The backup scheduling options include scheduling the backups.

One feature I particularly appreciated was the ability to manage exclusions - file types that you don't want to back up. This can be useful for excluding large, non-essential files or sensitive data that you prefer to manage separately.

The backup feature in Acronis is robust and user-friendly, providing peace of mind that your important data is safely stored and easily recoverable.

Tools

Acronis provides a variety of utilities that help improve computer performance, restore your data, manage disks, rescue your data, and more. You can access these tools via the Tools tab.

Tools include disk cloning, rescue media builder, universal restore, and more.

Let's look at some of the most interesting tools:

Clone Disk

This utility allows you to clone your hard disk drive by copying the partitions to another hard disk. It's particularly useful when you want to upgrade to a higher-capacity drive.

The Clone Disk utility lets you choose media destination.

Rescue Media Builder

This tool lets you create bootable media (USB flash drive, external drive, or blank CD/DVD) to run a self-contained version of Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office. This can be a savior if Windows fails to start.

Try&Decide

This is a unique feature that I found particularly interesting. When you turn Try&Decide on, your computer enters "Try mode". In this mode, you can perform potentially dangerous operations without worrying about damaging your operating system, programs, or data. When you turn Try&Decide off, you decide whether to apply the changes to your computer or discard them.

System Clean-up

This assistant helps you securely remove all traces of your PC actions, including usernames, passwords, and other personal information. It can perform operations like securely destroying data in the Windows Recycle Bin, removing temporary files, and cleaning up hard disk free space.

The System Clean-up wizard enables you to start a new cleanup.

Secure Zone

Acronis Secure Zone is a special secure partition that you can create on your computer for storing backups. It has a FAT32 file system and appears in the "Other" section of File Explorer.

The Secure Zone lets you choose a partition for storing backups.

DriveCleanser

This tool allows you to permanently destroy all data on selected hard disks and partitions. You can use one of the predefined algorithms or create your own. This is particularly useful when you're getting rid of an old hard drive and want to ensure your data can't be recovered.

You can select a drive to securely erase using the DriveCleanser.

These tools add significant value to the Acronis package, providing solutions for a wide range of scenarios beyond basic antivirus protection.

System Performance Impact

One concern many users have about antivirus software is its impact on system performance. In my Acronis review tests, I found that Acronis consumes about 40% CPU power and 300MB of RAM during a full scan.

This CPU usage is above the average of 25% for antivirus software, which is something to consider if you're running Acronis on an older or less powerful system. However, the RAM consumption is in line with the industry average of 300 MB.

It's worth noting that while the CPU usage during scans is higher than some competitors, Acronis's cloud-based approach to many features might help balance this in day-to-day use.

Acronis Review: Conclusion

After thoroughly testing Acronis, I can say it's an advanced antivirus software solution with a comprehensive set of features. Here are my key takeaways:

Powerful Features: Acronis offers strong tools for backups, anti-ransomware protection, thorough malware scans, and various utilities for enhancing PC performance.
User-Friendly Interface: The interface is clean and easy to use, making it easy for both beginners and advanced users to navigate and use the software effectively.
Unique Tools: Features like Try&Decide and Secure Zone set Acronis apart from many competitors, offering additional layers of protection and flexibility.
Room for Improvement: While the diverse tools are useful, some have outdated user interfaces that could use a refresh. The web protection, while good, isn't perfect and could be enhanced.
System Impact: Acronis consumes an above-average amount of CPU during scans, which might be noticeable on less powerful systems.
Backup Capabilities: The backup features are particularly strong, offering multiple options for securing your data.

Overall, Acronis is a solid choice if you're looking for a comprehensive security solution that goes beyond basic antivirus protection. Its backup features and unique tools like Try&Decide make it stand out in a crowded market.

However, if you're running an older or less powerful system, you might want to consider the higher-than-average CPU usage during scans. Additionally, if web protection is your top priority, you might want to compare Acronis with other solutions that excel in this area.

Thinking about other antivirus alternatives? Norton, Bitdefender, and McAfee are top-rated. Also, explore our best antivirus software list for 2024.