Afi Backup for Google Workspace Review

Setting up a Google Workspace backup on Afi was straightforward and followed a simple three-step process: sign in with Google, install the Marketplace application, and choose a data residency option. The initial setup took approximately five minutes.

Afi provides setup guidance via email once initial resource discovery is complete. Backup policies must be manually created or assigned during setup.

Afi refers to policies as SLAs. These are highly granular and can be assigned to different users, sites, and resources. Backups can run up to three times per day.

All initial backups finished after about 45 minutes, which is a reasonable timeframe for the data volume in our testing environment.

Afi covers Gmail, Google Drive, Shared Drives, Contacts, and Calendar. Google Groups and Directory information can also be backed up, which we don’t often see. This covers group records and memberships, not Google Groups conversations. Afi also now documents Google Classroom backup and recovery, included in all Google Workspace subscriptions; we haven't tested this yet.

Google Chats can be backed up but must be configured via the Google API, which is a more complicated deployment process.

Google Forms are not supported. Afi does offer Google Sites support according to the documentation, but we couldn’t find this option in our testing.

Afi offers strong retention controls. If you delete or suspend a Google user, their data is still archived and Afi does not charge for these users. Data from deleted or suspended Google users is archived. Suspended users appear as greyed out with a notification that they are suspended in Google Workspace. No new backups can run for inactive users because Google API access is disabled, but existing data is retained.

Cross-user restore is also supported. During testing, we suspended a user’s mailbox and successfully restored their data to another user. The restore completed almost instantly, but it was a small amount of data.

Different retention policies can be assigned to different resources and are fully customizable. Retention is unlimited by default. This flexibility is comparable to products like AvePoint and Druva and so Afi ranks as one of the stronger options for retention management.

Performing a restore is straightforward. Restoring an entire 752 MB Google Workspace account (19k emails, Drive, Contacts, Calendar) to a new mailbox took 3 hours and 43 minutes.

Within the admin console, the Activity tab clearly shows the current level of progress and timestamps throughout the process. Data begins populating in Google Workspace as the restore job is running.

One useful feature is that all of a user’s Gmail, Drive, Contacts, and Calendar data from a given snapshot can be restored together at once.

Search functionality makes Afi very good at restoring specific items. You can filter searches by workload (email, chats, etc.), or by group, (entire domain, Google group, etc.).

Afi supports heuristics-based ransomware detection which picks up indicators of ransomware. This is a real strength when it comes to resilience. We were unable to test this in practice, but the capability is documented.

Afi also supports immutable backups, with a lockdown mode that can restrict destructive actions.

However, there are some areas where Afi could develop resilience further. For example, there is no way to start a bulk recovery of multiple users simultaneously, which is a limitation during a widespread incident.

Afi supports emergency access for admins from outside your Google Workspace tenant, and SAML/Okta single sign-on that doesn't rely on Google, so losing Google admin access needn't lock you out of your backups.

Afi provides good visibility into backup health. The dashboard and activity logs provide a clear view demonstrating which backups were successful, had warnings, or failed.

These logs can be filtered by status to isolate failures. Admins can set up email alerts either on a set schedule or when something goes wrong.

Reporting capabilities are somewhat limited however, lacking the granularity of data and customization offered by products like AvePoint or SpinOne.

Overall, backup health monitoring is functional and provides the essential information needed for day-to-day administration.

Afi provides essential governance information with audit logs that cover admin activity. These are kept for 3 years and can be exported as a CSV, but the presentation could be clearer.

You can either use Google Groups to create access policies or specify users directly within Afi.

Admins can build Access Groups which specify different permissions for groups of users.

You can enforce Okta or SAML SSO authentication for an extra layer of security when accessing the admin console.

Afi.ai is SOC 2 Type II certified (its Google Cloud hosting holds ISO 27001), GDPR compliant, and uses AES-256 encryption for data at rest and in transit. Afi also supports BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) encryption.

Data residency options include the US, UK, EU, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Australia, with all backup data stored in Google Cloud data centers.

Overall, the governance implementation is solid and covers the essentials, though the UI could be more intuitive in how it surfaces audit information.

Afi has a straightforward pricing and licensing structure, which is positive. SaaS Backup costs $36 per user per year, starting from five users, with custom pricing for larger deployments. Storage is not unlimited however, so it’s important to keep track of your usage to avoid any interruptions in backup.

Support is available via online channels during business hours. Afi told us phone support is only available for customers spending $60,000 or more per year. If your team operates across multiple time zones or needs out-of-hours assistance, this is something to consider; CloudAlly, for example, offers 24/7 live chat.

Afi.ai is a technically capable product with strong coverage, flexible retention, and the added benefit of ransomware detection. The ability to back up Google Groups and Directory information sets it apart from most competitors, and the SLA-based backup policy model provides granular control over how different resources are protected.

The product is held back by its interface, which requires more effort to navigate than it should. Key functionality is not always obvious, and the reporting capabilities lack depth. On the technical side, Afi is also lacking support for bulk recovery.

Afi has an unclear ownership structure, with $700K seed funding raised in 2015. During our vendor feedback call, we raised questions about ownership, funding history, and team size, but we did not feel these were fully answered. Understanding the company's scale and backing is important given that backup vendors have access to an organization's entire Google Workspace environment.

Overall, we’d recommend Afi for teams that want granular backup policies and ransomware detection.

Who this is for: Technically inclined teams that want granular backup policies, ransomware detection, and broader coverage including Google Groups and Directory. Best suited for organizations comfortable navigating a more complex interface in exchange for deeper functionality.

Who should look elsewhere: Non-technical teams needing 24/7 support should consider CloudAlly, and organizations needing bulk recovery capabilities should consider AvePoint.