Redstor Google Workspace Backup Review

Initial setup was quick, taking under 10 minutes from account creation to queuing the first backups. No external documentation was needed for the basic setup process.

The main point of friction came from having to authenticate with Google separately for each workload being backed up. Backup tasks for Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Contacts, and Classroom must be configured separately. Needed to sign in with Google five times but the marketplace app only needed to be installed once. By comparison, most competitors require just one or two authentication steps.

The initial on-demand Gmail backup did not complete correctly. We got multiple errors with our initial Gmail backups. 4 out of 5 active Gmail accounts showed as having the backup missed, but the platform did not show why. When subsequent scheduled backups ran, the errors disappeared and all data was eventually backed up. There was no explanation for why the initial backups failed or what corrected itself.

Progress visibility is limited. The UI shows “Backup in progress” with a simple unlabeled progress bar. There are no detailed indicators of backup progress, and the Notifications tab information disappears quickly.

Five separate Google sign-ins and four failed initial Gmail backups is why we have given a five for deployment.

Redstor’s coverage is good for the core workloads. Redstor backs up Gmail, Drive, Shared Drives, Contacts, Calendar, Classroom, and Forms. Google Chat and Google Sites are not supported.

Redstor is one of a few products we tested that supports Google Classroom backup. However, Classroom data can't be restored back into Classroom: recovery is a download through Redstor's InstantData, which you then use to rebuild the course. Course calendars and student replies to announcements aren't backed up. If you’re in the education sector and rely on Classroom for student submissions, assignments, and course materials, this is a really strong reason to consider Redstor.

Google Forms are backed up but converted into ZIP archives containing the form’s CSV and HTML components. They cannot be restored in their original form. Google's API can recreate a form's structure but not its responses, so Forms recovery is limited across vendors.

We found retention, and specifically retention policies were a significant weakness for Redstor’s Google Workspace product.

There are no configurable retention policies for Google Workspace in the portal. When we tested in April, the product used unlimited retention. Redstor's current documentation says new customers on its new pricing plan get 84 monthly roll-ups by default, and retention can be changed by raising a support ticket, although its product page still advertises unlimited retention. Retention policies are only configurable in the portal for M365 and Azure VM workloads.

For comparison, Acronis, AvePoint, and Druva all offer the ability to assign retention policies at both group and individual user level.

On the positive side, if a user is backed up but later becomes suspended in Google Workspace, their existing backup data is retained as an “inactive” seat.

However, users that are inactive or suspended at the time of initial setup will not be included in the backup set. Retained data from suspended users still counts towards the tenant’s pooled storage limit.

Cross-user restore is supported, which is helpful when employees leave. Gmail can be restored to another account, but Redstor can't restore a deleted user's Contacts or Calendar. Having to go through support to change retention is why we have awarded a five in this section.

Recovery was the weakest area of Redstor’s Google Workspace product. We found it challenging to restore mailboxes, especially single items. There is no search bar at all for Google Workspace backups. Finding specific items requires manually clicking through folders. This is a significant gap compared to competitors. Every other product we tested offers at least basic metadata search.

When we did restore a full Gmail mailbox (approximately 700 MB), instead of consolidating data into a single label, Redstor created numerous sub-labels with timestamps and appended numbers. This makes the restored data extremely difficult to sort through. This behavior was confirmed in video testing and was not observed in any other solution we tested.

There are no filtering options available beyond selecting which user or Drive to restore from. You cannot filter by date, sender, subject, or any other criteria. Restored items are always sent to a dedicated timestamped “Redstor Restores” folder. There is no option to choose an alternative destination.

During testing, restoring around 700 MB of Gmail data to another user failed with no reason why given. A second attempt succeeded after around two hours. The lack of detail on why these errors occurred is the biggest issue here as it makes it difficult to solve the problem.

Only users with portal login access can perform restores. There is no self-service option for end users. In fact, every restore requires re-authenticating with Google Workspace administrator permissions and an OTP code. While this adds security, it also adds friction to the recovery process.

On the positive side, single-item restores worked well and completed in under a minute. You can also include multiple mailboxes in a single restore job, though you cannot start another restore job while one is already running. Redstor recommends recovering multiple accounts in bulk rather than one after another. Shared Drive data can't be restored back to a Shared Drive, and original timestamps, metadata and permissions aren't restored for Drive files.

While the mechanics of finding and restoring data are weak, the underlying protection of that data is genuinely strong — which is what the next section covers.

Redstor offers malware scanning for certain attachment types in Gmail, Drive, and Classroom backups. This is a genuine differentiator that most backup solutions we tested do not offer. For organizations concerned about restoring infected data after a ransomware event, this is a real advantage.

Restores for multiple mailboxes can be queued at the same time relatively easily. You can select a specific date and time snapshot to restore data from, which gives you the ability to choose a known-good recovery point.

Backups are immutable, which protects against tampering. Admins can still delete a backup set after re-authenticating, and Redstor can undo this within 336 hours (14 days) through a support ticket.

Redstor stores backup data in its own operated data centers in the UK, US and South Africa, completely separate from Google's infrastructure. This means if there is a Google outage, your backups remain accessible.

The main limitation is the lack of granular search and filtering noted in the Recovery section, which would slow down the process of identifying what needs to be restored if you did have a major ransomware incidence.

Redstor’s backup health monitoring is missing some features that would make it easier to troubleshoot issues if any popped up. There is no real-time alerting. Failures are displayed in the portal and noted in daily email notifications (if enabled), but you will not receive an immediate alert when something goes wrong. For comparison, AvePoint, SpinOne, and NinjaOne all offer real-time alerting capabilities.

As we mentioned earlier, when errors did occur during our review, there wasn’t much information provided on why the backup failed. We also found the backup status graph and Gmail backup overview also contained conflicting information on which backups were successful and which had issues.

MSPs can view dashboards and receive daily or weekly email reports for individual customers or all customers. However, report information is not exportable.

Governance and security is a weaker area for Redstor’s Google Workspace backup solution, unfortunately.

Admin activity audit logs are limited. There is a dedicated menu for audit logs, but you can only view which user completed an action one at a time by clicking individual log entries. Logs support some basic filtering but have minimal detail and cannot be exported. If your organization needs to retain and provide audit evidence for compliance purposes, this could be a challenge. Customer-managed encryption keys (BYOK) are supported through Azure Key Vault or AWS KMS, launched in July 2026.

On the positive side, restores require OTP authentication, which adds a security layer. Admins can control which users have access to Google Workspace backups and assign specific action permissions. SSO login is supported.

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Support teams are based in the US, UK, and South Africa. Redstor is SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified with clear GDPR positioning.

Redstor uses a simple seat-based licensing structure. For Google Workspace, a “seat” is a user of Gmail, Drive, Contacts, Calendar, and/or Classroom.

Shared Drives are only considered seats if they have a corresponding Gmail mailbox. Pooled storage is 50 GB per seat, with an overage charge of $0.08 per GB if the limit is exceeded.

Pricing is clearly displayed in the portal, which is a positive. You can see exactly what you’re being billed for without needing to contact sales. This level of transparency is not offered by all backup solutions and it’s great to see here.

Support is available via phone and web during regional business hours, with teams in the US, UK, and South Africa. The portal includes guided tours and easy access to documentation. The chatbot in the Redstor portal can also be used to log a support ticket.

Redstor's Google Workspace backup is a product of contrasts. The data is well-protected once it's in the system — immutable backups stored in Redstor-operated data centers, malware scanning across Gmail, Drive, and Classroom, OTP-gated restores, and SOC 2 / ISO 27001 certification all give the platform a strong security foundation.

Coverage is also strong, Classroom backup is a strength for the education sector, though recovery is download-only, and the seat-based pricing is transparent in a way most competitors aren't.

Unfortunately, the first cross-user restore we attempted failed with no error message; the second succeeded but produced a mailbox cluttered with timestamped sub-labels. Initial on-demand backups failed silently for four of five accounts. There is no real-time alerting when something breaks, audit logs can't be exported, and end users have no self-service option.

It's also worth noting that Redstor's Google Workspace product is less mature than its Microsoft 365 offering. There are granular retention policies for M365 and Azure VM workloads, for example, but they are not yet available here.

Redstor may suit SMBs or MSPs looking for a secure, set-and-forget backup with cost-effective pricing, but we'd recommend testing recovery carefully before committing.

Who this is for: SMBs that want a simple, reliable set-and-forget backup solution. Best suited for organizations that do not need granular retention, or large-scale recovery capabilities. Also worth considering for education environments that need Classroom backup.

Who should look elsewhere: Enterprises or MSPs needing granular retention, fast and reliable recovery, or real-time alerting. Organizations with strict compliance requirements around differentiated retention should consider AvePoint, Druva, or Acronis.