Nimbus vs Cloud-PBS: Which Managed PBS Backup Should You Choose in 2026?

Nimbus (NimbusBackup): network operator and backup on its own infrastructure

NimbusBackup is the backup brand of RDEM Systems, an autonomous network operator under AS206014. Unlike traditional resellers, Nimbus operates its own infrastructure in the Equinix Paris datacenter (Tier III equivalent) with BGP peering to major networks via France-IX, Hopus, DE-CIX, AMS-IX and LINX for servers hosted in-house.

Nimbus key strengths:

• Own infrastructure (AS206014): autonomous network, BGP peering via France-IX, Hopus, DE-CIX, AMS-IX and LINX for servers hosted in-house
• Equinix Paris, Tier III equivalent: world-class datacenter, redundant power, maximum physical security
• 3-tier model: own infra on AS → rented hardware at major European hosts (OVH for example) → rented hardware as needed
• Multi-level air gap: LTO tapes in secure DC cabinet (AirGapped LTO) or off-site bank vault (Drive Bank, Magnetic Bank)
• Transparent public pricing: all offerings (Single Drive, Magnetic, AirGapped LTO, Bank) with published prices
• Fast delivery: 80% of requests within 4 business hours, 95% within 8 business hours

Browse all our hosted PBS plans or use the pricing comparison tool.

Cloud-PBS (Lenoit SARL): Authorized Proxmox Reseller

Cloud-PBS is a service by Leno IT, an authorized Proxmox reseller. Cloud-PBS claims over 250 users (source: cloud-pbs.com). The parent company Lenoit (SARL) was registered in March 2025, with 12 Trustpilot reviews to date (last review: May 2025). Cloud-PBS offers managed PBS, both shared and dedicated.

Cloud-PBS key strengths:

• Community: 250+ users claimed, existing knowledge base
• Authorized Proxmox Reseller: official certification from the Proxmox vendor
• Multi-geo: EU and US regions on the pricing page (checked on October 8, 2026: US available on the fixed-storage Datastore, "soon" on the other offers)
• 7-day free trial on request, up to 2 TB: quick onboarding with no commitment

Detailed comparison table

Here's a point-by-point comparison to help you objectively evaluate each criterion:

Pricing comparison: tier by tier

The two entry-level offerings (Nimbus Single Drive and Cloud-PBS "Datastore Standard" shared EU) are compared below:

On these shared tiers, prices are identical; Cloud-PBS also offers a 750 GB tier at €10. Its Pay-As-You-Go 1-AZ offer, detailed below, is cheaper up to 900 GB. Beyond that, the difference lies in the underlying infrastructure and advanced offerings.

Advanced Nimbus offerings (not available from Cloud-PBS at public pricing):

Cloud-PBS plan families — full picture (pricing checked on September 17, 2026)

The table above only covers the "Datastore Standard" shared tier. Cloud-PBS now markets three distinct plan families, including a new Pay-As-You-Go offering launched recently. Source: cloud-pbs.com/pricing, checked on September 17, 2026 (page text, JSON-LD structured data and the tier table published by the page).

Infrastructure

The fundamental difference between Nimbus and Cloud-PBS lies in the infrastructure model. Nimbus operates its own autonomous network (AS206014) and owns hardware in the Equinix Paris datacenter, a globally recognized Tier III equivalent facility. Cloud-PBS states on its comparison page that it operates in "Paris and regional sites, plus DE and US partner DCs" (checked on October 8, 2026). Nimbus also rents backup servers from major French or European hosting companies (such as OVH) when it does not invest in its own; no transfer outside the EU by default.

This has a concrete impact: peering with major networks via France-IX, Hopus, DE-CIX, AMS-IX and LINX, for servers hosted in-house, allows Nimbus to control latency and bandwidth end-to-end. For those servers, data doesn't traverse a third-party hosting provider's intermediate networks.

Nimbus's 3-tier model offers unique flexibility: own infrastructure on its AS for maximum performance, rented hardware at major European hosts (OVH for example) for multi-site, and rented hardware when needed. RDEM Systems can operate its own servers in foreign datacenters with local networking, or rent servers. The team also provides end-to-end managed Proxmox services for clients who want to delegate infrastructure management.

Learn more about offsite Proxmox backup and explore all our IT services.

Security and air gap: the key differences

An air gap is a security measure that physically isolates a storage medium from any computer network. It's the strongest defense against ransomware and cyberattacks.

Nimbus offers multi-level air gap. The AirGapped LTO PBS plan stores LTO tapes in a secure datacenter cabinet, physically disconnected from the network (same site). For maximum isolation, the Drive Bank PBS and Magnetic Bank PBS plans transport media to an off-site bank vault, ensuring true complete physical air gap.

Cloud-PBS offers a "Managed Offline Copy" described as air-gapped cold storage in a different availability zone. The storage medium is not publicly specified. This approach is similar to a Double Drive PBS or an AirGapped Drive PBS at Nimbus. This service is only available on a quote basis.

Delivery and onboarding

Measured delivery times at Nimbus: 80% of requests processed within 4 business hours and 95% within 8 business hours, with optional 24/7 on-call support available. Once the datastore is delivered, backup is operational in 5 minutes: just add the PBS storage in Proxmox VE and launch your first backup job.

Both providers offer a 7-day free trial with no commitment (on request and up to 2 TB at Nimbus).

Cloud-PBS does not publicly communicate delivery times. Check out our step-by-step guide to add a PBS in Proxmox VE.

A backup provider should not be able to read your data

That is our position on this business, and it decides the rest of this section: a provider that stores your backups should not be in a position to read them. Anything a provider can prove about your data has a price, and that price is access to the data.

Cloud-PBS offers a restore test it runs itself: the snapshot is restored onto an isolated Proxmox VE host they provide, then booted, with a screenshot, a serial console log and a signed PDF report. For an audit file that is solid evidence, and we do not offer that service in that form.

Their documentation also states two things, which we take at face value. Encryption is presented as optional — “Encryption is opt-in. A datastore created without an encryption key stores backups in deduplicated but unencrypted form.” — and the operator states it has no access to the key: “the PBS operator (including Cloud-PBS) does not have access to your key” (page read on 8 October 2026, last updated 21 May 2026).

Both statements hold as long as you do not hand them the key. Their page on browsing backups, however, says: “If your backups are encrypted client-side […], Cloud-PBS needs the encryption key to read their content.” The key is saved in the datastore's Restore tab, and “it is stored encrypted” (pageread on 8 October 2026, last updated 8 October 2026). In other words, Cloud-PBS asks for the key if you want to browse an encrypted backup from their interface.

This is cryptography, not a criticism: you cannot read, let alone boot, a backup you cannot decrypt. A boot test run by a provider therefore implies either that this provider holds the encryption key, or that the backup is not encrypted. Their page on the restore test does not address encryption (checked on 8 October 2026). If your backups are encrypted client-side, that is the question to ask them.

Our position is simple: for a customer who only entrusts us with hosting their backups, the key stays with them and we never ask for it, not even for a test. If you want to test a restore yourself, the test happens on your side, with your key.

Our choice sits at the other end of that trade-off. We recommend client-side encryption, so as your backup provider, we cannot boot your backups — but we can tell you which ones are not protected: the member area continuously counts unencrypted snapshots and shows the result (“14 of 234 snapshots are not encrypted”).

Restore tests performed by us are part of our managed services, where the restore actually happens: inside the Proxmox VE and VM managed-service contract. The test is then run from your own hypervisor, with the key we hold as the administrator of that Proxmox VE — a role distinct from that of backup provider, one you grant us explicitly, and one that applies whether the backup is hosted with us or with a provider where we are registered as the technical contact. They are included in our three managed-service plans.

In fairness, the same nuance applies to us: client-side encryption is an option you switch on, not a default. That is exactly why the counter exists — and it is the only way we know of holding the position above without leaving you in the dark.

Who should choose what?

Frequently asked questions