Keepit vs Spanning vs Gearset

These three products all document Salesforce backup and recovery, but the useful choice depends on the restore operation your team needs to rehearse. Keepit describes record, field and metadata recovery into production or a sandbox. Spanning documents restores inside Salesforce, including cross-org recovery. Gearset documents daily and selective hourly jobs, plus record version comparison. Treat these as vendor descriptions to verify in a trial, not as evidence of recovery speed in your own org.✓ 123

• Start with Keepit if the key exercise is moving a narrow set of records, fields or metadata into production or a sandbox.✓ 1
• Start with Spanning if administrators need to test an on-demand snapshot, cross-org recovery and backup monitoring within Salesforce.✓ 2
• Start with Gearset if different objects require different backup frequency and your team needs to compare record versions during an investigation.✓ 3

3 products at a glance

The matrix is a map of the cited vendor pages. It is not a tested feature-by-plan guarantee. In a buying process, ask each provider to show the same sample loss event, then record the exact steps and permissions required to recover it.✓ 1✓ 2✓ 3

Keepit: inspect the recovery destination

Keepit says its Salesforce service uses automated daily backups. Its page lists standard and custom objects, and says metadata available through the API is included. Those statements establish a useful scope for a demo, but they do not establish that every object or dependency in your own org has been configured correctly. Bring one standard record, one custom record, an attachment and a metadata change to the test. Ask the provider to identify where each item appears in the backup and how it is selected for restore.✓ 1

The distinctive restore question is destination and granularity. Keepit describes recovering specific records, fields and metadata directly into production or a sandbox. It also lists bulk recovery of records with their related records. A buyer should test both a single-field mistake and a larger related-record loss, because the operational path may differ. Record what happens to existing values and relationships when the selected backup is applied. The vendor's capability statement does not substitute for a rehearsal with your own data model.✓ 1

Where Keepit needs closer inspection

The retention period depends on the service offering: the page describes five years for Core Continuity, ten years for Business and Enterprise Resilience, and an add-on for unlimited retention. Do not collapse these into one universal retention promise. Ask for the proposed service offering and test a recovery point at the edge of the stated policy. Keepit also describes activity audit logs, which gives security and operations teams a concrete way to inspect who accessed the platform during the exercise.✓ 1

Migration difficulty

Before replacing an existing backup process, export its current schedule, retention policy and sample recovery procedures. List the standard and custom objects that matter to revenue operations, then include related-record recovery in a trial. Keepit documents those object and restore categories; the effort of mapping your particular Salesforce org is an implementation question, not a measured claim from the vendor page.✓ 1

Spanning: rehearse recovery inside Salesforce

Spanning documents daily automatic backups and unlimited on-demand snapshots. The on-demand option matters before imports or major configuration changes, because the administrator can create a known checkpoint. A practical trial should include one scheduled snapshot and one administrator-triggered snapshot. The team can then compare the recovery steps after a deleted record and after an overwritten field. Spanning says it can recover specific record fields or entire updated or deleted records, so these are fair scenarios to ask it to demonstrate.✓ 2

Spanning also describes cross-org restore for data and metadata and says the product is built into the Salesforce interface. Those claims point to a workflow question: who is permitted to restore, where does the restored item land, and how does the team confirm the destination is correct? Ask the demonstrator to show a sandbox or separate org case rather than treating cross-org restore as a checkbox. Capture the steps, record counts and post-restore validation method.✓ 2

Where Spanning needs closer inspection

Its page describes configurable unlimited backup retention. That is a vendor statement, so confirm the policy in the agreement and in the administrator interface for your intended account. Spanning also describes dashboards for daily backup-health monitoring and activity logs for individual interactions. During a trial, deliberately inspect a successful job, an alert and an audit entry. A backup that exists but is hard to verify can still leave administrators uncertain during an incident.✓ 2

Migration difficulty

Map the Salesforce permission model before inviting end users into a restore test. Spanning's Salesforce interface approach affects training and access review: document which users can initiate snapshots, view records and execute recoveries. Use a limited test org and require the same verification after restore that the team would use in production. These are buyer tasks inferred from the documented product workflow, not an estimate of deployment time.✓ 2

Gearset: decide which objects need more frequent copies

Gearset describes automated daily backups of the whole org, hourly jobs for critical objects, and on-demand jobs. That creates a specific design choice: which objects really warrant the more frequent schedule? Start with a short list tied to business-critical records and define why each belongs there. Gearset also says a job filter can include or exclude objects. Confirm the filter configuration by inspecting the first completed backup, because the selected scope matters as much as the schedule.✓ 3

The vendor says it can back up production orgs and full or partial copy sandboxes. It lists records, files, attachments, Big Objects and metadata in its backup scope. Those labels make a useful test inventory, but they do not prove that a particular purchased configuration covers every item. Build a small sample for each category your organization actually uses. Then ask the demonstrator to find it in a snapshot and recover it in an isolated environment.✓ 3

Where Gearset needs closer inspection

Gearset says teams can compare individual record versions, view deleted data and restore from a previous state. Test that investigation flow after both an accidental edit and a deletion. Its page also describes setting retention policies for a backup job. Have the security owner specify the retention requirement first, then verify the configured job matches it. Avoid choosing a default solely because it is available in the interface.✓ 3

Migration difficulty

Inventory current backup jobs, object filters and sandboxes before moving. Test the daily job, an hourly job for a selected object and an on-demand checkpoint with representative data. Save the evidence from each run and document who can change the filter or retention policy. The vendor describes these controls, while the actual migration effort depends on your org's data relationships and approval process.✓ 3

Choose by recovery drill, not a feature count

Use one written incident scenario for all three vendors. Include an overwritten field, a deleted custom record with related records, and a change that must be recovered in a separate environment. Before the demonstration, define the acceptable recovery point and the person authorized to restore. During the demonstration, capture the available snapshot, selected scope, destination, permissions, audit trail and validation step. Keepit's granular destination options, Spanning's cross-org workflow and Gearset's version comparison give each provider a concrete path to show.✓ 1✓ 2✓ 3

After the drill, compare the work required from the administrator, the clarity of the recovered result, and how confidently the team can show what changed. These are evaluation criteria, not measured rankings of the products. Review the proposed plan and retention terms separately; the published feature pages do not establish the exact contents of your eventual contract. A sound choice is the one whose documented workflow survives your own rehearsal under the permissions, data model and recovery policy you will actually operate.

FAQ

How we researched this

We reviewed official Salesforce backup pages from Keepit, Spanning and Gearset on October 8, 2026. Each product statement above maps to a saved verbatim excerpt and a public vendor page. We did not run hands-on recovery tests or infer recovery-time results. Plan terms and fit should be checked against a current proposal and a controlled restore exercise.