Squirrel vs. Microsoft 365 Archiving: Key Differences Explained

SharePoint Online Archiving Solutions

As organizations grow, so does their SharePoint storage. With Microsoft’s built-in options and third-party solutions like Squirrel Archiving, businesses often wonder: Which archiving solution is best for my organization?

This post compares Squirrel Archiving with Microsoft 365’s native archiving features to help IT administrators, compliance officers, and decision-makers choose the right approach for reducing SharePoint storage costs while ensuring easy file access and compliance.

Comparing Squirrel Archiving vs. Native Microsoft 365 Archiving

Understanding SharePoint Archiving

What is SharePoint Archiving?

Archiving in SharePoint Online is the process of moving old or inactive documents from primary storage to cheaper long-term storage while keeping them accessible when needed. This helps organizations reduce storage costs, improve performance, and meet compliance requirements.

Why is Archiving Important?

Avoid Microsoft’s Expensive Overages – SharePoint Online comes with fixed storage limits. Additional storage costs $0.20 per GB per month, which can add up quickly. 

Improve SharePoint Performance – Large libraries slow down search and collaboration.

Ensure Compliance & Retention – Many industries require long-term data retention.

Enable Easy Data Recovery – Users need quick access to archived files without IT intervention.

Storage and Cost Efficiency

Microsoft 365 provides additional SharePoint storage at $0.20 per GB per month. For organizations with terabytes of data, this can quickly add up. Squirrel moves files to Azure Blob Storage, offering up to a 70% cost reduction compared to Microsoft’s pricing.

Automated Archiving & User Experience

Microsoft’s native archiving tools focus on retention policies, but these do not move data to cheaper storage automatically. Admins must manually move files, making it inefficient. Squirrel automates archiving based on custom rules (e.g., last modified date, last accessed date, file type, folder location, sharepoint online site), ensuring that inactive files are archived without manual intervention.

Additionally, Microsoft’s approach does not provide stub files in SharePoint, meaning users may struggle to find their archived files. Squirrel, on the other hand, replaces archived files with clickable stubs, allowing one-click restoration without IT assistance.

Compliance & Retention Policies

Both Microsoft 365 and Squirrel support retention policies, but Microsoft’s approach retains files within costly SharePoint storage, whereas Squirrel offloads them to Azure while ensuring archived files remain accessible for compliance needs. This makes Squirrel more cost-effective for long-term storage.

Data Restoration & Accessibility

Comparison of Data Restoration Methods

Squirrel offers restore buttons directly in SharePoint, as well as stub files that allow users to restore their files with a single click. These features extend to SharePoint synced folders and Microsoft Teams (including private Teams channels), making it seamless for users to access their archived content from anywhere. Additionally, Squirrel enables end-users to archive their own files without IT involvement, providing full flexibility for content lifecycle management.

With Microsoft’s built-in archiving, users need IT intervention to retrieve archived files, whereas Squirrel allows self-service restores through the familiar SharePoint interface. This reduces IT workload and enhances productivity.

Squirrel offers restore buttons directly in SharePoint, as well as stub files that allow users to restore their files with a single click. These features extend to SharePoint synced folders and Microsoft Teams (including private Teams channels), making it seamless for users to access their archived content from anywhere. Additionally, Squirrel enables end-users to archive their own files without IT involvement, providing full flexibility for content lifecycle management.

Which One Should You Choose?

Dedicated Deployment & Data Ownership

Unlike multi-tenant cloud services, Squirrel is deployed as a dedicated instance for each client. There is no shared infrastructure across clients, ensuring higher security and better performance.

• Deployed in the same region as the SharePoint tenant to comply with data residency requirements.

• Uses the client’s own Azure Blob Storage, ensuring organizations retain full ownership of their archived data.

• While data traverses Squirrel’s appliance, it remains encrypted and compressed before being stored, adding an extra layer of security.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How does Squirrel integrate with SharePoint?

Squirrel seamlessly integrates with SharePoint Online, allowing users to archive and restore files via buttons in the UI, stub files, SharePoint synced folders, and Microsoft Teams.

Where is my data stored when using Squirrel?

Squirrel uses your own Azure Blob Storage, deployed in the same region as your SharePoint tenant, ensuring compliance with data residency requirements.

Is Squirrel a shared or dedicated service?

Each Squirrel deployment is dedicated to a single client. There is no shared infrastructure across clients, ensuring security and isolation.

Does Squirrel encrypt my archived data?

Yes, all archived data is encrypted and compressed before being stored in Azure Blob Storage.

Can users restore their own files without IT help?

Yes! Squirrel provides self-service restore options, allowing users to restore files with a single click via stub files, SharePoint synced folders, or Microsoft Teams.

Can users archive their own files too?

Yes! Unlike Microsoft 365 Archiving, which requires IT to set retention policies, Squirrel allows end-users to manually archive their own files, reducing IT workload.

Does Squirrel affect SharePoint search?

No. While files are archived, stub files remain in SharePoint, ensuring searchability and a seamless user experience.

What happens if my organization decides to stop using Squirrel?

Since your archived files are stored in your own Azure Blob Storage, you retain full ownership of your data, even if you stop using Squirrel.

Final Verdict: Squirrel Wins for Cost & Automation

For organizations that want to reduce SharePoint costs, automate archiving, and allow self-service restores, Squirrel is the superior choice. It provides a seamless user experience, dramatically lowers storage costs, and ensures compliance-friendly archiving.

Microsoft 365’s native archiving is useful for basic retention policies but lacks automation and cost-saving benefits. If your organization is looking for a smarter way to manage SharePoint storage and compliance, Squirrel is the solution you need.