Firefly vs StackGuardian: cloud disaster recovery compared
Firefly scores 73.5 and StackGuardian scores 39.8 on this site's weights, so Firefly ranks higher overall. Firefly scores higher on infrastructure coverage, recovery automation, cross-region and cross-account rebuild, drift and change history, restore as code, data protection and pricing transparency, and StackGuardian does not score higher on any criterion.
Ranking current as of September 2026 · By the Cloud Resilience Vendors research desk
Verdict by criterion
| Criterion | Firefly | StackGuardian | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure coverage beyond data COV 20% | 86 | 30 | Firefly |
| Recovery automation AUTO 16% | 84 | 35 | Firefly |
| Cross-region and cross-account rebuild XREG 14% | 82 | 30 | Firefly |
| Drift and change history DRIFT 12% | 92 | 80 | Firefly |
| Restore as code (IaC generation) IAC 10% | 94 | 85 | Firefly |
| Data protection depth and cloud DR track record DATA 18% | 30 | 5 | Firefly |
| Pricing transparency PRICE 10% | 55 | 50 | Firefly |
| Weighted total | 73.5 | 39.8 | Firefly |
Firefly wins 7, StackGuardian wins 0, ties 0
- DATA
- Not covered or not published Does not document backing up data contents.
- CONFIG
- Restored Resource configuration restored as Terraform.
- NETWORK
- Restored VPC, subnets, security groups, NACLs, WAF in coverage table.
- IAM
- Restored IAM roles, policies and users in coverage table.
- DNS
- Restored Route 53 and Azure Private DNS zones in coverage table.
What the vendor's public material says it restores. Not a test result. Hatched = partial or not itemized.
- Data
- Not covered or not published Does not document backing up data contents.
- Configuration
- Restored Resource configuration restored as Terraform.
- Network
- Restored VPC, subnets, security groups, NACLs, WAF in coverage table.
- IAM
- Restored IAM roles, policies and users in coverage table.
- DNS
- Restored Route 53 and Azure Private DNS zones in coverage table.
What the vendor's public material says it restores. Not a test result. Hatched = partial or not itemized.
- DATA
- Not covered or not published No data protection.
- CONFIG
- Partial or not itemized Codifies unmanaged resources; no restore workflow.
- NETWORK
- Not covered or not published No recovery product.
- IAM
- Not covered or not published No recovery product.
- DNS
- Not covered or not published No recovery product.
What the vendor's public material says it restores. Not a test result. Hatched = partial or not itemized.
- Data
- Not covered or not published No data protection.
- Configuration
- Partial or not itemized Codifies unmanaged resources; no restore workflow.
- Network
- Not covered or not published No recovery product.
- IAM
- Not covered or not published No recovery product.
- DNS
- Not covered or not published No recovery product.
What the vendor's public material says it restores. Not a test result. Hatched = partial or not itemized.
How do Firefly and StackGuardian differ in approach?
Firefly is ranked as an infrastructure recovery platform, with the ranking note "Top ranked: rebuilds cloud infrastructure as code". StackGuardian is ranked in the IaC codification and governance category, with the ranking note "Best for codifying unmanaged resources on a budget".
Firefly
- Backup policies select applications by tag and run On-Demand, Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
Source: Firefly docs: Applications Backup & DR · Reviewed Sep 2026
- Firefly captures the dependencies an application needs, such as VPC, subnet and IAM instance profile, and restores by generating Terraform code rather than making direct cloud changes.
Source: Firefly docs: Applications Backup & DR · Reviewed Sep 2026
- Documented limitation: restoration depends on Terraform provider support.
Source: Firefly docs: Applications Backup & DR · Reviewed Sep 2026
StackGuardian
- Discovers unmanaged cloud resources and converts them into version-controlled Terraform or OpenTofu code.
Source: StackGuardian home page · Reviewed Sep 2026
- Continuous drift detection with audit reports, and policy guardrails with OPA/Rego.
Source: StackGuardian home page · Reviewed Sep 2026
- No backup or cloud disaster recovery product is described on the home page.
Source: StackGuardian home page · Reviewed Sep 2026
Where does each one score higher?
Firefly
- Infrastructure coverage beyond data: 86 vs 30. Docs list backup coverage for 190 AWS resource types across 48 services and 86 Azure resource types across 14 services, including IAM, Route 53, VPC, security groups, EKS and AKS; GCP is not in the coverage table.
- Recovery automation: 84 vs 35. Backup policies run on demand, daily, weekly or monthly and capture dependencies automatically; restore is a guided Terraform flow rather than a single failover button.
- Cross-region and cross-account rebuild: 82 vs 30. Firefly documents cross-region and cross-account rebuild, including into a clean, isolated region or account after ransomware.
- Drift and change history: 92 vs 80. Drift detection, mutation logs and a configuration history are core product features, not add-ons.
- Restore as code (IaC generation): 94 vs 85. Restores are generated as Terraform code, and codification covers Terraform, Pulumi and CloudFormation, so the recovered state is code the team keeps.
- Data protection depth and cloud DR track record: 30 vs 5. Firefly states that data backup is not service continuity and does not document backing up database or volume contents; it needs a data backup product alongside it.
- Pricing transparency: 55 vs 50. Essential is published at $2,499 a month billed annually, but Backup and DR sits in the Enterprise tier, which is custom priced.
StackGuardian
StackGuardian does not score higher than Firefly on any of the seven criteria.
What does each one cost?
| Vendor | Published pricing | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Firefly | 14-day free trial with all capabilities, no credit card. Essential: $2,499 per month billed annually, up to 20,000 assets. Enterprise (includes Infrastructure Backup and DR): custom pricing. Essential is published at $2,499 a month billed annually, but Backup and DR sits in the Enterprise tier, which is custom priced. | Source: Firefly pricing · Reviewed Sep 2026 |
| StackGuardian | Free tier with no credit card; enterprise plans: Contact sales. A free tier with no credit card is published; enterprise plans are Contact sales. | Source: StackGuardian pricing · Reviewed Sep 2026 |
Model your own inputs in the calculator.
Which should you choose?
Choose Firefly if you want recovery to produce infrastructure as code your team can review and keep, or you need a continuous record of what changed and drift detection against a known-good state. Firefly scores 94 on restore as code and 92 on drift and change history.
Choose StackGuardian if you want recovery to produce infrastructure as code your team can review and keep, and other factors this ranking does not score, such as an existing contract or team skills, favor it. On the seven criteria here, Firefly scores higher on every one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Firefly or StackGuardian better for cloud disaster recovery?
On this site's weights Firefly scores higher (73.5 vs 39.8). StackGuardian is ahead on no criterion. Which fits better depends on how much those criteria matter to you; the calculator lets you re-weight them. Open the calculator.
Do Firefly and StackGuardian publish their prices?
Firefly: 14-day free trial with all capabilities, no credit card. Essential: $2,499 per month billed annually, up to 20,000 assets. Enterprise (includes Infrastructure Backup and DR): custom pricing. StackGuardian: Free tier with no credit card; enterprise plans: Contact sales.
Do Firefly and StackGuardian back up data?
Firefly: Not covered or not published, does not document backing up data contents. StackGuardian: Not covered or not published, no data protection. Most teams pair an infrastructure recovery tool with a data backup product.