Best UPS of 2020: the best uninterruptible power supplies
Welcome to our pick of the best UPS of 2020. Buying the best UPS (uninterruptible power supply) is an incredibly important purchase for businesses – as well as individuals – that rely on PCs, servers and other electronics being on 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This is because if there’s a power cut – even a very brief one – the loss of power can be catastrophic. Servers and files could become unreachable – or even worse, corrupted – by a sudden shutdown. The best UPS can prevent disaster striking when the power is cut, by seamlessly switching to battery power to continue to power your devices until either the main power is restored, or you’re able to safely shut down your device.
In these uncertain times, where many of us are working from home, buying the best UPS your budget can stretch to is even more important. You may find that you’re plugging in a lot more power-hungry devices into your home power supply, and this could lead to power cuts or power surges. Your home likely won’t have the power backup solutions that your office does, so buying a UPS for your home could be a very wise investment.
There are certain important things you should consider when looking to buy the best UPS for your business. For a start, you’ll want something that can provide enough power for your devices to keep running until the power is back on. If that’s not possible, they should at least offer enough power for you to reach them to safely initiate the correct shutdown procedure to prevent data loss.
The UPS devices we include in this guide cover a wide range of use cases, from small UPS devices for homes that can keep a router and PC running, to large and powerful UPS devices for enterprise uses. Because of this, we have listed these best UPS devices in no particular order.
Best UPS at a glance:
- CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD
- APC Back-UPS ES – BE700G
- APC BE600M1 Back-UPS 600VA
- Eaton 9SX 5000i RT3U
- Vertiv Liebert PSI 1500VA
CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD
The best UPS for small and medium sized businesses
Input voltage: 230 Vac | Output capacity: 900 (watts) | Outlets: 6 | Battery runtime: 10 mins (half load), 3 mins (full load) | Recharge time: 8 hours
LCD panel
USB ports included
Bulky
Expensive
The CyberPower CP1500EPFCLCD is an excellent UPS for home and small business use. It comes with a decent amount of ports, as well as USB, for plugging in your devices. RJ11/RJ45 ports keep your phone, fax and modem lines protected from power surges, and it comes with a number of energy-saving features to prevent it from wasting energy when in use. It also comes with a clear LCD display that gives you information about the UPS.
APC Back-UPS ES – BE700G
A simple UPS for voltage fluctuations
Input voltage: 230V | Output capacity: 405 (watts) | Outlets: 8 | Battery runtime: 13 mins (half load), 4 mins (full load) | Recharge time: 16 hours
Easy to use
LED status
Lacks features
Long charge time
If you’re after a cheaper, and more simple, UPS device, then the APC Back-UPS ES – BE700G is a great choice. We wouldn’t recommend it for large businesses with lots of mission-critical computers and servers, but it offers plenty of power for homes and small businesses to keep their devices going when the power fails. If you’re looking for something more feature-rich, however, you may want to consider a different UPS.
APC BE600M1 Back-UPS 600VA
Input voltage: 120V | Output capacity: 330 (watts) | Outlets: 7 (plus one USB port) | Battery runtime: 10 mins (half load), 3.2 mins (full load) | Recharge time: 10 hours
Plenty of power for home devices
Small form factor
Not a huge amount of ports
Not powerful enough for big businesses
This is another great UPS from APC, and with the BE600M1, the company has created a UPS device that is ideal for home use. That’s thanks to its small and unobtrusive design, and if offers enough power for smaller devices, such as home NAS drives, routers and games consoles. With careful management, you can keep the power flowing to a router or monitor for enough time to overcome most power cuts. For office use, with lots of power-sapping devices that need to be powered at once, then you’ll want to look elsewhere on this best UPS list, but for home users on a budget, this is a great choice.
Eaton 9SX 5000i RT3U
A flexible UPS for businesses
Input voltage: 21A | Output capacity: 230Vac | Battery runtime: 3.5 mins (full load) | Recharge time: 1.5 hours
Power efficiency features
Provides lots of power for numerous devices
Very expensive
Not suitable for home use
If you have a large office with several devices, then the Eaton Eaton 9SX 5000i RT3U is an excellent device. Not only does this rack-mounted UPS keep your important devices running when there’s an issue with your power, but it also provides some excellent power efficiency features that can cut energy usage (and associated bills) with up to 95% efficiency in online double conversion mode and 98% in high-efficiency mode. You can buy optional extended battery modules for increased run time, and the LCD user interface makes it easy to manage. Definitely a UPS to consider if you have
the budget.
Vertiv Liebert PSI 1500VA
A powerful UPS for business use
Input voltage: 300V | Output capacity: 1350 (watts) | Outlets: 8 | Battery runtime: 9 mins (half load), 3 mins (full load) | Recharge time: 5 hours
Plenty of power of office use
Decent recharge time
Overkill for home use
If you have a busy office with a number of essential devices that will need an uninterrupted power supply, then the Vertiv Liebert PSI 1500VA is definitely worth considering. Its three batteries will keep power-hungry devices running when the power goes down, and it can be installed into a server rack, making it convenient as well. It comes in a number of configurations, so you can choose the one that best suits your needs, but if you’re looking for a UPS for home use, then the APC BE600M1 Back-UPS 600VA above is a better choice.
