We compared Azure Backup and IBM Spectrum Protect based on user reviews in five categories. We reviewed all of the data and you can find the conclusion below.
Features: Azure Backup is commended for its scalability, comprehensive security options, and non-disruptive backup process. Users also like its seamless integration with various Azure services. IBM Spectrum Protect is highly regarded for its ability to integrate with tape libraries and its customization options. Users also praised Spectrum Protect for its compatibility with various products, scalability, and stability. Azure Backup needs to improve its backup and file-level restoration procedure. IBM Spectrum Protect could improve its integration with cloud services and make its interface more user-friendly.
Service and Support: Azure's customer service is generally considered helpful and proactive, but a few users have reported longer wait times and slow issue resolution. IBM’s customer service is described as high quality, friendly, knowledgeable, and responsive. At the same time, some said the support process can be lengthy.
Ease of Deployment: Azure Backup's setup is easy, quick, and can be completed with minimal user involvement. IBM Spectrum Protect's initial setup is challenging and demands skilled professionals to configure multiple parameters and features. This process can be time-consuming.
Pricing: Azure Backup is a cloud-based solution, so its pricing depends on factors like storage and data consumption. Azure offers competitive pricing and is considered more cost effective than many competing solutions. IBM Spectrum Protect is considered expensive. The pricing model is complex, taking into account factors like processor type and volume.
ROI: Azure Backup offers a solid return on investment with its affordable pricing and low initial costs, particularly when upgrading solutions. Users have realized benefits from IBM Spectrum Protect’s data protection and retrieval. They appreciate its ability to reduce storage requirements with larger tape sizes.
Comparison Results: Azure Backup is an affordable, scalable solution that features an effortless deployment and native integration with Azure services. While reviews of Azure Backup’s features were generally positive, some users reported unsatisfactory experiences with Azure support. IBM Spectrum Protect is a reliable, customizable solution that allows smooth integration with tape libraries. At the same time, some say that the user interface could be more intuitive and Spectrum Protect could integrate better with the cloud.
"It's very simple to configure which is very useful. It's not complex to configure it."
"You have the flexibility to encrypt your backups and choose the storage capacity you're comfortable paying for."
"The best aspect of the solution is its backup functionality."
"The MARS agent makes it easy to use."
"It offers seamless integration."
"The product is cost-effective compared to other vendors."
"The deployment process is quite easy in Azure."
"This solution allows me to restore either the VM or the data, depending on what is needed."
"The file-restoring feature is the most valuable."
"We have a very good team of administrators who know the product perfectly and are able to manage it on a day-to-day basis."
"Enterprise-wide type of architecture supports a lot of different platforms."
"We optimize our costs of media and storage use, thanks to the Incremental Forever backup. The TDP software provides us many ways to protect our data, so we don't need to use monstrous scripts for doing backups now."
"The scheduled backups ensure we meet the requirements for our business, and we keep backups of certain environments."
"We have been using it for several years, and it is quite reliable and predictable. We are quite comfortable with this solution. They're coming up with new features as well. It has good scalability, and it provides good integrations with business-critical applications or databases, such as SAP HANA. It works as expected, and we don't see any issues."
"The feature we have found most valuable is when you want to integrate it with a Tape Library and then do the DRM life cycle. That is when it works the best."
"In the past, one of the most valuable features, and the biggest advantage, was the incremental forever feature. Not many other backup vendors provided that. In the pre-virtualization environment, it was very robust and simple technology, especially writing to tape."
"Lacks an AI system that would enable easier upgrading of the hardware."
"I would like to have the option to increase the frequency of the backups. Azure Backup does backups on an hourly basis, but I would prefer it to take backups more often."
"Azure Backup could improve by offering better integration for Oracle databases and enhancing features like granular restore and backup compliance capabilities."
"My company faces a lot of difficulties in restoring any encrypted VM backup."
"It still does not have a lot of customization, especially if your workloads are not in Azure."
"I believe more options could be available to understand better what's happening in the system. Additionally, automating the client updates and connector updates would be beneficial. Updating the connector from time to time can be challenging, and it could be made more transparent and straightforward for users. Moreover, another drawback lies in the time it takes to test full data backup recovery. Deploying a full recovery takes longer. We need to allocate a longer period for complete data recovery to establish the environment again."
"The compression ratio of the backup data should be improved."
"The Azure Backup support for on-premises service is limited."
"I would love to see something which allows us to do an auto restart of backup jobs."
"My customers are not always happy with the Level 1 support. Sometimes, it just takes too long for the response to come, which is probably something that needs to be addressed."
"It needs better connectivity with other non-IBM application hardware and non-IBM platforms."
"There were scalability issues only in the brand new features which were recently released."
"We should be talking about the capacity of the tape drives. That's the only problem."
"It needs agents that take into account more databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)."
"I would like to see a way to have "always on" implemented."
"It needs BMR (bare machine recovery) solutions for both Windows and Linux systems."
Azure Backup is ranked 9th in Backup and Recovery with 51 reviews while IBM Spectrum Protect is ranked 17th in Backup and Recovery with 146 reviews. Azure Backup is rated 7.8, while IBM Spectrum Protect is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Azure Backup writes "Straightforward to set up and manage and allows us to monitor all backups in one place". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IBM Spectrum Protect writes "Performance and recoveries are better, and customers are happier with performance". Azure Backup is most compared with Veeam Backup & Replication, Rubrik, Commvault Cloud, Acronis Cyber Protect and Veritas NetBackup, whereas IBM Spectrum Protect is most compared with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, Veeam Backup & Replication, Commvault Cloud, Rubrik and Iron Mountain Connect. See our Azure Backup vs. IBM Spectrum Protect report.
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We monitor all Backup and Recovery reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.