BackupAssist vs IBM ProtectTIER comparison

BackupAssist and IBM are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. BackupAssist is ranked #70, while IBM is ranked #82. BackupAssist holds a 0.2% mindshare in BRS, compared to IBM’s 0.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of BackupAssist users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of IBM users who would recommend it.

BackupAssist

Read 5 BackupAssist reviews

437 Views
263 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM ProtectTIER

Read 7 IBM ProtectTIER reviews

210 Views
167 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

BackupAssist

IBM ProtectTIER

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM ProtectTIER and BackupAssist are both popular backup solutions with distinct strengths and areas for improvement. BackupAssist appears to have the upper hand due to its competitive pricing and quicker return on investment, making it more appealing to small to medium-sized enterprises while IBM ProtectTIER is better suited for large enterprises with substantial data backup needs.

Features: IBM ProtectTIER is known for its scalable deduplication, high performance, and suitability for large enterprises. BackupAssist is recognized for its versatility, comprehensive backup solutions, and easy restore options. Users find BackupAssist superior due to its additional features catering to diverse environments.

Room for Improvement: IBM ProtectTIER users suggest enhancements in the complexity of initial setup, ongoing management, and cloud integration. BackupAssist could improve its cloud integration, automation features, and platform support. Users feel that BackupAssist's development requirements are more critical to their needs compared to IBM ProtectTIER.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ProtectTIER has a steep learning curve for deployment, requiring significant expertise, but offers highly rated customer service once operational. BackupAssist is praised for its straightforward installation process and proactive support team, reducing initial deployment issues and providing quick resolution of customer queries. Users find BackupAssist more user-friendly and easier to deploy.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ProtectTIER involves higher upfront costs and maintenance expenses, which can be concerning for smaller businesses. BackupAssist offers competitive pricing and a quicker return on investment, making it attractive to small to medium-sized enterprises. Users believe BackupAssist provides better value for money.

To learn more, read our detailed BackupAssist vs. IBM ProtectTIER Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist vs. IBM ProtectTIER

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 847,772 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

BackupAssist

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

70th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

MSP Backup (12th)

IBM ProtectTIER

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

82nd

Average Rating

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of BackupAssist is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 0.1%, down from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

RichardMukarakate

Director at Gemini Systems

Provides ransomware protection, does good reporting, and is close to perfect for our use case

The main challenge that I have had with it was no line of support, but I've anyway taken away the Linux machine that I was using. So, I don't need that anymore. I'm migrating my Exchange to the cloud. So, I probably will stop using the exchange backup side of it sometime next year, but the rest of the virtual machines that I have on-premises are very well covered by it. To be able to back up my online Exchange, I know there is a backup in the cloud, but I prefer to have something physical with something on my premises as well. It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it.

Read full review

ValereFEUGWANG

Information System Consultant at CFAO Technologies

Protects data in hybrid infrastructures, but it is an expensive product with poor support

The main challenge for our customers is to replicate the virtual environment upon restart, without using any additional solutions such as VMware SLM. I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM. It would be much better for us. This solution can be made easier to use. Technical support is very frustrating and we are considering other solutions because of it. Stability is something that should be improved. The product is expensive and the licensing should be changed.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable features of BackupAssist are ease of use, configure is simple, and more importantly, ease of recovery. If you needed to do a complete system recovery or another recovery it is straightforward."

"I get my reports. It is generally very reliable. Unless there is a major change, it doesn't stop backing up. I've got my server room set up with everything connected to the same power, and I never have power issues or failures of backups because a sub-site has gone off."

"I have found that the backups are usually very successful."

"We can configure the notifications themselves so that the right people get the notifications. This is very helpful. It allows key stakeholders to know if backups have happened and to remind each other to check the backups if something is not right."

"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."

"The command-line interface is good."

"The cataloging is the best feature. It takes millions of frames for the backup. It's incremental, so it takes less time to complete."

"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."

"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable. I've walked into the server room when it was at 60 degrees Celcius, and it was still running fine."

"The solution is highly stable."

Cons

"Many solutions become stagnant over time. However, BackupAssist has been consistent in updates but they must continue to innovate and improve to avoid stagnation."

"The solution needs a dashboard or some form of central control from which you can manage all backups."

"It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it."

"Many solutions become stagnant over time. However, BackupAssist has been consistent in updates but they must continue to innovate and improve to avoid stagnation."

"In the future I would like to see more support for Linux."

"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."

"I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM."

"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."

"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."

"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product pricing here in Zimbabwe is good, I cannot complain."

"The cost of the solution is reasonable and there are add-on options that can be purchased. I have used other solutions that are a lot more expensive that are not as good. The ability to get support is very simple and very reasonable from a cost standpoint."

"It's on a yearly basis, but I'm not the one who does the licensing on that. I don't have any figures, but it's on a yearly basis, and I believe it's reasonable."

"There's a yearly licensing cost. The costs might be around $2000 USD annually."

"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."

"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."

"This solution is very expensive."

"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

847,772 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

29%

Computer Software Company

24%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Comparisons

Veeam Data Platform vs BackupAssist

Compared 63% of the time

Acronis Cyber Protect vs BackupAssist

Compared 37% of the time

More BackupAssist Competitors

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 100% of the time

More IBM ProtectTIER Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist

April 2025

Download BackupAssist product report

Buyer's Guide

Deduplication Software

March 2025

Download IBM ProtectTIER product report

Overview

BackupAssist is a comprehensive backup and recovery software designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a wide range of features to ensure data protection and minimize downtime in case of system failures or disasters. With BackupAssist, users can easily create and manage backups for their critical data, applications, and systems.

One of the key features of BackupAssist is its support for multiple backup types, including full, incremental, and differential backups. This flexibility allows users to choose the backup strategy that best suits their needs and optimize storage space and backup time. Additionally, BackupAssist supports both local and remote backups, enabling users to store their backups on external drives, network shares, or cloud storage services.

BackupAssist also provides advanced features for application-specific backups, such as Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, and Hyper-V. These features ensure that critical business applications are backed up correctly and can be quickly restored in case of data loss or system failures. Moreover, BackupAssist offers granular recovery options, allowing users to restore individual files, folders, or even specific application items.

To further enhance data protection, BackupAssist includes features like encryption, compression, and verification. Encryption ensures that backups are securely stored and can only be accessed by authorized users. Compression reduces the backup size, optimizing storage space and reducing backup time. Verification checks the integrity of backups, ensuring that they can be successfully restored when needed.

BackupAssist also offers a range of disaster recovery options, including bare-metal recovery and virtual machine backups. Bare-metal recovery allows users to restore their entire system to new or existing hardware, minimizing downtime in case of hardware failures or system crashes. Virtual machine backups enable users to protect their virtualized environments, ensuring business continuity in virtualized infrastructures.

BackupAssist

IBM TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway is designed to meet the disk-based data protection needs of the enterprise data center while enabling significant infrastructure cost reductions. The solution offers industry-leading inline deduplication performance and scalability up to 1 petabyte (PB) of physical storage capacity per system, and can provide up to 25 PB or more backup storage capacity. Combined with IBM or third-party storage, TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway provides a powerful disk-based repository to improve the performance, retention and availability of backup and archive data in a small footprint for energy and cost efficiency.

IBM

Sample Customers

Monash University, NASA, NYU, Pfizer, RAF Association, Rockwell Colins, University of Arizona, US Department of State, Volvo

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist vs. IBM ProtectTIER

April 2025

Free Report: BackupAssist vs. IBM ProtectTIER

Find out what your peers are saying about BackupAssist vs. IBM ProtectTIER and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

847,772 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our BackupAssist vs. IBM ProtectTIER report.

See our list of best Backup and Recovery vendors.

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.