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Dell NetWorker vs Dell PowerProtect Data Domain comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.0
Dell NetWorker delivers cost savings, enhanced recovery, and efficiency, proving invaluable for business continuity and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
5.9
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers efficient cost-saving storage solutions, fast recovery, and reliability for large organizations despite initial costs.
One is less floor space in the data center and the ability to pack more data into the backup storage on Dell PowerProtect Data Domain as compared to the traditional backup storage.
Vice President - Information Technology Systems Engineering at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The best part is the compression and deduplication feature.
Lead Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
We have not fully expanded the air gap yet, and we are still in the testing stages concerning recovery in case of a cybersecurity threat.
Sr Systems Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
Dell NetWorker customer service is praised for quick assistance but criticized for delays and variable expertise, especially regionally.
Sentiment score
7.1
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain support is praised for quick, knowledgeable service, despite occasional delays and regional inconsistencies.
Technical support from Dell is excellent.
Solution Architect at Apollo Telecom
quick responses whenever we log a complaint
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
They are very responsive and helpful.
System Engineer at NCCPL
We feel that we are working with people who understand the technology and the historical patterns of this environment, and when we raise a support request, we have no doubt because it seems that we are working with a product engineer.
System Administrator at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
They respond within 24 hours of case submission, which is crucial for maintaining the solution.
Sr System Expert at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
I have dedicated support from Dell for Vietnam, and they are responsive.
Information Technology Technician at Lac Viet Computing
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Dell NetWorker offers scalability but faces challenges in VMware connections, storage, licensing, and large-scale stability for some users.
Sentiment score
6.6
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers scalable enterprise storage with flexible expansion, efficient deduplication, but may need additional licensing.
While the solution is scalable, the cost involved in upgrading or enhancing the solution can be significant.
Solution Architect at Apollo Telecom
Dell NetWorker is very scalable and flexible, deserving a high rating for its scalability.
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at Safaricom Ethiopia plc
It is scalable enough for our environment.
System Engineer at NCCPL
The scalability depends on the IT department's strategy.
Sr System Expert at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is very scalable; it expands easily with new enclosures.
Storage Engineer at Comtrade Group
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain can scale up horizontally to meet the growing needs of our organization.
lead at Boston Scientific
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Dell NetWorker exhibits stability, rated high by users, improving with updates, while older versions faced occasional challenges.
Sentiment score
8.2
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is highly stable, reliable, with minimal issues and strong performance, earning high stability ratings.
The stability of Dell NetWorker is excellent.
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
In terms of stability, I would say it is about 80% stable now.
Senior Specialist Backup/Storage at National Bank of Kuwait
Dell NetWorker is stable.
System Engineer at NCCPL
We have never encountered issues such as data corruption with these systems.
Storage Engineer at Comtrade Group
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues with it.
IT Infrastructure and Telecom TL at a construction company with 51-200 employees
I have been using it for up to three years with no upgrading or downtime.
Data Protection Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Dell NetWorker users seek improved interfaces, cloud integration, and security, citing deployment challenges and a need for modern enhancements.
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain faces high costs, complex setup, and improvement needs in integration, support, and feature optimization.
The interface on the Java application makes it difficult, whereas the web interface is simple to use.
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at Safaricom Ethiopia plc
It is complex, and compared to solutions like Tivoli, Veritas, Veeam, and others, its look and feel are not up to par.
Solution Architect at Apollo Telecom
To connect to a server, it's necessary to install a client on the server, which is challenging.
System Engineer at NCCPL
Local support must be available in the country.
Head Of Systems Group at NCCPL
We can leverage writing NAS level backup into Dell PowerProtect Data Domain rather than utilizing any other software tools such as Networker.
Vice President - Information Technology Systems Engineering at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain represents the fastest and most reliable solution, ensuring great integration with backup software.
Storage Engineer at Comtrade Group
 

Setup Cost

Dell NetWorker offers complex licensing, with varied pricing; included in bundles, often costly but comprehensive and flexible for sectors.
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is costly, but performance and deduplication often justify its price despite higher costs than competitors.
The licensing cost is somewhat expensive.
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
It is almost four times the earlier price.
Head of Sales and Operations at New Horizon Computers
For small clients, it is very expensive.
Specialist Senior N2 at Entelgy
The pricing has become higher since July, and the license costs are more expensive compared to the past.
Technical manager at Advanced Computer Technology (ACT)
 

Valuable Features

Dell NetWorker provides robust backup solutions with automation, deduplication, scalability, and wide compatibility for various environments and systems.
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers exceptional deduplication, compression, reliability, scalability, cloud integration, and disaster recovery performance in data management.
I find NetWorker valuable for its wide range of automation features, including replication and data processing systems.
Solution Architect at Apollo Telecom
Dell NetWorker is versatile, allowing server backups and IBM tape library backups.
System Engineer at NCCPL
The new deduplication feature helps significantly with data compression and saves disk space by using pointers for repeated data, improving backup speed.
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
The most valuable feature of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is its deduplication capability.
Technical manager at Advanced Computer Technology (ACT)
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is highly consistent, durable, easy to install, scalable, and compatible with any software today.
Head of Sales and Operations at New Horizon Computers
The most beneficial features in the product are compatibility, which is the most valuable function.
Head Of Systems Group at NCCPL
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell NetWorker
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (10th)
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (1st), Disk Based Backup Systems (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Dell NetWorker and Dell PowerProtect Data Domain aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Dell NetWorker is designed for Backup and Recovery and holds a mindshare of 1.7%, down 3.2% compared to last year.
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, on the other hand, focuses on Deduplication Software, holds 25.4% mindshare, down 29.2% since last year.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell NetWorker1.7%
Veeam Data Platform7.6%
Commvault Cloud4.4%
Other86.3%
Backup and Recovery
Deduplication Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain25.4%
HPE StoreOnce18.1%
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager12.7%
Other43.8%
Deduplication Software
 

Featured Reviews

RaedHassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Specialist Backup/Storage at National Bank of Kuwait
Has supported flexible multi-platform backups and improved over time
Regarding the effectiveness of Dell NetWorker in terms of role-based access controls, I have experience with it, but I find it somewhat lacking in flexibility as it offers limited features, and I would rate it around seven out of ten. It is not that there is something wrong with the role-based access controls in Dell NetWorker, but it lacks many permissions or roles to assign, providing options only for administrator or user. To improve Dell NetWorker for the next release, I recommend enhancing flexibility in the policy, allowing selection of multiple options within the same policy, and addressing issues like the DNS lookup dependency to make it more controllable from Dell NetWorker itself rather than relying on other applications. Looking forward, I would like to see improved policy features and a more enhanced GUI, as it is still slow.
Branko Cirovic - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Engineer at Comtrade Group
Provides seamless backup integration and long-term reliability for enterprise data protection
The price is quite high; this product is not considered cheap. Additionally, if you use higher availability boxes, they also come at a premium price. However, they provide business continuity, which is the main reason why companies invest in this solution. Tape is slow; when restoring several virtual machines or databases amounting to several terabytes, Dell PowerProtect Data Domain represents the fastest and most reliable solution, ensuring great integration with backup software. If a customer has limited budget constraints, they may opt for cheaper external storage comprised of just a bunch of disks and utilize it for backup, as backup is not a business-critical service. However, I see great value in Dell PowerProtect Data Domain because it is fully automated, features great integration with backup software, and provides good value for money. I would rate software support as a ten, while I would give hardware support a seven. I never give any product a perfect score; I think Dell PowerProtect Data Domain deserves a nine. The only minor problems are the certificate issue and the price. These certificate issues are quite rare and mainly arise when we forget to restart and upgrade the box for several years.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise38
 

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between Dell EMC Avamar and Dell EMC NetWorker?
From the very beginning, Dell EMC NetWorker considers users and those who might potentially become users. In terms of both pricing and setup, this product offers an experience that is significantly...
What do you like most about Dell NetWorker?
The feature that offers the greatest benefits in ensuring data integrity is its backup capability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell NetWorker?
Regarding the pricing of Dell NetWorker, it depends on the deal or negotiation we have with the vendor, making it reasonable, although I cannot make a definitive decision without knowing the specif...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
My use cases for it involve primarily backing up the on-premises servers, and besides that, we also provision CIFS shares and NFS exports on Dell PowerProtect Data Domain.
What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
The product, a disk backup solution, improves our data application tasks. We used tape libraries with Dev drives in legacy architectures, resulting in slow backups compared to modern drives like NV...
 

Also Known As

NetWorker
DataDomain, Dell EMC Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Republic Bank, Westgate Resorts, Macquire Cloud Services, Shriners, Panatonni, Qatar Islamic Bank, Eurosport
The US Army, City of Houston, Lloyds TSB, TiVo, Teck, Ingram Entertainment, The New York Mets
Find out what your peers are saying about Veeam Software, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Commvault and others in Backup and Recovery. Updated: January 2026.
880,954 professionals have used our research since 2012.