Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Dell NetWorker vs IBM Spectrum Protect comparison

Dell Technologies and IBM are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. Dell Technologies is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM is ranked #17 with an average rating of 7.2. Dell Technologies holds a 3.1% mindshare in BRS, compared to IBM’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of IBM users who would recommend it.
Dell NetWorker
Read 84 Dell NetWorker reviews
  • 5,010 Views
  • 4,203 Comparison Views
90% willing to recommend
IBM Spectrum Protect
Read 149 IBM Spectrum Protect reviews
  • 4,073 Views
  • 3,133 Comparison Views
86% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM Spectrum Protect and Dell NetWorker compete in the data protection solutions category. Users generally rate IBM Spectrum Protect higher for pricing and support, but Dell NetWorker's features often make it a preferred investment.

Features: IBM Spectrum Protect is praised for its scalability, extensive platform support, and cost-effectiveness. Dell NetWorker is noted for its advanced integration capabilities, comprehensive reporting, and user-friendliness.

Room for Improvement: IBM Spectrum Protect users suggest enhancements in speed, modernizing backend processes, and better user interface customization. Dell NetWorker users seek improvements in backup and recovery speeds, better documentation, and improved security features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Spectrum Protect is described as complex to deploy but has robust customer service. Dell NetWorker offers a simpler deployment process yet has mixed reviews regarding customer support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Protect is considered cost-effective with a good ROI. Dell NetWorker's higher setup costs are balanced by its robust features and perceived long-term value.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
To learn more, read our detailed Dell NetWorker vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Report (Updated: March 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Dell NetWorker vs. IBM Spectrum Protect
March 2025
Download the complete report
Helped 845,040 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

Dell NetWorker
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Spectrum Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
17th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell NetWorker is 3.1%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

ErmiasGirma - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers seamless integration and cost-saving benefits with enhanced recovery capabilities
Currently, in my organization, I am using Dell NetWorker for open-source solutions like PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, and some large VM environments. It also supports the Dell library and is used for the library archiving system Dell NetWorker allows for extensive customization, supporting…
Read full review
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.
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

"NetWorker's most valuable feature is recovery, including the policy-based backups that can be configured."
"Data domain is a good feature."
"The backup feature for this product is good. It is easy to set up and easy to scale."
"NetWorker is fast and reliable."
"Anybody could drive the GUI."
"The possibility of recovering up-to-the-moment data is very useful."
"There are no problems in terms of stability."
"The solution has minimized the recovery time objective, and the recovery point objective, the RTO and RPO. Most customers are looking for to minimize downtime. The solution has helped ensure this."
More Dell NetWorker pros
"With data deduplication and compression, we are reducing our overall storage footprint for our disk histories. Therefore, we are reducing the actual cost of the disk for our data protection and data backups."
"SPIR is Instant Recovery for Spectrum Protect. It sends snapshots using space efficiently and blocking backups to the Spectrum Protect server. It provisions the snapshot from the backup server to the same or new server near instantly."
"It helps our customers protect their data, keep it long-term, and feel pretty secure about it, basically sleeping well at night."
"It has increased our security, scalability, and high availability."
"We can scale. Today, we have an average backup volume of 100TB a day."
"IBM Spectrum Protect offers stable software and products."
"It allows us to have one interface."
"Nothing beats this solution for file backup."
More IBM Spectrum Protect pros
 

Cons

"The installation process should be improved as it is complicated. To connect to a server, it's necessary to install a client on the server, which is challenging."
"There should be more vendors incorporated into the solution."
"I would like to see better support for the container systems, and we would like to see more support for image backups instead of pure file backups."
"There could be a possibility of constructing full backups from incremental data intelligently."
"The user interface of this solution could be improved. It is not user friendly and is difficult to understand for new users. New users struggle to understand the logic."
"There should be total integration of the replication and cloud logistic back up on cloud."
"When you're working with VMware, you need to use vProxy machines. You have to install the vProxy for every host in the VMware environment."
"Ports are not visible to the network, which requires a dedicated physical server."
More Dell NetWorker cons
"It does not do too well in our virtual environment."
"We are not so happy with the technical support because dealing with them is not easy. We have a very complicated environment, therefore I understand for a support person that it is not easy to troubleshoot it."
"Its management part can be better and simplified. It is kind of a beast as compared to Commvault or Veeam, but they are more user-friendly. They are also easier to learn, whereas Spectrum Protect definitely takes time. They should simplify it. Our teams are pretty comfortable with it because we have been using it for a long time, but from the perspective of a new user who is evaluating or using this solution, it is definitely more complex in terms of manageability. Its monitoring could be improved so that it can even monitor the jobs that are scheduled by external schedulers. There are situations where a database team might decide to use their own schedulers, but currently, Spectrum Protect is not able to catch those jobs in the Operation Manager console."
"Ease of use."
"I want to see better compression than what it currently does."
"They are behind on many things, especially security. They are catching up a little bit now, but the competitors are doing better security-wise. There should be malware detection and prevention and higher security."
"They need to do a better job on Windows, because if you are running Windows, the scalability is more limited than AIX and Linux."
"Perhaps some better documentation, which I believe was better in the past."
More IBM Spectrum Protect cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I have a capacity-based license, but I don't know the exact cost of that license."
"The licensing model can be traditional licensing or capacity-based licensing."
"It is inexpensive compared to new products."
"The price of the solution could be lower, it is expensive."
"Dell NetWorker has two types of licensing models."
"We do need to purchase a license, but sometimes, it comes as a part of the Dell Data Protection Suite (DPS). It has a capacity-based licensing."
"Dell EMC NetWorker is very expensive."
"It's approximate, but I believe we pay around $20-30,000 a month in licensing."
More Dell NetWorker pricing and cost advice
"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective."
"That's no longer my department, but I have some past experience with licensing. It is not cheap. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of licensing. In terms of additional costs, there is management overhead. It is a complex solution and a lot of work goes into managing clients. It has gotten better over the years, but compared to its competitor, it is still heavy on management overhead."
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"It is expensive."
"That's a hard estimate. It depends on the licensing, the hardware, and other stuff, but it is fairly expensive. It is generally more expensive than other solutions."
"Regarding retro-compatibility of the product between versions, your data is always available and the ROI is unquestionable."
"Going to IBM Tech University Conference saved me from making a major purchase of the wrong thing, which was very helpful."
"IBM provides an open license policy, which is more like a gentlemen's agreement."
More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice
report
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
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
See all answers
What do you like most about Dell NetWorker?
The feature that offers the greatest benefits in ensuring data integrity is its backup capability.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell NetWorker?
NetWorker has a high price compared to other solutions. Pricing is a major concern.
See all answers
What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect?
IBM Spectrum Protect is stable.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect?
It's expensive. I acknowledge the cost associated with it.
See all answers
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dash...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Dell NetWorker Logo
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Dell NetWorker
Compared 31% of the time
Veeam Data Platform vs Dell NetWorker Logo
Veeam Data Platform vs Dell NetWorker
Compared 14% of the time
Dell Avamar vs Dell NetWorker Logo
Dell Avamar vs Dell NetWorker
Compared 12% of the time
Commvault Cloud vs Dell NetWorker Logo
Commvault Cloud vs Dell NetWorker
Compared 8% of the time
Cohesity DataProtect vs Dell NetWorker Logo
Cohesity DataProtect vs Dell NetWorker
Compared 2% of the time
More Dell NetWorker Competitors
Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect Logo
Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect
Compared 19% of the time
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Spectrum Protect Logo
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Spectrum Protect
Compared 18% of the time
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect Logo
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect
Compared 11% of the time
Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect Logo
Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect
Compared 11% of the time
Nutanix Mine Integrated Backup vs IBM Spectrum Protect Logo
Nutanix Mine Integrated Backup vs IBM Spectrum Protect
Compared 3% of the time
More IBM Spectrum Protect Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Dell NetWorker
March 2025
Dell NetWorker reportDownload Dell NetWorker product report
Buyer's Guide
IBM Spectrum Protect
March 2025
IBM Spectrum Protect reportDownload IBM Spectrum Protect product report
 

Also Known As

NetWorker
IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
 

Overview

Built on a reputation of efficiency and reliability, thousands of customers trust Dell NetWorker to protect their data and applications across multiple environments, from core to edge to cloud.

Inherently flexible, NetWorker helps you deploy and leverage the data protection that fits your needs. NetWorker protects both physical and virtual environments, including VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V, as well as cloud workloads on AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

NetWorker is available as part of Dell Data Protection Suite, which offers comprehensive data protection software applications and tools. NetWorker is delivered as software and as a virtual edition.

Dell Technologies
IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) is a data protection platform that gives enterprises a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery. It is the flagship product in the IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) family. It enables reliable, cost effective backups and fast recovery for virtual, physical and cloud environments of all sizes.
IBM
 

Sample Customers

Republic Bank, Westgate Resorts, Macquire Cloud Services, Shriners, Panatonni, Qatar Islamic Bank, Eurosport
CERN, Einstein Healthcare, Nyherji, Allianz Australia, TZM, ABT Online, NCT, Kindred Healthcare Inc., Cobalt Iron, TransGrid, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Cash America, Piedmont Healthcare, RWGV, Arkansas Tech University, British Columbia Institute of Technology
Buyer's Guide
Dell NetWorker vs. IBM Spectrum Protect
March 2025
Free Report: Dell NetWorker vs. IBM Spectrum Protect
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell NetWorker vs. IBM Spectrum Protect and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See our Dell NetWorker vs. IBM Spectrum Protect 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.