Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Zerto comparison

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Zerto and Dell PowerProtect Data Manager are two data protection solutions with distinct features and user reviews highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. While users appreciate the pricing and support of Zerto, Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is often seen as superior due to its extensive features, making it a worthwhile investment.

Features: Zerto offers robust disaster recovery and backup capabilities, praised for its replication speed and ease of use. Dell PowerProtect Data Manager excels in its comprehensive data protection suite, including deduplication and cloud support. Users find Dell’s feature set more thorough, although Zerto stands out for simplicity and performance.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest Zerto could improve its reporting and user interface. Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is criticized for its complexity and occasional performance issues. Despite this, Dell's users believe enhancements in usability could make it an even stronger contender.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zerto is noted for its straightforward and quick deployment process, supported by responsive customer service. Dell PowerProtect Data Manager’s deployment is more complex and requires more time, though its customer service is also highly rated. Zerto edges out in deployment simplicity and support responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Zerto is viewed as cost-effective with high ROI due to lower setup costs and efficient operations. Dell PowerProtect Data Manager requires a higher initial investment but promises substantial long-term ROI, justifying the expense through comprehensive features. Despite higher costs, Dell remains a powerful solution for extensive data protection needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs. Zerto Report (Updated: January 2025).

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs. Zerto

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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 PowerProtect Data Manager

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (7th)

Zerto

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

2nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

284

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (4th), Cloud Backup (3rd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is 4.6%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zerto is 2.9%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Pallava Sharma

Cloud Infrastructure Delivery Lead at Johnson Controls, Inc.

A tool that offers good capacity management and product management

I am satisfied with the product. The tool streamlines our company's data backup and recovery processes since the solution fits into our landscape and portfolio, especially with what we have in our infrastructure, and it actually helps us comply with data regulations. The tool protects critical data by dealing with areas like unauthorized access. I don't have hands-on experience with the product to be able to comment on how its UI enhances our company's data management tasks. The tool is majorly used in our company's operations team. I only work on certain projects and help the teams to deploy the product. The tool has the ability to handle growing data volume since my company has not faced any scalability issues since we were able to manage areas like sizing and future capacity expansion. To date, my company has not found any scalability issues with the product. It is a good product that fits in the latest infrastructures very well. If you have legacy products in your environment or data centers, then it is better to consider some other product other than Dell PowerProtect Data Manager. I rate the overall tool a seven or eight out of ten.

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Sachin Vinay

Assistant Manager-Networks at Amrita

Leverage disaster recovery with reliable support and cost-effective future-proof features

Zerto is straightforward to implement because it only requires the installation of an agent on the VMs designated for migration. A service, typically a VM, must also be deployed at the disaster recovery location. This entire process is simple and can be completed within three days. Zerto's near-synchronous replication occurs every minute, allowing for highly granular recovery points. This means that even if interruptions or malware disruptions occur within that minute, Zerto can restore to the last known good state, effectively recovering the entire setup to the latest backup. This capability ensures high data security and minimizes potential data loss. One of the main benefits of implementing Zerto is its data compression, which significantly reduces the load on our IPsec VPN. Zerto compresses data by 80 percent before transmitting it across the VPN, minimizing the data transferred between geographically dispersed locations. This compression and subsequent decompression at the destination alleviate the strain on the VPN, preventing overload and ensuring efficient data synchronization. Zerto simplifies malware protection by integrating it into its disaster recovery and synchronization features. This comprehensive approach eliminates the need for separate antivirus setups in virtual machines and applications. It streamlines our security measures and removes the need for additional software or solutions, resulting in an excellent return on investment. Zerto's single-click recovery solution offers exceptional recovery speed. Through the user interface, a single click allows for a complete restoration from the most recent backup within two to three minutes, enabling rapid recovery and minimal downtime. Zerto's Recovery Time Objective is excellent. In the past, if a virtual machine crashed, we would recover it from a snapshot, which could take one to two hours. With Zerto, the recovery process takes only five minutes, and users are typically unaware of any disruption. This allows us to restore everything quickly and efficiently. Zerto has significantly reduced our downtime. When malware affects our data, Zerto immediately notifies us and helps us protect other applications, even those not yet implemented with Zerto. By monitoring these applications, we can quickly identify and address any potential malware spread, minimizing downtime across our systems. Zerto significantly reduces downtime and associated costs during disruptions. Our services are unified, so in the event of a disruption without Zerto, even a half-day disruption would necessitate offline procedures. This would lead to increased manpower, service delays, and substantial financial losses due to interrupted admissions and other critical processes. By unifying service processes, Zerto minimizes the impact of outages. Zerto streamlines our disaster recovery testing across multiple locations by enabling efficient failover testing without disrupting live services. Traditionally, DR testing required downtime of critical systems, but Zerto's replication and failover capabilities allow us to test in parallel with live operations. This non-disruptive approach ensures continuous service availability while validating our DR plan, even in scenarios like malware attacks, by creating a separate testing environment that mirrors the live setup. This comprehensive testing provides confidence in our ability to handle real-world incidents effectively. This saves us over 60 percent of the time. Zerto streamlines system administration tasks by automating many processes, thereby reducing the workload for multiple administrators. This allows them to focus on other university services that require attention and effectively reallocate support resources from automated tasks to those requiring more dedicated management. Zerto is used exclusively for our critical services, providing up to a 70 percent improvement in our IT resilience.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's the perfect solution for virtual and container directives. The data reduction feature works well, and we haven't had any issues."

"The most valuable features of the solution are flexibility and data protection."

"The solution adequately handles data storage."

"The solution's initial setup is straightforward."

"The deduplication is the most valuable feature because it helps to control the overhead."

"The product's initial setup phase was easy."

"Dell PowerProtect Data Manager helps to reduce the amount of data being transferred and stored."

"One notable feature is its robust backup support for Kubernetes and container environments. Additionally, PPDM stands out for its ease of deployment and management compared to other backup solutions. It is highly user-friendly, allowing users to quickly learn and implement backup and restore processes within a week. PPDM represents the next generation of backup software and is comparable to offerings from other vendors. Furthermore, PPDM prioritizes security with various access controls, such as user and database access controls. Its deployment tool is also known for its simplicity."

More Dell PowerProtect Data Manager pros

"I've been fortunate enough not to need to rely on Zerto in an actual disaster, but we do testing every year. Sometimes, it's multiple times annually or at the year's end. It takes the recovery workflow, which would normally take a lot of planning, and reduces that to just a few minutes."

"The replication for DR is really good, and the test failover within the application is really solid, along with the ability to manipulate RDMs or remove them."

"We can spin up our environment in DR without affecting production, which is probably the biggest feature for us. We have the ability to do passive testing. We can even test scenarios, such as installing software or changing software. We can make modifications without affecting our production environment. So, the test functionality of being able to test the failover solution and being able to bring up our virtual machines in a test mode is the biggest benefit."

"Zerto's continuous data protection is unmatched. It's phenomenal. It's also very easy to use. The menus are self-explanatory. Once you understand the terminology of the product, what the VPGs (Virtual Protected Groups) are, you're able to pretty much do what you want in the product. It's very easy to use."

"Four years ago when we did a PoC between two other vendors and Zerto, there were two features of Zerto that sold it, hands-down. One was the ease of creating protection groups, the ease with which our engineers could create protection, add virtual machines into the Zerto product, and get them under DR protection."

"We used Zerto to protect VMs in our environment. It depends on the network and environment, but the RTO takes around 7-8 seconds. When you compare Zerto to other solutions in the market, it's very powerful."

"From a management perspective, one of the biggest benefits is to see the excitement of your engineers having a tool that truly enables them, really making their lives easier. That is something that I love. When we came out of the PoC, their eyes were just wide with excitement of what was possible now."

"The replication and recovery features are the most valuable... On two occasions, other departments in our organization reported issues with specific virtual machines. We used the checkpoint feature of the Zerto to enable the recovery of those machines to a point that was a few minutes prior to the problem."

More Zerto pros

Cons

"You need to use additional software to back up entire environments. It will be good if they could support entire tape libraries."

"A lot of improvement is required in Dell's first level of support."

"The Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager reports could improve. There should be different kinds of reports on failures, such as dashboards that we can submit to top management or auditors."

"The interface is too complex."

"The tool's scalability has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."

"PPDM requires further development. It is primarily integrated with DevOps systems."

"There is always room for improvement. The compression ratio should be improved as well as the efficiency."

"Management is difficult and it is hard to determine when things aren't working properly."

More Dell PowerProtect Data Manager cons

"You can create a VPG and put anywhere from one to 17 servers in that group. We build them one by one. If something changes in VMware, it would be nice to be able to go in and change that VPG, having it update without messing up. When you change them now, it only applies to the copies from the points when you changed it. I wish it would purge that older data from the past. Right now, we have to build a new VPG, which is not a big deal as it is just a few screens."

"Some of the ability to automate selections and automate VPG creations could be better."

"I wish they would...develop their PowerShell module to be more robust. So instead of having to rely on the API to actually include a PowerShell command, it would let you create VPGs, delete VPGs, modify VPGs, etc. This would ease the automation effort of deployment and decommissioning and I'd really appreciate that."

"It works only for a virtual platform, it does not support bare metal."

"I would like Zerto to enhance the continuous backup aspect."

"Its price should be improved."

"I would like to have an overall orchestration capability that would enable you to do multiple VPGs in some sort of order, with delays in between."

"Zerto's price has room for improvement."

More Zerto cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is more affordable than other vendors."

"The product is offered at a very competitive price in the market."

"The price of Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager is reasonable."

"The licensing costs and pricing model are based on capacity and the license is easy to upgrade."

"Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is not an expensive solution."

"The solution is not less expensive than competitors but pricing deals are available."

"We offer monthly or yearly subscriptions. The price could be cheaper."

"All of my customers are happy with how this product works and they like it, but unfortunately, in the market that I represent, Zerto is expensive when compared with the competition."

"The only negative part that I have seen so far has been the cost. It is kind of pricey, but you get what you pay for. Zerto is a lot faster than other solutions and you get enhanced performance."

"It's very reasonably priced. It's a little more than $3,000 annually. That works out to about $20 per server per month."

"Having backup and DR is somewhat moderately important to us. The problem with us, and a lot of companies, is the issue with on-prem Zerto. It utilizes whatever you have for a SAN. Or, if you are like us, we have a vSAN and that storage is not cheap. So, it is cheaper to have a self-contained backup system that is on its own storage rather than utilizing your data center storage, like your vSAN. While it is somewhat important to have both backup and DR, it is not incredibly important to have both. I know Zero is trying to heavily dip their toes in the water of backup and recovery. Once you see what Zerto can do, I don't think anyone will not take Zerto because they don't necessarily specialize in backup and recovery 100 percent. They do replication so well."

"Zerto is reasonably price for the product that you're getting. We keep on buying more licenses, so it's a good price."

"We're getting our money's worth with Zerto."

"They should adjust the pricing because I feel its price is too much. If they reduce the price, there will be more users and customers."

"Zerto’s licensing model has changed a bit over the last year and they are in alignment with others. It is pretty simple and more economical."

More Zerto pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user159711

Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 9, 2014

VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto

Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

15%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

21%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?

One notable feature is its robust backup support for Kubernetes and container environments. Additionally, PPDM stands out for its ease of deployment and management compared to other backup solution...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?

The solution's cost depends on the storage. Currently, the pricing for Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is more flexible for customers. Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is not an expensive solution. On...

What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?

The tool's scalability has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required. The market and technology-driven factors will let the market know of any requirements of the user...

What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?

Ik fluister:VM Host Oracle en DataGuard hebben we per toeval vervangen door Zerto :-) tijdens de Zerto implementatie en VPG werden de Host Data in write-ack Block-Level gerepliceerd. Qua licentie 1...

What do you like most about Zerto?

Its ability to roll back if the VM or the server that you are recovering does not come up right is also valuable. You have the ability to roll back a few seconds or a few minutes. The rollback feat...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?

I would rate the pricing, setup cost, and licensing around a seven on a scale of one to ten. The pricing model could be more flexible to accommodate startup companies with lower budgets.

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Product Reports

Backup and Recovery

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Also Known As

PowerProtect, Dell EMC PowerProtect

Zerto Virtual Replication

Overview

PowerProtect Data Manager offers efficient data protection capabilities leveraging the latest evolution of Dell trusted protection storage architecture.

With operational simplicity, agility and flexibility at its core, PowerProtect Data Manager enables the protection, management and recovery of data in on-premises, virtualized and cloud deployments, including protection of in-cloud workloads. You can also protect cloud-native workloads across multiple public clouds via our integrated SaaS based PowerProtect Cloud Snapshot Manager.

Modernize how you protect your VMware virtual machines using Transparent Snapshots. Transparent Snapshots simplifies VM image backups for near-zero impact to your VMs or VM resources – and it works with any VMware supported storage. Transparent Snapshots innovation increases backup performance, lowers costs and simplifies management and reduces the risk of data loss.

Streamline data protection directly for applications or Kubernetes containers to Dell PowerProtect appliances and reduce application resource constraints.

Increase business resiliency with PowerProtect Cyber Recovery capabilities to rapidly recover from cyber incidents.

Modular design allows agile delivery of new features and updates. Rapidly evolve to meet future IT demands.

Software defined: Provide flexible data protection and compliance across applications and cloud-native IT environments
Multi-cloud optimized: Extend protection to the cloud with backup to cloud, backup in-cloud, long term retention and cloud disaster recovery
Self-service: Backup and restore directly from native applications
Cloud-Based Monitoring and Analytics: Telemetry, machine learning and predictive analytics to proactively take action and speed time to resolution

Reviews from Real Users

“We keep an eye on the future, and we are confident that PowerProtect Data Manager and PowerProtect DD series appliances will support our transformation project. Both products are continuously evolving and will cover our future needs, including using the cloud for data protection.” – Dimitris Mavromichalis, IT Deputy Manager at National Bank of Greece

“PowerProtect Data Manager combined with PowerProtect appliances – that’s cutting edge. That’s world leading as far as we’re concerned.” – Drew Hills, Infrastructure Analyst at USC Australia

““Most of my wish list came true with the PowerProtect Data Manager plugin for vSphere, which provides perfect integration with vCenter.” – Dave Chapman, Senior Technician at PSC Publishing

Dell Technologies

Zerto is used for disaster recovery, business continuity, data migration, and ransomware recovery, providing continuous data protection and near real-time replication. Valued for ease of use, efficient failover processes, and versatile integration, it enhances organizational efficiency, reduces errors, and boosts productivity.

Sample Customers

National Bank of Greece, USC Australia, PCS Publishing, Dell Digital IT, Rushmore Electric, Melanson Health, Arrow Electronics

United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs. Zerto