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IBM ProtectTIER vs NetApp SnapCenter comparison

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #82, while NetApp is ranked #51 with an average rating of 7.7. IBM holds a 0.1% mindshare in BRS, compared to NetApp’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 60% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.
IBM ProtectTIER
Read 7 IBM ProtectTIER reviews
  • 210 Views
  • 167 Comparison Views
60% willing to recommend
NetApp SnapCenter
Read 27 NetApp SnapCenter reviews
  • 1,230 Views
  • 801 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM ProtectTIER and NetApp SnapCenter are two robust data protection solutions. Users seem to favor NetApp SnapCenter for its extensive features more than IBM ProtectTIER, even though IBM ProtectTIER is competitively priced.

Features: Users value IBM ProtectTIER for efficient data deduplication, high backup speed, and reliable performance. NetApp SnapCenter is praised for its seamless integration with various environments, centralized management, and broad feature set supporting different storage infrastructures.

Room for Improvement: IBM ProtectTIER could improve scalability, enhance technical documentation, and provide more user-friendly interfaces. NetApp SnapCenter users suggest better stability, simplified configuration processes, and quicker updates to address bugs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ProtectTIER offers a straightforward deployment process but has mixed feedback on customer service responsiveness. NetApp SnapCenter is more complex to deploy but generally receives better customer service support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ProtectTIER is seen as cost-effective with satisfactory ROI. NetApp SnapCenter, though more expensive, justifies its cost with advanced features and comprehensive support, giving users a higher perceived ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter Report (Updated: April 2025).
Buyer's Guide
IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter
April 2025
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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

IBM ProtectTIER
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
82nd
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (13th)
NetApp SnapCenter
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
51st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 0.1%, down from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp SnapCenter is 0.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

ValereFEUGWANG - PeerSpot reviewer
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
Mir Gulzar Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrates well with various applications , provides a cloning feature for creating snapshots or clones of volume and a centralized command
It is basically centralized command control software. When the users visualize the workflow of the backup, the management and the customer storage administrator know the ins and outs of the backup and recovery. They can make the strategy for their backup and recovery and the certainty of their backups and restore. Strategic planning: Also, it is easy to make a strategy when you have visualized the inflow and outflow of the backup and recovery. With the CLI or native way, without any UI or management tool, you might not be able to create any strategy at all. This is especially important when you have multiple storage systems inside your data center or organization. You need a tool that connects and visualizes the workflow of the backup and recovery from all the storage systems and NetApp storage systems installed within the organization. It is very important when you have multiple storage systems, and you need to manage your backup and recovery workflow. Ease of Management: Unlike other storage vendors, NetApp has its own product called SnapCenter. Other vendors need to acquire third-party software or integrate with other software to manage storage systems. NetApp has its own solution, which is SnapCenter. NetApp's SnapCenter gels well with their storage systems and products. Ease of management is already there. It's a fine software with easy installation, management, and understanding. It's not a complicated software to understand.
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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

"The cataloging is the best feature. It takes millions of frames for the backup. It's incremental, so it takes less time to complete."
"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."
"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."
"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."
"The command-line interface is good."
"The product’s most valuable feature is cloning."
"It helps with strategic planning because it is easy to make a strategy when you have visualized the inflow and outflow of the backup and recovery."
"It has very fast backup and can handle a huge amount of data. It also enables really fast recovery."
"Most banks and financial institutions use the solution."
"It's integrated with VMware vCenter. You can also see the backups there and you can do a restore completely out of vCenter."
"We have been very satisfied with the technical support's help. Their knowledge level is great. For a noncritical question, they will get back to us within a day."
"Restoring and cloning are easy to do."
"A feature that stands out is cloning databases. If you have a SQL database and it's huge, like one terabyte, the classical SQL way would be to do a backup-restore to create a clone of your database for test purposes. With SnapCenter now, we can clone a database but through the Snapshot technology, which means if you right-click and you click Clone, the one terabyte database is there instantly."
More NetApp SnapCenter pros
 

Cons

"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
"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."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."
"Since the solution's initial setup is complex, it should make training documents available in the public space."
"The replication feature needs improvement in future releases."
"We would like to see more granular repording and reporting in bigger sets available in SnapCenter."
"The DBAs are comparing it to SMO but it doesn't have a lot of the functionalities that SMO has."
"I want to see a few more features add that will help our team in managing solution better."
"Some of the minor functionalities from SnapManager did not transfer over to SnapCenter. These should be added in future releases."
"I'm waiting for SnapCenter for hybrid solutions. Right now, we only have SnapManager for hybrid. I need agents for that. People are looking to install SnapCenter in a SQL environment, but where they're running SQL on Hyper-V and using virtual files. Currently, we don't have support for hybrid."
"The tool could be faster."
More NetApp SnapCenter cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"This solution is very expensive."
"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"It's free. The license is included with other NetApp products."
"We have a site license, so it comes with the product."
"Pricing is very good because if you already have NepApp controllers, then it's included."
"The license for SnapCenter was included with the storage array."
"The product is inexpensive."
"The licensing is well-designed because it's already included in some packages with NetApp storage. Therefore, for most customers, it's okay as the SnapCenter license is already included in some NetApp bundles."
"It comes free with the amount of equipment we purchase from NetApp. In terms of pricing, zero is my favorite number."
"We see a financial value with SnapCenter because we don't have to license Commvault, which is pretty expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
29%
Computer Software Company
24%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
21%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about NetApp SnapCenter?
Most banks and financial institutions use the solution.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp SnapCenter?
If you have a license, you don't need to buy anything extra. If you have multiple storage systems and want to manage them with a central tool, you are covered.
See all answers
What needs improvement with NetApp SnapCenter?
There is always a chance for improvement. One thing that might be improved is the ease of management. It might be made a little less complicated.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM ProtectTIER
Compared 100% of the time
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Synology DSM vs NetApp SnapCenter
Compared 27% of the time
Commvault Cloud vs NetApp SnapCenter Logo
Commvault Cloud vs NetApp SnapCenter
Compared 18% of the time
Veeam Data Platform vs NetApp SnapCenter Logo
Veeam Data Platform vs NetApp SnapCenter
Compared 16% of the time
Cohesity DataProtect vs NetApp SnapCenter Logo
Cohesity DataProtect vs NetApp SnapCenter
Compared 9% of the time
Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter Logo
Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter
Compared 8% of the time
More NetApp SnapCenter Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Deduplication Software
March 2025
IBM ProtectTIER reportDownload IBM ProtectTIER product report
Buyer's Guide
NetApp SnapCenter
March 2025
NetApp SnapCenter reportDownload NetApp SnapCenter product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
SnapCenter
 

Overview

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

Unified, scalable platform for application-consistent data protection and clone management. This software simplifies backup, restore, and clone lifecycle management with application-integrated workflows.

NetApp
 

Sample Customers

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber
All for One Steeb AG, Accenture
Buyer's Guide
IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter
April 2025
Free Report: IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
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