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IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs Microsoft DPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

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 Spectrum Protect Plus
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft DPM
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
27th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
19
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 Spectrum Protect Plus is 0.9%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft DPM is 1.2%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Atif Najam - PeerSpot reviewer
Has very good integration features and can quickly backup data and optimize storage
I would like to see continuous data protection (CDP). If there is machine failure, you don't have to go to the backup copy that you took 12 hours ago. You can actually go back to the backup copy made half an hour ago. That is, it would be good to have certain-point-in-time recovery. I would like them to add global deduplication. With deduplicate backups, deduplication will work only with the data of a certain machine or a certain backup set. Usually, the data is repeated across the data of the backup sets. However, if IBM Spectrum Protect Plus provides a global deduplication option it will ultimately result in better storage savings.
RifkanHasan - PeerSpot reviewer
Backup and recovery that is stable but support is no longer in existence
The DPM is pretty good, but when it comes to external devices, you can't back up to the external device. It's a huge drawback because once everything goes down, it goes down fully. We can't take a snapshot and take it outside, which is a problem. Also, when it comes to recovery, the recovery process doesn't work properly. It doesn't recover. One of our drives failed and when we wanted to recover it from the other drive, it never worked. So, we couldn't recover the data. Recovery of data if the server goes down, is not very good. The DPM is good apart from the support services. We were told that the support was no longer in existence, which is why we are looking for another provider. In the next release, I would like to see backup to external devices, so it can always restore the backup and we can take it externally and store it somewhere that it is off-site and archived. Currently, it does not allow us to do that because it is required to be in one location.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is scalable."
"A full-featured data protection solution that is reliable and stable."
"The solution is scalable and can be fitted for any customer."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"The solution integrates well with other tools."
"The API is very good."
"This is a multi-platform backup solution where you can take a backup from AIX, Windows, or Linux servers and restore from CD, disk, or tape."
"The solution's stability is high because it is derived from Spectrum Protect."
"The initial setup is quite straightforward."
"It is almost perfect for Microsoft products. It is not a very powerful tool, but it is okay for small sites and small businesses with Microsoft products. It is easy to use for backup and restore. It is good for backing up Microsoft servers such as Exchange and SharePoint servers."
"The user interface is very good. The reporting and monitoring features are also good."
"The automated procedure is quite good for us, as it is able to capture all of the information that we require."
"Its capability to give a BMR for all the workstations that I want to connect to."
"One of the most effective features of Microsoft DPM is its integration with the entire Microsoft ecosystem."
"It has an application backup, a file backup, a system backup and a hypervisor."
"I could back up all the stuff we had, even the VMs we have for Hyper V."
 

Cons

"The backup support for IBM Power Virtualization needs to be added."
"I think the graphical reports are a shortcoming of the tool since it fails to provide my company with what we want in terms of reporting. Due to the product's inability to take care of its reporting part, we have to use third-party software."
"The one issue we are facing is related to file restores."
"I would like integration into where the VMware guys can do their own restores."
"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve by adding SAP Rena."
"With ransomware protection and cyber protection, more improvement is possible."
"In the future, I would like to see support for global deduplication."
"You end up needing to do a lot of troubleshooting to get things to work effectively."
"It can back up, yet it lacks features compared to Veeam."
"The user friendliness could be improved."
"It needs portability for other vendors. It is good for backing up Microsoft servers, but it doesn't support third-party solutions such as Oracle Database. It depends on Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy, especially for Hyper-V, which has a lot of problems. They should enhance the Volume Shadow Copy functionality. Its reporting should also be better. Reporting is too weak in DPM."
"Additional Hyper-V knowledge would be great."
"To evaluate the solution's abilities and its performance under demanding conditions, it is recommended to carry out a stress test."
"You have only a few settings and if you change them for some special configurations, it's very difficult."
"We can't take a snapshot and take it outside, which is a problem."
"Setting up the solution can be complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are a few options available for purchasing the solutions. Overall, the price of the is high."
"I rate the price of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus a one on a scale of one to ten, where one is extremely expensive, and ten is very cheap."
"Depends on the licensing options that you choose."
"We have a perpetual license for the tool since it is deployed on-premise."
"The price is perpetual, but the maintenance cost is annual. That is, we pay once for the product and pay annually for the maintenance and support. The price was much cheaper than what we would have had to pay for EMC or Veritas. The pricing is competitive, and I would rate it at four out of five."
"Unlike some other solutions, such as Veritas NetBackup where you have to pay for different licenses to use different features, there is a single license that allows you to use all of the features."
"The initial cost of the product is perpetual but the support fees are billed annually."
"If you need to extend it, it can be extended acting like a normal Spectrum Protect with a long archive."
"Microsoft DPM is a free solution. However, we pay approximately $3,000 annually for support."
"I think Microsoft DPM pricing is reasonable. The additional costs are related to storage and technical support."
"Microsoft DPM can be considered as an expensive solution for smaller or medium enterprises, but we have been satisfied with the price structure as it is fixed and it offers a variety of useful features"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that the product works and helps with restoration areas whenever there is a need to restore something.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
It is probably based on the number of CPUs. They are fairly expensive.
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
With ransomware protection and cyber protection, more improvement is possible. IBM provides these through a third party, so enhancement is needed. There's significant room for improvement. They are...
What do you like most about Microsoft DPM?
This solution helps us to manage all of the operations across servers and different workstations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft DPM?
Microsoft licensing is complex, especially for enterprise or data center solutions. However, it's not more complicated compared to other competitors and the market is well balanced.
What needs improvement with Microsoft DPM?
I am not sure if I am competent enough to address areas for improvement in Microsoft DPM.
 

Also Known As

No data available
DPM, Data Protection Manager, MS DPM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio
Medical Park, Centropol Energy, a.s., NCFE, D & H Distributing, Metalor, Colosseum, a.s., Sanitas S.A., Icebreaker
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. Microsoft DPM and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,396 professionals have used our research since 2012.