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IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs NetApp SnapCenter comparison

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.8, while NetApp is ranked #51 with an average rating of 7.7. IBM holds a 0.9% mindshare in BRS, compared to NetApp’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Read 30 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus reviews
  • 1,837 Views
  • 1,332 Comparison Views
88% 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 Spectrum Protect Plus and NetApp SnapCenter are both data protection and recovery solutions. NetApp SnapCenter appears to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set.

Features: Users value IBM Spectrum Protect Plus for scalability, ease of integration, and reliable backup capabilities. NetApp SnapCenter stands out with powerful snapshot and replication features and efficient application-aware backups.

Room for Improvement: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus needs enhancements in reporting, analytics, and compatibility. NetApp SnapCenter requires better compatibility with certain environments and a more intuitive performance monitoring system.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is praised for straightforward deployment and excellent customer service. NetApp SnapCenter has a relatively easy deployment process but mixed reactions about support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is more budget-friendly and offers good ROI due to lower initial setup costs. NetApp SnapCenter, though more expensive, is seen as worth the investment for its advanced features and robust capabilities.

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To learn more, read our detailed IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter Report (Updated: March 2025).
Buyer's Guide
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter
March 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 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
NetApp SnapCenter
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
51st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
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 Spectrum Protect Plus is 0.9%, down from 1.0% 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

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.
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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 most valuable features are the API features because it allows you to integrate with your Microsoft SQL, your Oracle, and your IBM Db2."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"The solution offers a very straightforward deployment. You click, click, click and it's done. There's not much configuration to do."
"Some of the features we find very valuable and use a lot, are retention sets."
"This solution is very stable and has good support available online."
"The support from IBM is very good."
"The most valuable feature of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is its ease of use. Additionally, it does backups of all of the things we need, such as OS, files, and databases."
"The initial setup of IBM Protect Plus is simple and not complex."
More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pros
"The main advantage is its fast backup and restore."
"What is very handy for our clients is the consolidated view. They have a dashboard with everything, through a single pane of glass. This is what they really need because, within seconds, they can have a good overview and see if there are any errors or any issues."
"Technical support has been very helpful when we have issues."
"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."
"I like the instant backups and recovery feature that SnapCenter provides within NetApp storage systems."
"It has greatly improved our DR activity."
"It's very helpful because SnapCenter is already integrated with VMware Snapshot, so it's very easy to use."
More NetApp SnapCenter pros
 

Cons

"Their first level of support can be improved. Often they are too junior to understand the issues we are having, and it takes too much time to get from them to the next level of support, which is what we actually need."
"The security must be improved."
"It still needs to grow and add new features. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, I believe, requires time to become competitive due to a weakness in the other software products."
"The software's technical support could improve its response time for different time zones."
"The Gui interface and usability are not so friendly and easy."
"There could be better integration with Spectrum Protect and Spectrum Protect Plus, it should be one solution."
"The solution should allow for backup of iOS snapshots."
"The replication feature is not available."
More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus cons
"We have hundreds of servers and systems and hundreds of customers and they're separated in a multi-tenancy way in NetApp SVM. Right now, the problem is that it always scan all SVMs. If I backup Customer A, it scans all SVMs, or tries to scan all SVMs, if there is a backup relationship on the storage. But it doesn't have the permissions, so we run into timeouts or the backup just takes too long. They're fixing that in the upcoming release..."
"I feel a little bit that during the whole process of putting this software into production we were like a beta program. It was full of bugs... For example, we had a problem with truncating our Exchange log files... It has improved over time."
"I would like to see replication support between systems. Right now, it's kind of limited. We manage them separately from the storage system interface, not from SnapCenter. It would be nice if it was integrated into SnapCenter."
"The replication feature needs improvement in future releases."
"Since the solution's initial setup is complex, it should make training documents available in the public space."
"If it was possible to create backups on non-NetApp storage, that would be helpful."
"Plugins should be developed in shorter times. Performance generally could be a little bit faster."
"There is one area that needs improvement and that's in the alerting. When you set up your SMTP alerts, it only has - and I don't understand why - the ability to send an anonymous SMTP. It doesn't do basic authentication, which frustrated me for a while until I figured out that I'm not missing something. It's just not there."
More NetApp SnapCenter cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an annual license required to use IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. The cost of the license could improve, it is expensive."
"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."
"The solution is too expensive."
"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a little expensive."
"The price is lower than that of some competing products."
"The initial cost of the product is perpetual but the support fees are billed annually."
"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."
"We have a perpetual license for the tool since it is deployed on-premise."
More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pricing and cost advice
"Pricing is very good because if you already have NepApp controllers, then it's included."
"It's free. The license is included with other NetApp products."
"We see a financial value with SnapCenter because we don't have to license Commvault, which is pretty expensive."
"It comes free with the amount of equipment we purchase from NetApp. In terms of pricing, zero is my favorite number."
"We have a site license, so it comes with the product."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
21%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

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.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
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...
See all answers
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

IBM Spectrum Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Logo
IBM Spectrum Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Compared 59% of the time
Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Logo
Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Compared 11% of the time
IBM Storage Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Logo
IBM Storage Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Compared 8% of the time
Rubrik vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Logo
Rubrik vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Compared 7% of the time
Nutanix Mine Integrated Backup vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Logo
Nutanix Mine Integrated Backup vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Compared 6% of the time
More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Competitors
Synology DSM vs NetApp SnapCenter Logo
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 10% of the time
Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter Logo
Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter
Compared 7% of the time
More NetApp SnapCenter Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
March 2025
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus reportDownload IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 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 Spectrum Protect Plus is a data protection and availability solution for virtual environments that can be deployed in minutes and protect your environment within an hour. It simplifies data protection, whether data is hosted in physical, virtual, software-defined or cloud environments. It can be implemented as a stand-alone solution or integrate with your IBM Spectrum Protect environment to off-load copies for long term storage and data governance with scale and 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

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio
All for One Steeb AG, Accenture
Buyer's Guide
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter
March 2025
Free Report: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
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