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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: April 2025).
Buyer's Guide
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 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 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
7.6
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 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

"Virtual snapshots that offer incremental backups."
"The most valuable feature of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is the deduplication functionality. The clients moved to this solution originally because of this feature."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"The solution integrates well with other tools."
"Using this tool, we can easily backup and restore or recover the data for PCs and mobiles in case of system crashes."
"Reliability, recovery features, and stability are valuable to me."
"The initial setup of IBM Protect Plus is simple and not complex."
"The most valuable feature is how we can easily power speed up the VM even though the VM resides in remote storage."
More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pros
"The Exchange plugin is the most valuable because we have a lot of customers that use SnapManager Exchange and have to migrate to SnapCenter."
"It has greatly improved our DR activity."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"The backup process finishes very quickly."
"It's all together managing both storage and backup, which makes it easier for troubleshooting issues and the automation part of it"
"The most valuable feature is the RBAC, the Role-Based Access Control. In our managed service, we can have different layers of security."
"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."
"I like the instant backups and recovery feature that SnapCenter provides within NetApp storage systems."
More NetApp SnapCenter pros
 

Cons

"Not particularly user friendly."
"An area that needs improvement is data validation. We currently use another product that gives us immediate validation, information about when the last backup was, and no risk of corruption happening. TSM in IBM Spectrum is not mature so that you can validate on the spot."
"The user experience is very bad and the interface needs to be improved."
"The Gui interface and usability are not so friendly and easy."
"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 solution only supports HyperV and VMware but doesn't support Nutanix."
"In the future, I would like to see support for global deduplication."
"Rooms for improvement in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are installation and configuration because those were difficult. They should try their best to improve those areas. In the next release of the product, better implementation and administration are what we're expecting."
More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus cons
"Plugins should be developed in shorter times. Performance generally could be a little bit faster."
"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..."
"We have experience some difficulties with our current support. We are engaging in engineering level support because some of our problems are more technical."
"SnapCenter could improve its integration with other backup solutions, such as Veeam."
"I want to see a few more features add that will help our team in managing solution better."
"I have an issue with SnapCenter because sometimes a VM cannot be backed up... The way SnapCenter works is that it makes a backup of all the VMs and then it removes all the old backups. If one VM cannot be backed up for some reason, it has already created a new backup for all the VMs but it cannot remove the old backups. It ends up creating so many backups in VMware and it will cause a performance problem if the condition is not fixed."
"My major issue is when I upgrade. I have to touch every last client that I have in SnapCenter, and right now I have 60... They said that in another release that will get better, but right now it's not better and I've had to do this three times."
"The product lags in terms of availability."
More NetApp SnapCenter cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you need to extend it, it can be extended acting like a normal Spectrum Protect with a long archive."
"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 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."
"The licensing model of Spectrum Protect Plus is more efficient and cheaper compared to the original."
"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."
"The price is lower than that of some competing products."
"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a little expensive."
More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pricing and cost advice
"The license for SnapCenter was included with the storage array."
"We have a site license, so it comes with the product."
"The product is inexpensive."
"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."
"Pricing is very good because if you already have NepApp controllers, then it's included."
"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's free. The license is included with other NetApp products."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
20%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
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?
The product should be free because it is just software to administrate systems purchased from NetApp, which are already expensive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with NetApp SnapCenter?
The interface usability needs improvement. It should be more user-friendly and easier for customers to use.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

IBM Spectrum Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Logo
IBM Spectrum Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Compared 56% 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 7% 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 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
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
April 2025
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus reportDownload IBM Spectrum Protect Plus product report
Buyer's Guide
NetApp SnapCenter
April 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
April 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: April 2025.
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