IBM Spectrum Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus comparison

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

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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

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

17th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

149

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

22nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

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 is 2.2%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is 0.9%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib

Head of Infrastructure Security (S.A.V.P) at EXIM Bank Ltd

Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking

It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.

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Atif Najam

Chief Information Officer and Program Lead at Gatron Industries Ltd

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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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 feature for data recovery in IBM Spectrum Protect is its database protection capabilities."

"High availability (HA): It is one of the best features."

"It protects our data. That is what it is there for."

"Enterprise-wide type of architecture supports a lot of different platforms."

"The amount of data that it protects with very little storage by doing incremental forever is one of its most valuable features."

"The components of IBM Spectrum Protect explain how the data is protected. The administration is very easy, and the vertical migration is intuitive."

"The solution is mostly stable."

"They have recently added support tickets specifically engineered around performance. This has been very useful for us when we run into issues where customers are looking to try to squeeze a lot more horsepower out of older system."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

"The API is very good."

"The most valuable feature is how we can easily power speed up the VM even though the VM resides in remote storage."

"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 tool has enough documentation; you don't need to contact the support team."

"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."

"A full-featured data protection solution that is reliable and stable."

"If the system were to go down, we needed to make sure that the system could be recovered and available as soon as possible. Spectrum Protect provides you access to directly bind the backup volume to the server and make the system available instead of restoring it and copying the system."

"The solution is scalable."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pros

Cons

"When it comes to virtualization in IBM it's not perfect."

"Restoring massive files is a very time-consuming process."

"I find the solution somewhat difficult to use with virtual environments or VMware."

"A lot of my customers always ask for legal holds, especially on email."

"It's difficult in terms of the configuration at set up. In our case, it required another admin, one person dedicated to the backup."

"The Hyper-V and SQL Server backup could be improved. In the 2016 version there was a significant improvement, but I think IBM has a big challenge with these technologies."

"It lacks reporting and an efficient alert mechanism. The GUI could also be improved."

"IBM's support hasn't been so good in the last few years."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

"There's significant room for improvement. They are not yet where I want them to be."

"The user experience is very bad and the interface needs to be improved."

"The replication feature is not available."

"I would like integration into where the VMware guys can do their own restores."

"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve the IBM Spectrum Protect environment. It can be difficult to administer. The initial configuration can be difficult for entry-level teams or deployment teams, and it might be difficult to integrate. There's just too much content involved in the solution. The documentation is way too large."

"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve security."

"The tool needs to increase the number of threats."

"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve by adding SAP Rena."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The different license models can give good benefits to the end customer."

"There may be an advantage to going with IBM in terms of pricing. They have a pay-as-you-grow policy, so there is no need to take one license for the entire datacenter. You can start with small licenses and then grow, and pay, as you use more."

"It is expensive."

"The licensing is varied. If we have small environments (not many TB being managed) it is best to license by PVUs (depending on the number of cores of the machine). If we manage many TBs we look at licensing by capacity which allows us to use all the agents of the product."

"That's a hard estimate. It depends on the licensing, the hardware, and other stuff, but it is fairly expensive. It is generally more expensive than other solutions."

"I don't have an idea about the pricing. They send that over to someone else, but I know that one of the issues they had was the licensing costs. I don't think they were happy with how they were charged."

"One can go with either a PVU licensing model or a capacity based licensing model. Either solution does not block the usage, if over used."

"Its licensing is complex, and its price is not really reasonable. It is on the expensive side. IBM, in general, is slightly expensive, but with IBM Spectrum for the virtual environment, they are looking into the aspect of helping customers with the cost and providing a cost-effective solution."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

"We have a perpetual license for the tool since it is deployed on-premise."

"Clients prefer to buy a perpetual license, but the majority opt for a yearly subscription."

"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."

"Depends on the licensing options that you choose."

"If you need to extend it, it can be extended acting like a normal Spectrum Protect with a long archive."

"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a little expensive."

"The solution is too 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."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect?

IBM Spectrum Protect is stable.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect?

It's expensive. I acknowledge the cost associated with it.

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?

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...

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Product Reports

IBM Spectrum Protect

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IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

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Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

No data available

Overview

IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) is a data protection platform that gives enterprises a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery. It is the flagship product in the IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) family. It enables reliable, cost effective backups and fast recovery for virtual, physical and cloud environments of all sizes.

IBM

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

Sample Customers

CERN, Einstein Healthcare, Nyherji, Allianz Australia, TZM, ABT Online, NCT, Kindred Healthcare Inc., Cobalt Iron, TransGrid, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Cash America, Piedmont Healthcare, RWGV, Arkansas Tech University, British Columbia Institute of Technology

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus