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IBM Spectrum Protect vs NAKIVO Backup & Replication comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

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
NAKIVO Backup & Replication
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
6th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (6th)
 

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 NAKIVO Backup & Replication is 1.6%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Mattia Sangiorgio - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhances data protection strategies and ensures the reliability of backups with helpful support
The features we have found most valuable in NAKIVO Backup & Replication include its cost-effectiveness, seamless integrations, comprehensive functionalities, and ease of installation and management. The pricing model is very competitive, providing excellent value for the robust features offered. Its seamless integration with our VMware infrastructure ensures smooth operation without any compatibility issues. The wide range of functionalities, including incremental and full backups, storage optimization, and disaster recovery options, meets all our backup needs comprehensively. Moreover, the simplicity of installation and the intuitive user interface have made it easy for our team to quickly set up and manage the backups without requiring extensive training.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best part of this solution is that it just works."
"It helps our customers protect their data, keep it long-term, and feel pretty secure about it, basically sleeping well at night."
"We optimize our costs of media and storage use, thanks to the Incremental Forever backup. The TDP software provides us many ways to protect our data, so we don't need to use monstrous scripts for doing backups now."
"It is an IBM product. With SAP, you are using IBM software to protect it. DB2 and AIX servers are both IBM. Therefore, it is a total IBM solution, which helps."
"I find the whole product useful. The backup archive client, snapshot, spectrum for virtual environments are beneficial features."
"Its flexibility is valuable. It is a very flexible solution. There are always more ways than one to do something. It is a software solution, which means you can buy your own hardware and expand it whenever you want. You are not boxed in or locked into something you've bought and outgrown. You can always expand it."
"We cannot live without it, since it gives us the confidence to move forward."
"In general, the solution is quite user-friendly. The GUI is very nice."
"I could install and configure the trial version in maybe half an hour and had a successful backup of our file server on the same night."
"The chat functionality with Nakivo Support in the web interface is very unique and we love it."
"The product license and support delivery have been great!"
"Every new version has got some tweaks and improvements in stability and speed."
"Nakivo's backup and replication product has allowed us to implement a disaster recovery solution with a target repository in the cloud."
"It is easy-to-use."
"Nakivo gives users confidence in knowing that if something happens with their application server, exchange server, or other applications, they can recover it easily and quickly."
"The main advantage from our perspective is the ability to plug this solution into an existing infrastructure on a cheap device and point the backup at the server targets and configure the backup options in a simple menu; linking to a cheap cloud resource for a simple solution for off-site storage."
 

Cons

"The software is very complicated. You have to do a lot of configurations to build a server, and you would need to backup and restore."
"The initial setup is complex."
"Technical support could be improved."
"It needs agents that take into account more databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)."
"Restoring massive files is a very time-consuming process."
"We would like to see bare-metal restorers."
"Its management part can be better and simplified. It is kind of a beast as compared to Commvault or Veeam, but they are more user-friendly. They are also easier to learn, whereas Spectrum Protect definitely takes time. They should simplify it. Our teams are pretty comfortable with it because we have been using it for a long time, but from the perspective of a new user who is evaluating or using this solution, it is definitely more complex in terms of manageability. Its monitoring could be improved so that it can even monitor the jobs that are scheduled by external schedulers. There are situations where a database team might decide to use their own schedulers, but currently, Spectrum Protect is not able to catch those jobs in the Operation Manager console."
"Perhaps some better documentation, which I believe was better in the past."
"There is a lack of native (web-based) update functionality."
"We would like to back up File Shares to Amazon S3/Wasabi."
"We are satisfied with Nakivo, but if anything could be improved, I think it would be more real-time as opposed to email support availability."
"It could be a little bit faster in terms of backup and offer more reliable SQL server backups."
"From our experience, the main factor that could be improved is adding more cloud services that are supported as a backup repository."
"In the future, the solution should provide a more granular backup."
"They had given a feature of real-time replication which they stopped in NAKIVO."
"The reporting features could be enhanced to provide more detailed and customizable reports for better insights into backup operations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is fair. Price-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."
"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."
"For my company, the tool is affordable and reasonable...I don't think most people know that when a company has large systems in place, the TCO is a lot lower."
"We have found that the pricing is high in our country."
"It can be perceived as expensive since it is designed for enterprise use."
"It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market."
"It is really expensive. Its price is not good for Latin America. Its price is good for the United States or Europe."
"Licensing can be either complicated or simple depending on what type of licensing you wish to use and what works best for your environment."
"The prices are high."
"It's really cheap, and our company saves a significant amount of money on IT backup solutions per year."
"Regarding the licensing, I would advise speaking to the Nakivo representatives and you can get the best option for your environment."
"From the perspective of Indian users, the cost is a little bit high."
"You have a lot of different options when it comes to pricing and the pricing models are pretty flexible and affordable."
"As a free solution for a small environment, this is a great solution!"
"Nakivo is cheaper per machine and per backup."
"Nakivo Backup & Replication also have another great value, which is that it is one of the lowest prices on the market."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
University
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?
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 dash...
How does Nakivo compare with Veeam Backup & Replication?
Nakivo is my favorite backup software. Below are the main benefits of Nakivo compared to Veeam 1. Low cost. 2. Backup storage with global deduplication (this is the main requirement of a backup sol...
What do you like most about Nakivo?
NAKIVO Backup & Replication is very easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nakivo?
The product is affordable even for smaller organizations.
 

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
Coca Cola, Honda, 3M, University of Arizona, University of Maryland, University of Arkansas, Johns Hopkins University, Marriott, Radisson Hotels and Resorts, Fujifilm, Eiffage
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. NAKIVO Backup & Replication and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.