IBM Storage Protect vs OpenText Data Protector comparison

IBM and OpenText are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.6, while OpenText is ranked #23 with an average rating of 9.0. IBM holds a 1.8% mindshare in BRS, compared to OpenText’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

IBM Storage Protect

Read 4 IBM Storage Protect reviews

5,686 Views
4,776 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

OpenText Data Protector

Read 102 OpenText Data Protector reviews

2,912 Views
2,650 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

IBM Storage Protect

OpenText Data Protector

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 2025

OpenText Data Protector and IBM Storage Protect compete in the data protection and backup solutions category. While both offer comprehensive features, IBM appears to have the upper hand with advanced deduplication and scalability, which are critical for large-scale enterprise environments.

Features: OpenText Data Protector offers seamless integration with applications such as SAP and Oracle, along with virtual and physical backup capabilities, benefiting from a comprehensive feature set. IBM Storage Protect supports advanced deduplication, compression, and robust database integrations, focusing on scalability and reliability for large enterprises.

Room for Improvement: OpenText Data Protector users seek enhancements in GUI, reporting functions, and better management for virtual environments, alongside improved support documentation. IBM Storage Protect needs simplification of configuration, better cloud integration, enhanced VM backup capabilities, and a more user-friendly command-line interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both solutions are favored for on-premises and hybrid deployments. OpenText Data Protector's customer service could improve in response times and localized expertise, while IBM offers professional service with room for quicker issue escalation.

Pricing and ROI: OpenText Data Protector provides flexible licensing options but can be costly if all features are used, yet remains cost-effective for comprehensive backup needs. IBM Storage Protect's pricing is seen as high; however, the enterprise-level capabilities, offering scalability, often justify this cost, ensuring a good ROI for large organizations.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Storage Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Storage Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector

February 2026

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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 Storage Protect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

12th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

OpenText Data Protector

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

23rd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

102

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 1.8%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Data Protector is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Storage Protect	1.8%
OpenText Data Protector	1.0%
Other	97.2%

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

reviewer2787573

Interim Head of Infrastructure at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Backup coverage has supported immutable protection and now needs a more modern, intuitive interface

IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy to use and more relatable to younger engineers because its interface design is more similar to Office 365 and the newer controls and labels that we are accustomed to. The difficulty that we now have with IBM Storage Protect is that for this day and age, compared to other products that are out there, it seems complex. If we look back 15 years ago, all enterprise class backup software was complex, so IBM was not any different. However, many of these older systems, such as Commvault, still have the same complaint that they are very complex because they have tried to keep that same interface and the same way it works. This suits them, but it probably needed a complete overhaul to bring it into the ease of use that we have with modern software. However, that upgrade has not been done. IBM Storage Protect has not been upgraded into a modern platform. It still looks a legacy platform.

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reviewer1751496

Project Manager and Technical Consultant at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Provides effective backup for physical servers and needs improvements for cloud compatibility

We use OpenText Data Protector for Oracle database backup and some applications that run for database security OpenText Data Protector is good for physical backup, specifically for physical servers. It is effective for direct backups to EMC library or storage without using a repository. However,…

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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 ability to migrate between media over a long period of time. My customers are long-time users, and they have benefited from being able to move between tiers. They have been able to do this within the product."

"A robust tool which allows us to backup pretty much any environment, virtual or physical."

"It scales well for the amount of clients that we use with it."

"Scalability: Our customers are able to grow the product without having to buy additional hardware, so it is very scalable."

"We like IBM Spectrum's versioning capabilities. It lets us specify how many versions of a file we want to keep and for how long. Also, the archive component of the software helps us a lot."

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

"It scales well. We have grown here in the last year or two, and it has been relatively easy."

"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 Storage Protect pros

"The installation was simple and provided an easy way to install even on Unix servers. It has excellent features like deduplication."

"The initial setup is straightforward if you understand Data Protector."

"Micro Focus Data Protector's most valuable feature is its interaction with the fiber share. It is easy to use, we use it to back up without any problem to VTLs, and can use the Fiber Channel that is still the TCP."

"The most valuable feature of Data Protector is its integration with VMware. A lot of software these days integrates with VMware, and you can run some of these things on virtual machines. You can even have your backup manager running on a virtual machine and use physical managers to move data around. Their VMware integration isn't too bad, but Commvault has that feature, and many other backup products do."

"The feature that was most valuable was that we could restore one mailbox and we could do different backups for different databases."

"I like that it supports HPE UNIX servers since many backup solutions do not - this is the main reason why we chose this solution."

"It's a good product that's pretty easy to use."

"The solution is easy to use."

More OpenText Data Protector pros

Cons

"No one can fix every solution for backup and restore."

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

"I think Spectrum Protect's interface is not so user-friendly, but the interface is not so friendly. Some of the functions are too complicated. I prefer a simpler solution."

"The most important feature which I wish to be added involves the GUI, the user interface."

"This solution does not have good support for virtualization and a hyper-converged environment."

"I would like to see more technical training online. Sometimes, it is a little bit difficult to find, or that I do not really know what I am looking for as somebody who is starting off finding their learning curve."

"Replication of data could be more user friendly."

"It needs agents that take into account more databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)."

More IBM Storage Protect cons

"Microfocus needs to build a partnership with other vendors in addition to HPE as far as cloud consolidation of backups."

"People prefer Veeam because the interface is easier, and Data Protector is difficult in comparison."

"In terms of what can be improved, I would say integrations with MongoDB. We use MongoDB and we need to go to scripts to do backups. We need more integrations."

"The interface has been the same for many years and needs to be updated"

"In SAP restoration, we faced issues with changing the SIDs and changing the path for every backup object. It is quite a lengthy process to do that."

"Micro Focus are improving Data Protector with every new version and since we began undergoing training with the latest version we have not faced any real challenges yet. However, their support does need to be improved, in my opinion. In certain critical cases that we've had, they did not provide a satisfactory level of support."

"The technical support was very slow."

"We're not satisfied with the robustness and stability of the software since Micro Focus took it in-house. The GUI is one thing they could improve. It's still a bit archaic. Data Protector needs a more functional, user-friendly GUI."

More OpenText Data Protector cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We chose IBM Spectrum Protect, because they actually have something called MSP pricing, which means managed services provider pricing. The pricing was attractive, and it seems to be a platform that IBM is totally investing on in terms of new functions and new capabilities."

"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 pricing is a little expensive for our current employer, so they want to move to a cheaper solution."

"That's no longer my department, but I have some past experience with licensing. It is not cheap. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of licensing. In terms of additional costs, there is management overhead. It is a complex solution and a lot of work goes into managing clients. It has gotten better over the years, but compared to its competitor, it is still heavy on management overhead."

"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."

"License-wise regarding IBM, it's licensed per terabyte. And that is after compression and deduplication."

"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."

"IBM Spectrum Protect can be considered an averagely-priced product."

More IBM Storage Protect pricing and cost advice

"The licensing cost is too high."

"Our licensing is on a capacity basis."

"The product is cheaper than Commvault."

"Avoid using many LTO drives; when using fewer drives, the price will be extremely good."

"Pricing for Micro Focus Data Protector is reasonable."

"The licensing cost was not annual. We didn't pay any license. We paid when we deployed and we didn't pay for anything after that. There were no additional fees after the initial payment."

"We have many competitors who are pricing better, and we believe that our pricing is higher."

"In Data Protector, if you need extra features, you need to buy the agents for these features. Some of the features are Terabytes, some of them are agents. There's some complexity in the pricing and licensing."

More OpenText Data Protector pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Performing Arts

10%

Marketing Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	53
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	95

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	22
Large Enterprise	61

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Storage Protect?

The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will continue to use in the future.

See all answers

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

I do not know the current licensing cost for IBM Storage Protect and how we get our support because our licensing model is not quite standard. We do not buy IBM Storage Protect direct from IBM. We ...

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What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus Data Protector?

The solution is expensive as it requires purchasing all features without the option to negotiate based on client numbers, unlike Veeam which offers flexibility in pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Micro Focus Data Protector?

OpenText Data Protector is not user-friendly, especially for cloud backup. It lacks functions and facilities compared to Veeam, which offers more user-friendliness for virtual machine backups. Ther...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Data Protector?

We use OpenText Data Protector ( /products/opentext-data-protector-reviews ) for Oracle database backup and some applications that run for database security.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 8% of the time

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 8% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 7% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 6% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 6% of the time

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Veeam Data Platform vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 15% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 6% of the time

Symantec Data Loss Prevention vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 5% of the time

Dell Avamar vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 5% of the time

Veritas NetBackup vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 4% of the time

More OpenText Data Protector Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Storage Protect

January 2026

Download IBM Storage Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText Data Protector

January 2026

Download OpenText Data Protector product report

Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover

Micro Focus Data Protector, Data Protector, OmniBack, HPE Data Protector

Overview

IBM Storage Protect offers data protection and management to secure critical business information efficiently. It's designed to be a scalable and flexible solution for data backup, recovery, and archive needs in complex IT environments.

IBM Storage Protect delivers comprehensive data protection by integrating backup, recovery, and archiving functionalities. It supports a range of workloads and infrastructures, from on-premises to cloud environments, facilitating efficient data management. Its platform provides seamless scalability to meet evolving business needs, underpinned by reliable security measures. Organizations leverage its capabilities to ensure business continuity and minimize data loss risks, making it vital in a data-driven world.

What are the key features of IBM Storage Protect?

Advanced Data Protection: Offers robust encryption and data integrity for secure backup processes.
Scalability: Grows with your data demands, supporting large data volumes without compromising performance.
Cloud Integration: Seamlessly integrates with cloud platforms, enhancing backup strategies with hybrid options.
Automated Operations: Simplifies management tasks with automation, reducing manual intervention and errors.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating IBM Storage Protect?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces storage costs by optimizing backup processes and data retention strategies.
Data Safety: Ensures data accessibility and integrity during recovery efforts, building trust in data protection strategies.
Operational Efficiency: Boosts productivity through streamlined and automated backup management workflows.
Compliance Readiness: Helps maintain compliance with data protection regulations by providing thorough reporting and audit trails.

Industries like finance and healthcare implement IBM Storage Protect to safeguard sensitive information against threats. In financial services, it's crucial for maintaining client data confidentiality, while healthcare institutions use it to protect patient records, ensuring both accessibility and compliance with regulations.

IBM

OpenText Data Protector standardizes and consolidates backups across multiple platforms. It provides secure, comprehensive backup protection for business-critical data and applications whether virtual, physical, or online in the cloud.

OpenText

Sample Customers

CEMEX

GSK Vaccines, Repsol, Vodafone Group, Siemens AG, Medium Enterprise Transportation Services Company

Buyer's Guide

IBM Storage Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector

February 2026

Free Report: IBM Storage Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Storage Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

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