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IBM Storage Protect vs Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows [EOL] comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 2025

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
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (12th)
Veeam Agent for Microsoft W...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2787573 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Salman Ahmed - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at Habib Bank Ltd.
Functional application availability
There are not many options available for AIX backup. They provide the agent for AIX, but it could be more mature, and they should improve that option. They also provide the AIX agent, which is similar to the Windows and Linux agents. Since we use AIX machines, we need to take backups of those machines. However, the options available in that agent are limited. Therefore, the new version should have improvements in that area.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Traditional archiving. One of our revenue streams involves maintaining archives of our customers' data for very long periods of time."
"The most valuable features are compression and de-duplication."
"It covers all the different operating systems. If you need backup, it can pretty much do everything."
"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."
"Reliability: It has never had a problem with backups or restores. If you store something, it is there."
"The solution is mostly stable."
"IBM Spectrum Protect has excellent integration capability."
"It helps our customers protect their data, keep it long-term, and feel pretty secure about it, basically sleeping well at night."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It was very easy. Deployment only took about one hour with configuration and everything considered."
"We found the initial setup to be quite simple."
"Application awareness is very good and the speed of this solution is good."
"I love Veeam because it is very easy to work with."
"To do the actual backup configuration is also not too bad."
"Solution provides good security."
"The most valuable feature is application availability, which allows us to monitor all agents and accounts."
"The user interface is good. It provides a lot of information."
 

Cons

"In terms of features, they've got it all covered. The features they have are quite good. The only downside to it is that it is for an enterprise or big organization. In my opinion, it is not for a small business."
"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."
"I would like to see the operations center be a lot more functional. It was nowhere near as functional as the admin center, and I'm doing a lot of command line with it."
"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."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is not a very user-friendly tool."
"The most important feature which I wish to be added involves the GUI, the user interface."
"Generally, the implementation of virtualization could be improved. The workflow service and so on are not working properly."
"It can be improved for large file systems with many files. Spectrum Protect can restore large files very well, but if you're restoring millions of little files, it is not as great. At one point, we tried to implement the VMware module with it, and it was awful and terrible. I don't know if that has improved. If it hasn't, this would be one big improvement."
"It is not always easy to update this solution to the newer version, so the update process needs to be improved."
"The support could be improved a lot, as it is currently non-existent."
"Some customers have Oracle databases and Veeam does support back up of Oracle databases."
"It fulfills our needs in terms of features. In terms of improvements, they can maybe improve its documentation."
"I can't think of anything that may be missing."
"I've found a lot of difficulties on the initial setup and especially in terms of credentials. We really need a Window OS. It doesn't like the domain admin account. it's a primary permission issue."
"Updating and configuration can sometimes be a little bit of a hassel, but once you know the product better it is easy to use."
"The solution lacks instant recovery."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When compared to the cost of other enterprise products, it seems to be in the same range. However, compared to the cost of non-enterprise products, it is really high."
"It can be perceived as expensive since it is designed for enterprise use."
"License-wise regarding IBM, it's licensed per terabyte. And that is after compression and deduplication."
"IBM Spectrum Protect, cost-wise, has way higher pricing than Veeam. By switching over to Veeam, my company saved over $600,000 in USD. The IBM Spectrum Protect pricing is a two on a scale of one to ten. My company paid additional fees for maintenance, apart from the standard licensing fees."
"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."
"We have found that the pricing is high in our country."
"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."
"Spectrum Protect is not a cheap option."
"We have the Community Edition and I believe we bought a license for 200 instances. Veeam Agent is mainly used for our branch offices. Those only have one or two Hyper-V servers, so it's covered with the Community Edition. Basically, it's free. I remember Veeam 7.0 or 8.0 wasn't free, but the Community Edition is."
"The pricing is good."
"The solution is inexpensive, more so than other products."
"We have a cloud provider agreement with Veeam. We are also paying for the agent."
"For the licensing of Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, the customer can choose to pay monthly or yearly. It's up to the customer."
"The cost for its licenses is reasonable and as per industry standards."
"We pay for a three-year subscription to use Veeam Agent."
"The licensing fees are billed on a yearly basis, and the fees are much lower than what I pay for NetBackup."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Photography Company
22%
Performing Arts
19%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Real Estate/Law Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise95
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise10
 

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.
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 ...
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
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 ...
Ask a question
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Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
ContinuitySA, Landmark Information Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Veeam Software, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Commvault and others in Backup and Recovery. Updated: February 2026.
882,886 professionals have used our research since 2012.