Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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 (13th)
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

"Forever incremental - allows TSM to optimize storage needs."
"It covers all the different operating systems. If you need backup, it can pretty much do everything."
"The feature that I have found the most valuable is that IBM Spectrum Protect is highly integrated with IBM ESS. In addition, it allows us to back up our virtual servers directly to take VM snapshots. It runs on Linux as well."
"You can scale the product."
"It scales well for the amount of clients that we use with it."
"Traditional storage works perfectly with it."
"It has to ability to backup DV2, Oracle, and Informix."
"It is good in terms of functionality. My clients are very satisfied with this solution."
"Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows's most useful features is the ease of use and user-friendly."
"I love Veeam because it is very easy to work with."
"The initial setup, if it is error-free, is very simple."
"This is a reliable system that supports Veeam backup and recovery for Windows."
"It's powerful and user-friendly."
"User-friendly data backup and protection solution for a Windows environment. The Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows is very scalable, stable, and has good compatibility and integration."
"The most valuable feature is that it's a VMware environment."
"Application awareness is very good and the speed of this solution is good."
 

Cons

"I am looking forward to new features in the next release. One of the main features is the cloud storage integration, which was one of my main required features. I've had more difficult experiences with other platforms than with this one."
"Probably educating the virtual group who are not as used to the product. Most of our expertise is with AIX servers and virtual server backups."
"For the database side, it does not have object level recovery."
"We are having a balance issue between the reclamation and the backup function. It has to take the space back from the tapes before it can record to those tapes, but sometimes those two processes are overlapping."
"RTO is a huge gap for us. If we had a disaster scenario and had to recover a bunch of stuff from tape, the RTO would be too long for us."
"IBM Spectrum Protect does have a lot of the features that we need, but I think they need to improve their backup virtualization and backup for container."
"It does not do too well in our virtual environment."
"We would like to see capabilities of long-term archiving and more support for hardware platforms."
"The backups can go slow."
"I would like there to be more integration with other platforms."
"The predictability of the solution needs improvement. Sometimes, if it's doing something at the back end, it may go slow. Today, the backup completion took four hours, but sometimes it can do the backup in 30 minutes or an hour. With solutions like NetBackup, I can predict to a much higher degree of certainty how long something will take to complete."
"The stability of this solution needs to be improved."
"We can't use tape for primary storage on Veeam."
"If they could let you can do replication to physical servers - a backup from physical servers and a replication to physical servers - that will be better."
"Maybe in the future, they could do something better with the user interface and the performance, but so far it's a really good, efficient solution."
"There are not many options available for AIX backup. They provide the agent for AIX, but it could be more mature."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"We have been at our size for a few years. We are not really looking to battle the licensing costs, as this is our primary system."
"We have spec'd out our build, and the cost of it can work quite easily today for our future needs."
"Licensing can be either complicated or simple depending on what type of licensing you wish to use and what works best for your environment."
"Going to IBM Tech University Conference saved me from making a major purchase of the wrong thing, which was very helpful."
"It is really expensive. Its price is not good for Latin America. Its price is good for the United States or Europe."
"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive and there is only a standard licensing fee."
"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."
"The solution is free of cost for end users but for enterprise use, a license per user is required."
"The solution is inexpensive, more so than other products."
"The licensing fees are billed on a yearly basis, and the fees are much lower than what I pay for NetBackup."
"Our licensing fees are on a yearly basis."
"The cost for its licenses is reasonable and as per industry standards."
"Pricing is based on license packaging and duration. Longer term licenses are less per year and license packages also offer a discount."
"For the licensing of Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, the customer can choose to pay monthly or yearly. It's up to the customer."
"We have a cloud provider agreement with Veeam. We are also paying for the agent."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.
884,371 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Photography Company
20%
Performing Arts
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
 

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
Earn 20 points
 

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, Rubrik and others in Backup and Recovery. Updated: February 2026.
884,371 professionals have used our research since 2012.