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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

"It is more efficient than most traditional backup solutions."
"We have better, faster backup times, and it has improved efficiency in the backups."
"Data archiving is easier and less time-consuming."
"Overall, my experience with the solution is very positive, and I rate it a 9 out of 10."
"In general, the solution is quite user-friendly. The GUI is very nice."
"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 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."
"Performance and recoveries are better. Our clients and customers are happier with the performance of it."
"It's powerful and user-friendly."
"The solution is meeting all of our client's requirements. It has good performance."
"The Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows is easy to use and performing a recovery is easy to do."
"The initial setup was straightforward. It was very easy. Deployment only took about one hour with configuration and everything considered."
"It is easy to deploy."
"Technical support is good. They're very responsive. It depends on the timezone responding, but I usually get a response within three hours of creating a ticket."
"It's straightforward to set up."
"The solution is very affordable for small businesses."
 

Cons

"The version that we had when I first started made it look really bad. We are talking about commands that should have run in two seconds, but instead took four to eight hours. Other components were sluggish."
"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."
"Easier configuration of some of the products, e.g., VE comes to mind."
"It could use single store. The ability to mark an archive from my backup for long-term retention."
"IBM Spectrum Protect could be improved by making the installation easier. Once it's implemented, it's okay. IBM started lagging behind when things started moving to storage and cloud-based solutions. Even though they've recently released updates that give cloud-based protection, personally, I still believe they are not up to par with the likes of Rubrik. The entire product is a little bit clumsy because they have co-joined two different products, so it's complex. Even from a sales/explaining to people what it does point of view, it's complex. Whereas, if you take more current products, it's a single box solution. You reel it in, you fire it up, you do a couple of points and clicks, and off you go, whereas the IBM system is seriously complex. There's a lot of training involved and it's a massively difficult product to sell at this point in time."
"This solution does not have good support for virtualization and a hyper-converged environment."
"We would like to see capabilities of long-term archiving and more support for hardware platforms."
"Most customers still struggle with the reporting piece, especially generating reports. I think it needs some improvements in this area."
"Interface could possibly be improved."
"A lower price would always be beneficial."
"I would like to have a more automated installation process."
"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."
"It fulfills our needs in terms of features. In terms of improvements, they can maybe improve its documentation."
"In the next release, I would like to see it easier to implement."
"I can't think of anything that may be missing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have spec'd out our build, and the cost of it can work quite easily today for our future needs."
"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"Customers need to pay for licensing in order to use IBM Spectrum Protect. The customers that have been using it for a long time are okay and happy with it. From a cost point of view, it's better for them to renew their licenses than to go through the difficult process of changing a backup product in their environment, and migrate from one product to another."
"It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market."
"Licensing IBM Spectrum Protect can be somewhat confusing for new users due to the options available, such as licensing on a capacity or per server basis."
"You need to put it in a PoC and test it out if you can."
"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive. However, there are a few packages and it is unclear because, for the entry suite they have both options, which are the back-end storage capacity and the front-end storage capacity."
"We pay for a three-year subscription to use Veeam 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."
"We are on an annual license to use Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows. There are not any additional fees to use the solution."
"The licensing fees are billed on a yearly basis, and the fees are much lower than what I pay for NetBackup."
"There are costs in addition to the standard licensing fees, and pricing can be a disadvantage or a weakness for this solution."
"Pricing is based on license packaging and duration. Longer term licenses are less per year and license packages also offer a discount."
"The pricing model is based on CPU and must be declared as Microsoft or VMware licensing."
"The pricing is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Photography Company
24%
Performing Arts
21%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
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 ...
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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: January 2026.
881,346 professionals have used our research since 2012.