IBM Spectrum Protect vs Veeam Data Platform comparison

IBM and Veeam Software are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.2, while Veeam Software is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. IBM holds a 2.2% mindshare in BRS, compared to Veeam Software’s 17.1% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Veeam Software users who would recommend it.

IBM Spectrum Protect

Read 149 IBM Spectrum Protect reviews

4,584 Views
3,530 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Veeam Data Platform

Read 423 Veeam Data Platform reviews

35,207 Views
29,272 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect

Veeam Data Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 22, 2024

IBM Spectrum Protect and Veeam Data Platform are key players in the enterprise backup and disaster recovery market. Veeam seems to have the upper hand due to its user-friendly interface and strong integration with virtual environments.

Features: IBM Spectrum Protect includes Disaster Recovery Manager, incremental-forever backups, and deduplication. It is highly scalable, supports multiple platforms, and offers excellent archiving. Veeam Data Platform excels in virtual environments with instant VM recovery, application-aware backups, and integration with VMware and Hyper-V.

Room for Improvement: IBM Spectrum Protect could improve its GUI, reporting, and cloud integration. Users also desire a less complex experience with better tape management. Veeam Data Platform needs enhanced support for physical workloads and non-VMware environments, along with more intuitive reporting and flexible licensing options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Spectrum Protect's deployment can be complex, but technical support is expert, though first-level support varies. Veeam's straightforward setup and user-friendly interface are complemented by highly responsive customer service, making it appealing to organizations.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive, particularly for small customers, though it offers tiered pricing. It provides strong ROI in large-scale environments. Veeam Data Platform is competitively priced, making it accessible to a wider range of customers, with straightforward licensing and positive ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform

January 2025

Download the complete report

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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 Spectrum Protect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

149

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Veeam Data Platform

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

423

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (1st), Virtualization Management Tools (4th), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (1st), Cloud Monitoring Software (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 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 Veeam Data Platform is 17.1%, down from 20.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib

Head of Infrastructure Security (S.A.V.P) at EXIM Bank Ltd

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.

Read full review

Edward Hore

L3 Infrastructure Engineer at Specsavers

Reliable with good support but needs a better navigation menu

We use Veeam Data to back up our VMware infrastructure Veeam Data Platform is valuable for its stability and the ability to easily contact support for assistance. The support team provides answers whenever we need them. It is also one of the most scalable backup solutions I've worked with. The…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is always stable and reliable."

"The MN backup for a cluster is most valuable because it has made backing up the GSF as a zero-file system easier. I like its stability a lot. Over the years, I very rarely had a problem with it."

"Once it is completed properly, it is low maintenance. Most of the functions do not require much deliberation. It is all the blueprints and technologies laid out, and it is straight forward."

"IBM support is friendly, knowledgeable, and they always respond quickly. They've always been able to find the cause of my problem."

"It is more efficient than most traditional backup solutions."

"Regarding technical support, if one has the entire enterprise support, I would rate it a nine out of ten...Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."

"We are able to run it in an enterprise quite easily with one or two resources."

"The most valuable features of the product are data deduplication and disaster recovery."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

"I think that the scalability is very good. We can't compare it."

"It's not complex to replicate and back up the system."

"Veeam Is very useful for most environments and can scale up in most environments - such as Amazon or Azure."

"Veeam's file monitoring capabilities are strong and consistent."

"Storage Snapshot is a good feature and very safe."

"I can't think of any improvements yet for Veeam because they are very good. It integrates very well with Microsoft applications. It is very easy to integrate. Micro Focus can also integrate but it's more complex. You have to know the product very well to be able to integrate. While Veeam, it's very user-friendly. You don't need to have certifications or anything to work on Veeam."

"Integration with various applications, such as on-premises laptops and desktop backups, as well as applications and databases, is excellent."

"It integrates easily with third-party solutions compared to other vendors."

More Veeam Data Platform pros

Cons

"It has a lot of areas for improvement. Its reporting for job completion or incompletion can be improved. It should also provide a granular recovery, ease of operation, data life cycle management, and media management. It should support a backup in such a format that in case of a disaster, one can start the virtual machine out of the backup itself. Its reliability can also be better. It is also expensive, and their support is also poor."

"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."

"The product should be improved to save more space."

"The GUI has long been a problem for TSM/Spectrum Protect."

"This product should be more user-friendly for newcomers."

"They should have a proper technical support team serving the customers and get issues resolved earlier."

"In a future release, it would be a benefit to have the ability to add an application as a storage target, as a storage pool. Additionally, they should add more functionality to the administration for the Operation Center."

"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."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

"The database backup process could be improved."

"If a single file is corrupt then the restoration of the entire backup will fail."

"I feel that the product's support team needs improvement."

"Although the solution offers documentation, it has it only in English, which doesn't help us much in Belarus."

"Veeam Backup Replication could improve by having better integration with the cloud. Additionally, they do not have direct integration to S3 or Azure storage for the backups of the VMs. This feature would be beneficial because we have to go through the scalable repository which I do not like."

"The solution could improve the performance. We are not able to check the status of any system. Additionally, if there was an option to monitor server clusters it would be helpful."

"Additional executive summary reports for the entire infrastructure would be a nice to have."

"I would like a solution for SAP systems to be included."

More Veeam Data Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM provides an open license policy, which is more like a gentlemen's agreement."

"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."

"Use capacity licensing. It's easier and cheaper."

"Some of the new advanced features are definitely more into cost savings, e.g., dedupe compression, so doing more with less."

"The pricing model of this solution is another difficult area, it's very sophisticated in the way they charge. It's based on PBU, which is a type of processor, how, many processors, and you need to put everything into an equation. However, they have different ways of charging or licensing. One way is a back-end volume or front-end volume, which is quite complicated."

"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."

"There may be an advantage to going with IBM in terms of pricing. They have a pay-as-you-grow policy, so there is no need to take one license for the entire datacenter. You can start with small licenses and then grow, and pay, as you use more."

"It is very scalable, but the downside is that it costs money."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

"It's the market price. It isn't expensive, nor is it cheap."

"I understand from management that the DR component is too expensive."

"Although our license includes support, we have only really used the support when we were using Veeam for Active Directory. The rest of the time, we find Veeam easy enough to use without paying extra support fees."

"Our licensing cost is $200 a year."

"The pricing structure for Veeam ONE has changed to what is now called the "VUL" or "Universal License". Previously, people mainly used socket licenses, but this has now changed. The new pricing structure was introduced last year."

"The pricing of the solution could be reduced."

"The price of this product is very good."

"The price of the solution could improve when comparing it to competitors. The market is very competitive and they should have some discounts or special offers."

More Veeam Data Platform pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user159711

Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 9, 2014

VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto

Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect?

IBM Spectrum Protect is stable.

See all answers

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

It's expensive. I acknowledge the cost associated with it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?

See all answers

Major Differences Between These 4 Backup and Disaster Recovery Solutions?

Comparing the features of the four is not the right approach. You need to develop a list of requirements for backup and DR that are specific to your organization and then compare each of the four ...

See all answers

How do the backup solutions of Veeam and Veritas compare?

Technically, Veeam is best for hyper-v & VMWare replications, snapshots, HA failover, also support for file system backups inside VMs., support for tape library & FC too. But Veritas Netbac...

See all answers

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...

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Comparisons

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 20% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 11% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 11% of the time

Rubrik vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 7% of the time

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Protect Competitors

Rubrik vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 6% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Acronis Cyber Protect vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Azure Backup vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 4% of the time

VMware Live Recovery vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 4% of the time

More Veeam Data Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect

February 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

Veeam Data Platform

January 2025

Download Veeam Data Platform product report

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE

Overview

IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) is a data protection platform that gives enterprises a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery. It is the flagship product in the IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) family. It enables reliable, cost effective backups and fast recovery for virtual, physical and cloud environments of all sizes.

IBM

Veeam Data Platform ensures comprehensive data resilience by offering secure backups and intelligent data insights, catering to the complexities of modern data management.

Veeam Data Platform empowers businesses with reliable data protection, orchestrated recovery, and streamlined management. Providing peace of mind, it guarantees data is secure, available, and effortlessly recoverable. Organizations benefit from features such as instant recovery, simplified management, and compatibility with virtual environments. While it shines in backup and restore capabilities, it calls for improvements in integration with physical servers and enhanced cyber security features.

What are the key features of Veeam Data Platform?

Instant Recovery: Allows immediate data restoration with minimal downtime.
Simplified Management: Intuitive interfaces for managing data with ease.
Efficient Replication: Supports reliable duplication for high availability.
Seamless VM Backups: Integrates well with virtual environments like VMware and Hyper-V.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Offers robust alerting for proactive data management.

What are the notable benefits of using Veeam Data Platform?

Reliability: Trustworthy backup and restore functionalities.
Scalability: Supports cloud integration for expanding data needs.
Time Efficiency: Fast recovery processes minimizing business impact.
Flexibility: Adapts to diverse data management requirements.
Peace of Mind: Assures persistent data availability and protection.

Organizations in industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing utilize Veeam Data Platform for critical data management, ensuring business continuity and disaster recovery. Employed in securing both virtual and physical workloads, Veeam integrates cloud storage for enhanced scalability and efficiency.

Veeam Software

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

Business & Legal Resources Inc., Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, Alliance Healthcare, Poulin Grain Inc., Linear Technology, Northwestern University, ARKEMA, Sogegross, City of Lynchburg

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform

January 2025

Free Report: IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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