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

IBM Spectrum Protect vs Veritas NetBackup Appliance comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

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
17th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Veritas NetBackup Appliance
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 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 Veritas NetBackup Appliance is 0.7%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Ahmed Handal - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced data retention and recovery with robust backup features
The Oracle Agent and Oracle RAC support are valuable features; they are crucial for taking backups and cloning applications. NetBackup Appliance has many features. Backup Exec is a great product as well. NetBackup is well-developed with strong features, including deduplication technology, which allows us to retain backups for longer periods—exceeding our expectations by keeping backups for almost a month. It's effective for data recovery and capable of handling large-scale data recoveries. It is very stable and keeps applications secure. However, the AI integration is not yet tested.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature for data recovery in IBM Spectrum Protect is its database protection capabilities."
"The backup of Sybase databases is the most valuable feature in the existing environment. They have got the most documentation out there on the internet for its software protection. The documentation is excellent, and there are a lot of blogs, websites. Because it's still one of the oldest products out there for data protection, there are also lots of people who have a lot of experience in using this solution."
"Traditional archiving. One of our revenue streams involves maintaining archives of our customers' data for very long periods of time."
"Scalability: Our customers are able to grow the product without having to buy additional hardware, so it is very scalable."
"The solution is mostly stable."
"Our performance is better."
"We work very closely together with IBM using their Support Center, but we have a strong contact in their development teams, and we have dedicated people from IBM working with us."
"Instead of taking three different backups of your systems, you're taking only one. You're able to crack that open and get what you need. The incident recovery, where it creates the VM and then you're running it, technically you're running it on Spectrum Protect. But then in the background, it's doing the storage motion and moving it off the Spectrum Protect back to your VMware environment. The users don't know the difference."
"The most significant benefit has been the time to restore."
"The reporting is very good compared to other tools."
"The intelligent policies feature is used in order to protect the VMware infrastructure. One of the things that makes a big difference for our company is the usage of these intelligence policies. The system automatically provides extra protection for any VMware server application or service. From a backup administrator's point of view, this is what we call peace of mind. It reduces the workload and therefore reduces resources needed from the company."
"The tool's most valuable feature is recovery."
"The most valuable feature is that the backup and restoring process is very fast."
"NetBackup Appliance's most valuable feature is the duplication encryption standard feature."
"We can add multiple appliances to the product."
"The product enables me to recover the information of the appliances in the organization."
 

Cons

"We have had some problems about using storage agents on the X6 environment. It is not quite stable, but it is also not supported in a virtualized environment."
"Restoring massive files is a very time-consuming process."
"It needs agents that take into account more databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)."
"Anytime you are not very current and call in with an issue, it is hard to get it resolved. It will depend on how far back you go though."
"The administration interface should implement more functionalities that exist only in the command line and needs improvement in how some reports are created."
"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."
"For the database side, it does not have object level recovery."
"We did not see any drawbacks to IBM Spectrum Protect before assisting a customer using Windows that wanted to migrate to using UNIX. IBM Spectrum Protect does not offer an option to migrate from other operating systems."
"The installation is cumbersome."
"The upgrade process of the solution needs to be improved since it is extremely complicated, especially without the benefit of a support person who can guide one through it."
"The cost per terabyte is extremely high."
"More licensing options could be introduced to the software. It is currently based on capacity only. Compared to competitors, it is difficult to position it economically everywhere. From the usability point of view, they are making many improvements on new interfaces, the SaaS offering, etc."
"It's an expensive solution."
"It's hard to get to the backups. There are too many tabs."
"I would like to see a product that requires less expertise to manage it."
"The desirability of appliance solutions is dwindling in the marketplace."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Regarding retro-compatibility of the product between versions, your data is always available and the ROI is unquestionable."
"Its licensing is complex, and its price is not really reasonable. It is on the expensive side. IBM, in general, is slightly expensive, but with IBM Spectrum for the virtual environment, they are looking into the aspect of helping customers with the cost and providing a cost-effective solution."
"The product is not cheap."
"It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market."
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"The solution has a capacity based licensing, front and back-end license."
"Licensing can be either complicated or simple depending on what type of licensing you wish to use and what works best for your environment."
"IBM provides an open license policy, which is more like a gentlemen's agreement."
"This solution is expensive."
"I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."
"The pricing for the solution's software maintenance and licensing is high."
"The licensing costs for this solution are very high."
"We pay annually. It is a huge figure for us."
"The product's price is high."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price and ten is a low price, I rate the pricing a nine."
"The price of Veritas NetBackup Appliance is competitive. There are different models of Veritas NetBackup Appliance, such as perpetual licenses and subscriptions. Having the choice is good."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
University
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?
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 dash...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Veritas NetBackup Appliance?
Regarding cost, it's quite expensive, but I'm not sure about the exact licensing costs. This needs to be checked.
What needs improvement with Veritas NetBackup Appliance?
The costing part is on the higher side. The reporting could also be improved.
 

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
NetBackup Appliance
 

Overview

 

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
Beta Offshore
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veritas NetBackup Appliance and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.