Unitrends vs Zerto comparison

Unitrends and Zerto are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. Unitrends is ranked #49 with an average rating of 7.3, while Zerto is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8. Unitrends holds a 0.5% mindshare in BRS, compared to Zerto’s 2.8% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of Unitrends users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Zerto users who would recommend it.

Unitrends

Read 34 Unitrends reviews

988 Views
730 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Zerto

Read 279 Zerto reviews

9,523 Views
4,755 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Unitrends

Zerto

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Zerto and Unitrends are two leading solutions in the data protection market. Zerto excels in business continuity and disaster recovery features, while Unitrends stands out in comprehensive backup and recovery functionalities.

Features: Zerto offers effective disaster recovery, continuous data protection, and robust replication with minimal data loss. Unitrends is known for a wide range of backup options, support for multiple platforms, and advanced recovery options.

Room for Improvement: Zerto users suggest enhancing the granularity of backup schedules, improving initial setup processes, and better control in scheduling. Unitrends users recommend improved reporting capabilities, a more intuitive interface, and advancements in usability tracking.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zerto is seen as easier to deploy due to its streamlined setup but may require initial guidance. Unitrends deployment is straightforward but involves more configuration steps. Zerto's customer service is responsive and knowledgeable, while Unitrends users appreciate live support but note variability in service quality.

Pricing and ROI: Zerto's pricing model aligns with its high availability features but can be expensive for smaller setups. Unitrends is cost-effective, offering considerable value for comprehensive backup solutions. Zerto delivers strong ROI for enterprises needing high uptime, while Unitrends provides balanced ROI through cost savings and extensive feature utilization.

To learn more, read our detailed Unitrends vs. Zerto Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Unitrends vs. Zerto

January 2025

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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

Unitrends

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

49th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zerto

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

2nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

279

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (4th), Cloud Backup (3rd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Unitrends is 0.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zerto is 2.8%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Q&A Highlights

it_user177801

IT consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Jul 23, 2023

Software replication to remote sites during disaster recovery?

We have recently implemented Zerto as a disaster recovery solution. Not only does it replicated, it allows you to created boot orders for the VM's. This means you can have your SQL server start and set an automatic delay for the applications servers. It can also be configured to bring a failover test up on an isolated network for DR testing. It can also replicate between different hypervisors. For example, you can replicated from VMware to Hyper-V or AWS. They are adding more hypervisors with newer released.

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Featured Reviews

Todd Guthrie

Director Of Information Technology at Creation Technologies

The solution can be used to back up servers and Hyper-V cluster nodes, but its support is super expensive

I wouldn't rate Unitrends a ten out of ten because we had some hard drive failures in the appliance. Typically, when you have OneDrive, you can get it replaced. For some particular reason, the situation caused the entire system to crash. We had to reinstall the CentOS operating system on it, and we lost all our backups. They said there was no way to retain it, and it was pretty devastating and concerning that a drive failure would cause the loss of all the data on the appliance. It was extremely disappointing, and we had to start from scratch after three years worth of backup data. I rate Unitrends a nine out of ten for stability.

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Shri Sharan

Solutions architect at Kyndryl

Is user-friendly, saves us time, and costs

We encountered some issues during Active Directory recovery. When we implemented Active Directory, we provided feedback to Zerto regarding the challenges of recovering AD from the on-premises environment to the disaster recovery site. Unlike other virtual machines, AD recovery presents unique difficulties due to its active-active nature. It's unclear whether these challenges stem from Zerto itself or limitations within Microsoft Active Directory. However, in our experience using Zerto for AD recovery compared to other technologies, we faced data discrepancies that necessitated workarounds to bring AD online at the DR site. Certain applications we migrated from production relied on Active Directory authentication. To ensure successful application functionality at the DR site, a functional AD environment was a prerequisite to application migration. Therefore, our initial step involved copying and guaranteeing a running AD instance on the DR side before application recovery. However, upon attempting application authentication on the DR side, data inconsistencies prevented successful authentication. To address this, we created an isolated clone of the AD environment and conducted tests. Through trial and error, we were able to develop workarounds to resolve the issue. Notably, these challenges were specific to Active Directory; other VMs didn't exhibit similar problems.

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

"I like the fact that you can recover the VMs inside the appliance. For example, they're basically running this appliance on a Linux-based distribution, and they're spinning off KVM virtual machines inside."

"VM backup is much faster and more reliable, as I can test my backups with Data Copy Access jobs."

"It is an easy system to use. The support, if needed, is always willing to help."

"When we talk about a backup point of view, from a backup perspective, it's a good one."

"I am impressed with the tool's reporting and UniView features."

"Iinstant recovery (allows a spin-up of your image as a VM on the appliance)."

"Backup/archive to multiple locations."

"It is very easy to set up and get started. Almost too easy. We racked this device and had it up and running in less than 15 minutes."

More Unitrends pros

"I like that the failover is simple and that it's a stable platform. It makes it easy for us to do failovers in the event that we have an issue. It also makes it easier to do test failovers because we can test it prior to actually doing a real failover. This means that we can pull things back or commit them over on the other side. Zerto streamlines the process instead of having to have a whole team of people who are dedicated to disaster recovery."

"The return to operations is the most valuable feature because it decreases the amount of time it takes us to recover."

"The pricing and licensing are excellent. It's very straightforward."

"Zerto is so easy to use that when I showed it to my manager, he said jokingly, 'Huh. I could use it myself, I don't need you.' Zerto is most elegant."

"Zerto has improved our restoration time and made it easier to test software upgrades. It has simplified tasks like decommissioning a site and replicating virtual machines from one location to another."

"Zerto provides disaster recovery solutions, data protection, and ensures minimal disruption during migration."

"The initial setup was very straightforward and easy. We were able to start replication within minutes of the initial setup."

"We are doing continuous data protection. It works flawlessly. Our recovery points are measured in seconds. We have all these "baby snapshots" throughout the course of the day, so we can roll a VM back to any point in time, spin it up, and away we go. We're actively using that. It works great."

More Zerto pros

Cons

"There are some questions as to how safely they are storing backup data."

"If the interface could be less complex, it is would be great."

"Network-based storage stability could be improved."

"It would be great to have the job throttle/limit the max number of backups on a single ESXi host."

"The solution’s support and onboarding process needs to be improved."

"Making the seeding process more accessible and easier to understand. Also, make more of the undocumented best practices easier to find."

"I would like to see more storage options for the free version."

"There's a lot that can be made better. For example, it could be more scalable."

More Unitrends cons

"Better alerting is something that I feel is critical."

"As one who is implementing it, my biggest gripe is the ticketing system. Zerto has since upgraded that, so right now, I have no complaints about it."

"Zerto's documentation is outdated. I'm finding it hard to find documents related to my questions. Their documentation is bad."

"It would be nice if Zerto offered OVFs, which are custom-built VMs that you can install on your virtualized environment. At the moment, I have the Zerto sitting on two custom-built Windows servers, which creates a lot of overhead. I'm waiting for them to create an OVF file, which is a built and hardened version of their Zerto server that I can just install wherever with a couple of mouse clicks."

"There's one feature that SRM had that Zerto doesn't have, and it's one that we've been asking for. With the orchestration part of the failover, with our DR and our primary sites, the IP addresses are almost identical. The only difference is one octet. With SRM, we could say during a failover change. With Zerto, we keep hearing that it's coming, but we haven't received it yet. It's a feature that would be very beneficial. It would reduce the time a little bit more."

"Another area for improvement I'd like to see is the tuning of the VRAs built into the GUI. It's a little cryptic. You really have to be a very technical engineer to get that deep into it. I'd like to see a little better interface that allows you to do that tuning yourself, rather than trying to get their engineer and your engineer together to do it."

"With the VPG (virtual protected group) it would be nice if you could pick individuals in the grouping instead of having to failover the whole group."

"We encountered some issues during Active Directory recovery."

More Zerto cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We found that the cost of Unitrends was about the same as the Dell DR6300. We liked the fact that the Unitrends appliance was all-in-one."

"You should be aware how much the monthly costs are to use, what the initial costs for hardware are, and what the options to expand are, if needed."

"Make sure you do the homework to size the solution properly. Buy the Enterprise Plus licensing if you can afford it."

"With respect to cost, my advice is to get what you need."

"No comment."

"Pricing model constantly changes."

"Their licensing depended on the number of CPUs you had."

"When you purchase initially, get into the program which gives replacement hardware for free when you renew your support agreement."

More Unitrends pricing and cost advice

"The pricing doesn't seem too bad for what it does."

"Everyone knows Zerto is a little on the expensive side, but what else is there on the market that does the same thing?"

"Zerto is more cost-effective than Azure."

"Licensing is VM based so you can buy packages or single VM. Price is not low but the power of application is high, so you will get your money back."

"The solution is very cost-effective and very easy to set-up but does not compromise on features."

"Its price can be better, but it is not bad. Most small-scale organizations can afford it, but they can come up with more customer-friendly packages."

"There may be less expensive solutions on the market but with Zerto, you get what you pay for."

"There is a lot of confusion with Zerto licensing. They have a migration license and a replication license. They should simplify the licensing process. The migration license costs a lot of money, and it is only on a one-time basis. If you use that license, it ties to that VM. I might re-migrate that VM in the next five to ten years. It is another environment, but my license is stuck there. The replication license is fine, and I have no issue with its pricing model, but they should simplify the migration license."

More Zerto 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…

Read full review

Answers from the Community

it_user177801

IT consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Sep 20, 2016

Software replication to remote sites during disaster recovery?

2 out of 16 answers

it_user157908

Tower Architect at Atos

Jan 5, 2015

Hello, Check the VBA module from networker legato software, it might be what you need. Kind Regards, John.

Read full answer

it_user136023

Consultant at EMC

Jan 5, 2015

So does that mean you want to have a Disaster Recovery solution where data is not on site your bunker site? but yet allows for a fast recovery in case your primary site is down? - What virtualization solution do you use? - What is the link between the 2 (?) sites? - What RPO and RTO are you aiming for? - How much data do you need to recover?

Read full answer

See all 16 answers

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

10%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Unitrends?

The most valuable feature of Unitrends for me is the automated feedback

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Unitrends?

Unitrends is an expensive solution. We've negotiated deals where they've given us the $ 62,000 to $ 64,000 appliance for free but charged $ 90,000 for three years of support.

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What needs improvement with Unitrends?

In terms of improvement, the UI, especially in the recovery section, is unclear about which repository it uses—I had to hover over to find that information. Figuring out the scripting part wasn't s...

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What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?

Ik fluister:VM Host Oracle en DataGuard hebben we per toeval vervangen door Zerto :-) tijdens de Zerto implementatie en VPG werden de Host Data in write-ack Block-Level gerepliceerd. Qua licentie 1...

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What do you like most about Zerto?

Its ability to roll back if the VM or the server that you are recovering does not come up right is also valuable. You have the ability to roll back a few seconds or a few minutes. The rollback feat...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?

I would rate the pricing, setup cost, and licensing around a seven on a scale of one to ten. The pricing model could be more flexible to accommodate startup companies with lower budgets.

See all answers

Comparisons

Veeam Data Platform vs Unitrends

Compared 58% of the time

Rubrik vs Unitrends

Compared 19% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Unitrends

Compared 13% of the time

Acronis Cyber Protect vs Unitrends

Compared 10% of the time

More Unitrends Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs Zerto

Compared 17% of the time

VMware Live Recovery vs Zerto

Compared 16% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Zerto

Compared 9% of the time

Rubrik vs Zerto

Compared 8% of the time

Nutanix Disaster Recovery as a Service vs Zerto

Compared 6% of the time

More Zerto Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Unitrends

December 2024

Download Unitrends product report

Buyer's Guide

Zerto

December 2024

Download Zerto product report

Also Known As

No data available

Zerto Virtual Replication

Learn More

Unitrends

Zerto

Overview

Organizations rely on Unitrends to back up and protect both physical and virtual servers with compatibility for legacy systems and an appliance model.

Unitrends supports Microsoft Hyper-V clusters, VMware ESXi clusters, SQL databases, and Exchange DAGs. Valuable for K-12 schools for continuous monitoring via a graphical interface, it also offers real-time synchronization, file restoration, report generation, email status updates, redundancy, and ransomware protection. Features include effective technical support, instant recovery, detailed reporting, real-time synchronization, global deduplication, cross-compatibility for OS backups, and frequent updates. Easy to install for Hyper-V appliances, the platform benefits users with its dashboard insights, saving time and ensuring reliability. While improvements are needed in high availability features, customer engagement, cloud capabilities, storage options, and the free version, the UI, configuration complexity, pricing, and support costs also demand attention. Users find scaling challenging and desire better feature parity with competitors, clearer recovery information, improved scripting, and flexible retention settings based on repository.

What are the most important features?

Effective technical support
Instant recovery
Detailed daily and email reporting
User-friendly interface
Real-time synchronization
Global deduplication
Cross-compatibility for diverse OS backups
Frequent updates
Ease of installation for Hyper-V appliances
Automated feedback
UniView features
Instant power-on
Cost-effective pricing
Time-saving dashboard insights

What benefits or ROI should users look for?

Time-saving features
Efficient data synchronization
Enhanced data recovery and protection
Accurate reporting and insights
Cost-effective and reliable solution

K-12 schools use Unitrends for continuous monitoring and verification via a graphical interface. Its real-time synchronization, file restoration, and report generation features support educational institutions' needs, ensuring data protection and operational efficiency.

Zerto is used for disaster recovery, business continuity, data migration, and ransomware recovery, providing continuous data protection and near real-time replication. Valued for ease of use, efficient failover processes, and versatile integration, it enhances organizational efficiency, reduces errors, and boosts productivity.

Sample Customers

NHL Players Association, Salvation Army, Sligro Food Group, Mason General Hospital, Tec Group, Saldab IT, Baker Tilly, Clinton Savings Bank, Ennit Magna Bank, Manukau Institute of Technology

United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies

Buyer's Guide

Unitrends vs. Zerto

January 2025

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