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VMware Live Recovery vs Zerto comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 15, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.2
VMware Live Recovery users report notable cost savings and efficiency, achieving up to 100% returns and reduced downtime.
Sentiment score
7.3
Zerto users reported reduced downtime, increased efficiency, and significant financial savings, enhancing disaster recovery and operational satisfaction.
The return on investment is evident, as Zerto saves more than 60 percent of time in various operations compared to the previous manual processes.
Most people like me hope we never have to use it. It is like insurance.
Having seen the product and how it works and its reliability, it seems it will pay for itself.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
VMware Live Recovery support gets mixed reviews, with praise for responsiveness but reports of delays and inconsistency, especially off-hours.
Sentiment score
7.7
Zerto's customer service is highly rated for responsiveness and effectiveness, though some seek faster escalation for complex issues.
They are knowledgeable.
I have never had an issue that was not resolved, and I have never been in a situation where they did not respond.
I would give them a rating of ten because it represents the highest level of support based on the technical knowledge of the support team, response time, and effectiveness of the provided resolutions.
We receive support around the clock, which is excellent.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
VMware Live Recovery is flexible for enterprises but faces challenges with compatibility, resources, and infrastructure-related scaling costs.
Sentiment score
7.6
Zerto offers robust scalability, seamlessly managing diverse environments and thousands of VMs, while efficiently adapting to growth and cloud integration.
I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.
By adding more hosts and installing VRAs on each, tasks can be efficiently managed.
I would rate Zerto a ten out of ten for scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
VMware Live Recovery offers strong stability with minor glitches, and users report reliability with efficient support for resolving issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Zerto is praised for reliability, managing failovers efficiently and ensuring minimal downtime with strong support and regular updates.
I promptly delete the malfunctioning elements and set them up again to resume replication, ensuring stability.
I consulted with tech support, and we determined the solution was to move the main workload to a resource-available ESX box.
It is 100% stable.
 

Room For Improvement

VMware Live Recovery faces integration, stability, and scalability issues, with user concerns about complexity, support, and pricing.
Zerto users desire improved documentation, integration, backup, automation, cost-effectiveness, cloud support, and enhanced features like encryption and failover.
It's important for the cost to be justified based on the features used in production.
I would like to see improved integration services with other solutions, such as SIEM management or security monitoring.
If I have 350 objects that I am protecting, I would like Zerto to be able to fire them up in one order, rather than having to manually bring them up in a sequence.
To increase accessibility for small and medium businesses, Zerto should consider a competitive pricing strategy, possibly including subscription-based licensing options.
The main issue with Zerto is its user interface, which lacks flexibility and presents a steep learning curve.
 

Setup Cost

VMware Live Recovery is costly post-Broadcom acquisition, offering valuable automation for enterprises but pricey for smaller companies.
Zerto's VM-based licensing is viewed as cost-effective with robust features, quick ROI, but lacks flexible licensing options.
For cloud-based solutions, the cost seems quite pricey, so we stick to on-premises deployment.
If you want a good-quality tool that is robust and does a good job for you, you have to pay a higher price to get that, and Zerto is no different.
However, it can become quite expensive when you start looking at the number of workloads you have in the environment and what you would like to do.
One of Zerto's main disadvantages is its pricing structure, which involves significant upfront costs and limited options for startups with minimal initial funding.
 

Valuable Features

VMware Live Recovery enhances disaster recovery with user-friendly interfaces, automated workflows, flexible recovery plans, and robust replication.
Zerto offers seamless integration, real-time replication, and user-friendly disaster recovery with hardware independence and automated failover capabilities.
The capability and the functionality of the features are very helpful for us.
The solution offers a rich set of features, well adapted in the market.
Zerto offers excellent technical support with responsive and helpful experts.
If we were attacked, I could revert to a backup from five seconds before the attack, and no one would know we were attacked.
The replication time and the minor amount of time it takes to sync a new server outside of any of my huge 40-terabyte boxes is ridiculously quick.
 

Categories and Ranking

VMware Live Recovery
Ranking in Disaster Recovery (DR) Software
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
79
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery as a Service (1st)
Zerto
Ranking in Disaster Recovery (DR) Software
2nd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
296
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (2nd), Cloud Migration (4th), Cloud Backup (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Disaster Recovery (DR) Software category, the mindshare of VMware Live Recovery is 9.6%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zerto is 10.3%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software
 

Featured Reviews

Siva Kuppala - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers simplified management and automated recovery process, which reduces the need for manual intervention during a disaster
Automated recovery is one good feature, SRM also offers simplified management. It has a centralized interface for configuring, testing, and executing disaster recovery plans across multiple sites. This means management from a single point, even for many sites. Recovery plans can be different for customers. So, another important feature is the policy-based protection within SRM. Recovery plans can be customized based on business requirements, including Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO). These objectives might differ between industries – healthcare might need a more aggressive RPO, for instance. Additionally, SRM offers failback capabilities and reporting features for compliance.
Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Leverage disaster recovery with reliable support and cost-effective future-proof features
Zerto is straightforward to implement because it only requires the installation of an agent on the VMs designated for migration. A service, typically a VM, must also be deployed at the disaster recovery location. This entire process is simple and can be completed within three days. Zerto's near-synchronous replication occurs every minute, allowing for highly granular recovery points. This means that even if interruptions or malware disruptions occur within that minute, Zerto can restore to the last known good state, effectively recovering the entire setup to the latest backup. This capability ensures high data security and minimizes potential data loss. One of the main benefits of implementing Zerto is its data compression, which significantly reduces the load on our IPsec VPN. Zerto compresses data by 80 percent before transmitting it across the VPN, minimizing the data transferred between geographically dispersed locations. This compression and subsequent decompression at the destination alleviate the strain on the VPN, preventing overload and ensuring efficient data synchronization. Zerto simplifies malware protection by integrating it into its disaster recovery and synchronization features. This comprehensive approach eliminates the need for separate antivirus setups in virtual machines and applications. It streamlines our security measures and removes the need for additional software or solutions, resulting in an excellent return on investment. Zerto's single-click recovery solution offers exceptional recovery speed. Through the user interface, a single click allows for a complete restoration from the most recent backup within two to three minutes, enabling rapid recovery and minimal downtime. Zerto's Recovery Time Objective is excellent. In the past, if a virtual machine crashed, we would recover it from a snapshot, which could take one to two hours. With Zerto, the recovery process takes only five minutes, and users are typically unaware of any disruption. This allows us to restore everything quickly and efficiently. Zerto has significantly reduced our downtime. When malware affects our data, Zerto immediately notifies us and helps us protect other applications, even those not yet implemented with Zerto. By monitoring these applications, we can quickly identify and address any potential malware spread, minimizing downtime across our systems. Zerto significantly reduces downtime and associated costs during disruptions. Our services are unified, so in the event of a disruption without Zerto, even a half-day disruption would necessitate offline procedures. This would lead to increased manpower, service delays, and substantial financial losses due to interrupted admissions and other critical processes. By unifying service processes, Zerto minimizes the impact of outages. Zerto streamlines our disaster recovery testing across multiple locations by enabling efficient failover testing without disrupting live services. Traditionally, DR testing required downtime of critical systems, but Zerto's replication and failover capabilities allow us to test in parallel with live operations. This non-disruptive approach ensures continuous service availability while validating our DR plan, even in scenarios like malware attacks, by creating a separate testing environment that mirrors the live setup. This comprehensive testing provides confidence in our ability to handle real-world incidents effectively. This saves us over 60 percent of the time. Zerto streamlines system administration tasks by automating many processes, thereby reducing the workload for multiple administrators. This allows them to focus on other university services that require attention and effectively reallocate support resources from automated tasks to those requiring more dedicated management. Zerto is used exclusively for our critical services, providing up to a 70 percent improvement in our IT resilience.
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Comparison Review

it_user159711 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Answers from the Community

AD
Jan 2, 2025
Jan 2, 2025
Hi Abhishek, That's a great question. In Europe/Austria most of the companies run Veeam - so do we. There a lot of advantages if you use Veeam as it's designed. Also, Zerto (more for Data migration) we use - but not for Backup. VM SRM is good for 1:n replication if you already use VMWare. There is a good comparison: https://community.veeam.com/vu... It's on the website from Veeam but still goo...
See 2 answers
Msc Schober - PeerSpot reviewer
May 22, 2023
Hi Abhishek, That's a great question. In Europe/Austria most of the companies run Veeam - so do we. There a lot of advantages if you use Veeam as it's designed. Also, Zerto (more for Data migration) we use - but not for Backup. VM SRM is good for 1:n replication if you already use VMWare. There is a good comparison: https://community.veeam.com/vu... It's on the website from Veeam but still good. Cheers,  Martin
JH
Jan 2, 2025
Zerto = VM near-synchronous replication (RPO in seconds), Multi-site and Multi-Cloud, Migration-only licensing available, Options for Backup-like long-term retention of VM snapshots, Application-centric DR workflows, Super easy to set up and run DR workflows, RTOs usually = mins, Built-in real-time ransomware detection, Options for HPE integrated Cyber Recovery Vault SRM = Asynchronous VM replication, relies on Storage platform snapshots and replication, RPOs will vary depending on storage platform. RTOs usually = hours depending on the size and complexity of the environment, VMware to VMware only, Comprehensive DR workflows for recovery, complicated to setup and run. Veeam = Many options for VM and VM data protection. Options for VM replication or VM backup with backup replication for DR. Can support Multi-Site and Multi-Cloud, Extensive backup and archive options for long-term retention, Ransomware detection by scanning backups, RPO – hours or days depending on backup and replication scheduled. Simple setup, DR recovery workflows are more manual than Zerto or SRM unless you leverage a 33rd party automation solution, RTOs usually = hours or days depending on dataset sizes and environment complexity.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery?
Setting up VMs can be done quickly. It is easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery?
The solution is pretty expensive after the changes, and it depends on the size of the customer if it's worth it. Larger enterprise customers can automate several features, making it cost-effective.
What needs improvement with VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery?
The licenses need to be easier to quote. At the moment, it is complicated with all the changes. The pricing structure is pretty expensive, especially after the recent changes, and it's important fo...
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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?
It is not the cheapest product; it is not the most expensive product, but it works. It is a mid-range product, and it is justified in terms of being pretty quick and easy.
 

Also Known As

VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery, Datrium DRaaS , VMware SRM
Zerto Virtual Replication
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Certainty Home Loans, VPay, ZEON
United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies
Find out what your peers are saying about VMware Live Recovery vs. Zerto and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.