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reviewer1370727 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Director Security Operations at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
We have been able to reduce our mean time to restoration quite significantly
Pros and Cons
  • "There are two things that are keeping us with the solution: 1. It does a very good job of keeping the data in sync at all times. 2. In the event of a failover or in the event of a contingency, we are able to retrieve the data very quickly without any issues."
  • "When we are trying to upgrade any virtual machines, we have to stop the virtual machines that have been replicated in Zerto and then upgrade or update to the virtual machines onsite. Instead of having to do it manually, there should be some way of automating that particular function."

What is our primary use case?

For all the most important applications, we are using Zerto as a hot site in case something were to go on with our on-prem data center-based applications. We can immediately resort to Zerto as a failover.

It's deployed for replication from our data center into the public cloud.

How has it helped my organization?

The most important thing is the mean time to restoration. When anything goes wrong, we should be able to rely on the failover data that is available, and we should be able to restore it as quickly as possible. We have been able to reduce that mean time to restore the data pretty significantly with Zerto. It's gone from a few hours to a few minutes.

What is most valuable?


There are two things that are keeping us with the solution:

  1. It does a very good job of keeping the data in sync at all times. 
  2. In the event of a failover or in the event of a contingency, we are able to retrieve the data very quickly without any issues.

Both of these points are valuable to us because we have application data and it means we keep the data in sync. It is very important for us to know exactly where we left off in the event of any disaster or contingency. We can always rely on, or resort to, the data that we have as a backup or a failover. Also, in the event of a contingency, or even for doing a mock contingency exercise, the speed of retrieval of data and the speed of getting back up and running — minimizing the downtime — is important. That's where the second feature comes into play.

What needs improvement?

There are two areas which I would recommend for improvement. One is when we are trying to upgrade any virtual machines, we have to stop the virtual machines that have been replicated in Zerto and then upgrade or update to the virtual machines onsite. Instead of having to do it manually, there should be some way of automating that particular function.

And when it comes to AWS failover, the documentation has a lot of scope for improvement. It's come a long way since we implemented it, from the scantiness of documentation that was available to do a failover into AWS or recover from AWS, but they could still do a much better job of providing more details, how-to's, tutorials, etc.

In terms of additional features that I would like to see included in the next releases, if they could provide us some kind of long-term storage option, that would be the best thing. Then it could be a storage and a failover solution combined into one.

Buyer's Guide
Zerto
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Zerto. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Zerto for two-and-a-half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a very stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It scales very well, in terms of the data size and the number of sites that we want to add on. It has scaled very well, at least in the last two releases.

We have plans to increase usage, but as it is we are using it for about 75 percent of the data at this point. The balance of the data will come onboard by early next year.

We have about 25 people using Zerto, and they're mostly database and storage administrators, infrastructure people, and security people. 

How are customer service and support?

We have not used the technical support. One thing I can say is that they have a very friendly team of engineers. If you have a problem, they are at your beck and call. You can call them and get it resolved.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using another solution but I don't want to name it. The primary reason we switched was the ability to restore the. Our main goal was not only to have good replication of data, but to be able to restore the data as quickly as possible in the event of any contingency, whether planned or unplanned. 

From that standpoint, when we put Zerto against the existing product, what took us a few hours in that product took us a few minutes with Zerto. That was primarily the goal. Even though this product was a little more expensive than what we had prior to going with Zerto, we still went ahead with Zerto.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward compared to a lot of others. The user interface is very simple and very intuitive. It goes one step at a time so you can logically follow through the steps to set it up. Whether it's a small site or a big site, it doesn't really matter.

Overall our deployment took about two weeks. We had a detailed project plan, as we always do with any new products or projects that we come up with.

It doesn't require any full-time staff to deploy and maintain the solution. Once you turn on the process, all that somebody needs to do is just monitor the schedule and see whether it's doing things the way it has been programmed.

What was our ROI?

We have absolutely seen return on our investment with Zerto. We do mock disaster recovery exercises and, in every such exercise since we've gone ahead with Zerto, we've been able to restore the data within a few minutes, very easily, without any business loss. That gives us the confidence to say that, even in the case of a real disaster, we should be able to restore the data.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't evaluate any other options.

What other advice do I have?

Know your use case and then do a thorough proof of concept with your use case to see whether the solution works for your environment and your specific use case. Have a well-defined project plan and negotiate your way with the vendor.

The biggest lesson our organization has learned in using Zerto is that you should understand the product very well. You should understand what the product is capable of doing and leverage the options and features that are available in the product to the optimal extent. 

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1245939 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Easy to set up and the ability to recover in minutes gives us peace of mind
Pros and Cons
  • "We are in the process of switching over our production data center and Zerto has been a true time-saver that has cost us zero downtime."
  • "The setup process is time-consuming."

What is our primary use case?

We use Zerto to keep a replica copy of the core servers we have running at our backup site. In the case of an outage, we are able to flip over to our backup location. Zerto keeps these servers up to date within seconds and in the case of an outage at our core data center, we can flip over services with little to no data loss.

How has it helped my organization?

Mostly what Zerto gives us is peace of mind. 

We do the normal backups and that data gets stored offsite, but unlike backups, Zerto gives us the ability to be back up and running within minutes on a copy of our servers that is an identical copy of what is no longer accessible.

What is most valuable?

The features we found most valuable is site-to-site replication. This is what we purchased the product for and what we use it primarily for. We are in the process of switching over our production data center and Zerto has been a true time-saver that has cost us zero downtime.

What needs improvement?


Some features are not up to what we need, although we have found alternatives and aren't really looking for Zerto to handle those items today.

The setup process is time-consuming.


For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Zerto for around four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

With its built-in notifications and reporting, Zerto will alert you if there is anything wrong before it can become a problem.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Zerto works for one or one thousand machines and scaling out is an easy process. Zerto also seems to better support the major cloud vendors, with updates as well.

How are customer service and technical support?

Zerto technical support has been very responsive and has always been able to help. They are available 24x7 and always have someone to contact you right away.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to using Zerto, we were using VMware's SRS. It was not keeping a close enough copy of our servers.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straightforward, but also a lot of information was needed. A fair bit of time was spent setting things up, but it was really just time-consuming. There was nothing that needed to be done by the vendor.

As far as setup and maintenance are concerned, you need to be sure to set it up properly, test it, and occasionally perform updates. For the most part, once it is in place it is pretty hands-off.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented with the help of Zerto, who was very helpful in explaining the process and how everything works.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Zerto is not cheap but is an invaluable asset.

If you have the need for what Zerto can do for you then the cost really isn't a factor.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We only had experience with VMware's product and didn't know of anything other than Zerto. Once we tried the product we were hooked and never had a reason to look at anything else.

What other advice do I have?

When we implemented Zerto, we only utilized some of the features. This was mostly because of our needs at the time and partially because the other parts were not up to what we needed. They have since greatly improved on these parts, like the backups features, but we aren't really looking for Zerto to handle those items today.

We have never regretted implementing Zerto and I would not trade it for any other product.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Rodney Carlson - PeerSpot reviewer
Rodney CarlsonSystem Analyst at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User

Good/accurate review of the product. As a fellow Zerto user, I concur with the findings.

Buyer's Guide
Zerto
March 2025
Learn what your peers think about Zerto. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.
842,690 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user373668 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Manager, Cloud Recovery at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Continuous VM replication and ability to choose recovery point are key
Pros and Cons
  • "Failover using Zerto is simply a one-button click, and it does everything else in restoring the VMs at a different datacenter (recovery site)."
  • "Zerto is an excellent solution for cloud-based environments, but for DIY clients who have another site to recover their systems it also works well."
  • "Adding or changing VPGs (Virtual Protection Groups) may require restarting replication."

How has it helped my organization?

Virtualization, and Zerto improves business continuity and disaster recovery tremendously.

What is most valuable?

  • Continuous replication for VMs
  • Ability to choose point in time to recover from
  • RPOs in seconds
  • RTO in minutes

What needs improvement?

Adding or changing VPGs (Virtual Protection Groups) may require restarting replication.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is very stable; no issues with upgrading to new releases.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Adding additional VMs is fairly easy. Adding or changing VPGs (Virtual Protection Groups) may require restarting replication.

How are customer service and technical support?

Very good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously we used SRM (Site Recovery Manager). Zerto is much easier to set up and configure. Failover using Zerto is simply a one-button click, and it does everything else in restoring the VMs at a different datacenter (recovery site).

How was the initial setup?

Initial setup is fairly easy and the environment can be protected in just a few hours.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You can find providers of a DRaaS solution with Zerto license fees for each VM. Zerto only sells to partners and they have a robust partner organization.

What other advice do I have?

The product works and does what is says. Zerto provides enterprise-class, virtual replication and BC/DR solutions for private, hybrid, and public clouds. Future releases will provide multiple destinations/locations to store the replicated data.

Most companies have used backup software for their protection, or disk array replication. Zerto leapfrogs those data protection methods and provides a much more affordable BC/DR solution, with improved RPO and RTO.

Zerto is an excellent solution for cloud-based environments, but for DIY clients who have another site to recover their systems it also works well.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Zerto Partner.
PeerSpot user
it_user486204 - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Owner with 1-10 employees
Real User
Continuous log file transmission means the granularity of restores is amazing
Pros and Cons
  • "The replication being log-based is awesome."
  • "You can set the number of days a VM can be rolled back in case of corruption or virus infection."
  • "Since the log files are continuously transmitted, the granularity of restores is amazing."
  • "Files can also be extracted from the VMDK at the remote site even when the VM is off."
  • "An integrated encryption would allow for faster initial install and connection to the remote cloud site."
  • "Their offsite backup is a bit clunky, but it will probably improve."

How has it helped my organization?

The setup is easier than most products, and for us as a cloud partner, once a customer is trained to create VPGs, they are good to go.

What is most valuable?

  • The replication being log-based is awesome. 
  • The VMDK can be preloaded to the remote site or allowed to come across the WAN, then the logs just keep flowing.
  • You can set the number of days a VM can be rolled back in case of corruption or virus infection.
  • Since the log files are continuously transmitted, the granularity of restores is amazing.
  • You can practice failovers (start the replicated virtual machine at the remote site) while the logs keep stacking up. The replicated machine can be open for a few hours, but short times are best depending on how much data is changing.
  • Files can also be extracted from the VMDK at the remote site even when the VM is off.
  • In case of a disaster, a single mouse click sets the restore to the real failover; click the Failover button, the VM on the replication site is started, while the VM at the source site is shut down. Once up, reverse replication begins and stays in log replication until the systems are reverted back to normal via the same process.

What needs improvement?

An integrated encryption would allow for faster initial install and connection to the remote cloud site. 

Their offsite backup is a bit clunky, but it will probably improve.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues with stability. The delivered upgrades and major updates are stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues with scalability, it pretty much takes care of itself. One does have to watch where all the recovery site systems are located, to avoid running out of space on the datastores. We can control/move recovery VMs as necessary.

How is customer service and technical support?

Awesome. Their helpdesk people are among the best.

How was the initial setup?

The product needs a VPN tunnel from the customer site to ours. VPNs can be tricky depending on the compatibility of the hardware. The programs themselves are a snap, and surprisingly small.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Cloud providers get good pricing to encourage quick adoption. A new feature is the One-To-Many VPG allowing a VM to be replicated at up to three different locations, including local.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

As a cloud service provider, we have many tools to satisfy the needs of the customer. We have used Asigra, Veeam, StorageCraft, as well as Zerto. Each has its strengths. The market is heating up because of CryptoLocker and other viruses.

What other advice do I have?

There are many products on the market that perform Virtual Machine replication. The other products use Snapshot technology which can have issues with Hypervisors or large disk volumes. The datastore or shared disk (depending on Hypervisor) must have enough free space to allow the Snapshot to be open for as long as the backup runs. This can lead to crashes and consolidation issues, which are usually painful. Zerto is a log-based replication product, for that I give it a 10 out of 10.

I've been using it over a year now, and the product has kept improving. It is easy to upgrade to the next minor or major release.

In terms of advice, I would say become VPN, as well as VMware or Hyper-V, savvy.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Cloud Partner.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1951125 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Drastically reduced our replication time and we now do less DR testing
Pros and Cons
  • "For us, the most valuable features are the quick upload time and how the sync works... We have VMware SRM and Veeam, and they have been pretty slow and sluggish."
  • "An area for improvement is the support because it gets really expensive. They need to make it a little cheaper. Support also takes time."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for backup and replication.

How has it helped my organization?

The total time for replication has been reduced drastically for us and that really adds value in the long run because time equals money and resources.

It has also helped to reduce our DR testing. Previously, when we were doing it across our own locations, we had to make sure it was working by doing a lot of testing back and forth.

Also, the solution is already up to the mark on audits and certification.

What is most valuable?

For us, the most valuable features are the quick upload time and how the sync works. The sync is pretty good and that's really helpful. The quick upload is important to us because other solutions were lagging behind. We have VMware SRM and Veeam, and they have been pretty slow and sluggish. We have had some challenges with them.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Zerto for seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We're just replicating and I assume it runs on some kind of cloud as an overlay, so the stability is pretty good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is insane. Really good.

How are customer service and support?

An area for improvement is the support because it gets really expensive. They need to make it a little cheaper. Support also takes time.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We still have some other solutions in-house. We are not fully dependent on Zerto. We are still trying to get rid of the others, but we have not entirely moved on.

How was the initial setup?

In 2014, when Zerto was launched, the initial setup was pretty simple.

What about the implementation team?

We used an integrator. Our experience with them, at our engineering level, was that it was pretty smooth and streamlined, the first time we used Zerto. We had a few issues in the initial deployment, but later on, when we moved to scripting, the process became streamlined.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I would like to see different service levels. They're good, but it still takes a lot of our budget in ops.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated Veeam and SRM. Zerto is an HPE product, and we have been using a lot of HPE servers. That trust in HPE won our business.

When comparing Zerto with Veeam and SRM, the latter are newer in the market. They try to provide a multi-cloud strategy with tie-ups across six different clouds, which is different from Zerto. That's where I would use them if I had to.

All the solutions were almost equal but Zerto is still better because they have a lot of releases and new versions.

What other advice do I have?

We are just using it for backup and replication. We have not yet had an event where we have had to restore.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Customer
PeerSpot user
reviewer1246608 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Live failover testing is seamless and limits production downtime
Pros and Cons
  • "The fact that we are able to test the failover of live systems during regular hours is invaluable to our organization."
  • "The GUI could be streamlined a bit more to enhance the administrative tasks."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for DR failover/testing on our DR site. We're a Windows/VMware environment and replicate 25 virtual machines from our primary data center to our disaster recovery site. The solution allows us to perform live failovers without shutting down our production systems.

How has it helped my organization?

Zerto has made the testing and the actual failover process of our replicated virtual machines seamless. The product has relieved the administrative burden for the IT staff responsible for the disaster recovery implementation of the organization. Adding new virtual machines is quick and easy, and managing the environment is straightforward.  

What is most valuable?

Failover testing is the most valuable feature. The fact that we are able to test the failover of live systems during regular hours is invaluable to our organization. No longer do we have to schedule failovers of our systems, which brings down our production environment.

What needs improvement?

There are a couple of minor areas that could use improvement.

The GUI could be streamlined a bit more to enhance the administrative tasks. I would also like to be able to throttle the email alerts, as sometimes they become a bit noisy, and get tough to keep on top of.

For how long have I used the solution?

Our company has been using the product for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a very stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is easy to add new licenses for growth.

How are customer service and technical support?

Support has always been readily available if there were issues.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We never used a different solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty straightforward and seems to be in line with similar products.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other products before choosing this solution.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Cloud Solutions Architect at Clouditalia Telecomunicazioni
Real User
It's HW agnostic, with no impact on production systems, but backup dedup and online restore need improvement.

What is most valuable?

HW agnostic, no impact on production systems, no snapshot, easy management.

Version 4.0 is revolutionary, allowing replication between VMware, Hyper-V and AWS - conversion on the fly, and a a HTML5 GUI

Version 4.5 allows file restore, access based on roles, more powerful APIs.

How has it helped my organization?

We dismissed SRM and we no longer need the NetApp replication license. We were able to offer a DRaaS multitenant environment integrated with vCloud Director. Our customers think this tool is awesome.

What needs improvement?

Backup dedup and online restore, support for SMTP authentication.

For how long have I used the solution?

4 years

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

Just in case of strict permission, we needed several ports to be opened. English language of OS for ZVM is needed, otherwise there's a bug showing some of the graphs.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Sometimes in large environments - enough to restart the service in ZVM.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No because it scales with ESXi scale.This is a strong pro.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Very very great, reactive answers in minutes and they don't leave you until the issue is resolved.

Technical Support:

Great too - If the first level is unable to solve the issue, it scales to higher-level engineers on the fly.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

SRM, but it needeed replication and it was complex to manage.

How was the initial setup?

Smooth and Zerto techs assisted.

What about the implementation team?

It was direct.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We only got SP licensing prices/model.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

No, we had to decide if leaving SRM or not. Choice was simple.

What other advice do I have?

There are other competitor on the market, but this is the only one dedicated to DR. All others are backup based. It could seems expensive, but when you realize its power, you'll understand that cost is justified.


Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Team Lead, Virtualization/Converged at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Top 20
Zert0 accomplishes everything advertised and much more...

What is most valuable?

Leveraging 'Move' to perform VC-to-VC migrations with little downtime.

How has it helped my organization?

Has simplified our DR/BC strategy and allows us to quickly protect Production applications that require low RPO's. We've done several fail-over tests with documented results. We feel Zert0 will only compliment our SDDC strategy.

For how long have I used the solution?

POC'd the product for 2 months and purchased in March of 2014.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

None.. Implementation was simple and quick. We were replicating vms in a matter of hours.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Nothing to date

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Customer service has been excellent

Technical Support:

Technical support has been exceptional

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We've used traditional LUN based replication which can be challenging in any virtual environment. Zert0 gave us the granularity to replicate VMDKs to any target datastore.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was simple and straightforward. We encountered no issues.

What about the implementation team?

We spent weeks doing a POC and literally installed and re-installed multiple times to see if there were any impacts on our infrastructure. There were none and it worked as advertised.

What was our ROI?

N/A

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We had capacity so our only setup costs were building a couple of VMs to install the Zert0 Consoles on and licensing of the product. Minimal when compared to SRM, Recover Point and Storage.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did a POC with SRM and researched Recover Point extensively.

What other advice do I have?

I feel because the product is so simplistic yet extremely robust and effective management may perceive Zert0 as not being Enterprise worthy when in reality, it is. Bottom line, its a great product that brings standardization and simplicity to DR/BC.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Zerto Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Zerto Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.