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Actifio vs Dell Avamar 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

Actifio
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
49th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Test Data Management (7th)
Dell Avamar
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
7th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Actifio is 0.3%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell Avamar is 3.4%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Anil-Sinha - PeerSpot reviewer
Actifio enables quick and efficient data refreshes
The product is scalable. However, to ensure optimal scalability, you need to work on the underlying hardware and resources. For example, if your network has limited bandwidth, you need to identify and address the bottlenecks by increasing resources. The product is designed to be scalable, but it requires attention to the underlying resources to ensure sufficient capacity. For example, they have the appliance on a given server. And that server would work till a certain stage. Then if you see that the resources are low or have reached the capacity, you have to next level of the VM, like, in terms of if there is a memory or CPU or from the appliance to wherever you are hosting, wherever you are presenting that virtual disk, that network traffic, if you see that network traffic is reaching capacity, then you have to add additional. So it's scalable from the design perspective, but you have to work on the underlying resources to make sure they also have that capacity.
Rahul Sarangdhar - PeerSpot reviewer
Works excellently for on-prem backup but not the best for Azure backups
Avamar is not the best tool when it comes to taking Azure backups. Like Commvault, if Avamar can support VM-level backups for the cloud, that would make it a bit better. There is another Dell EMC tool called NetWorker, which is a bit centralized tool. If you deploy a storage node locally, you can use the same UI tool for central management, but in the case of Avamar, it needs to be deployed individually on a site, irrespective of whether it's small or big. So, if I have 10 sites, I have to manage 10 Avamar. That's a bit of a headache. The Dell EMC solution professionals who connect with the clients should suggest NetWorker to clients with multiple sites rather than Avamar. That's because NetWorker gives more centralized control, but they keep recommending Avamar, which isn't the best practice. There are no free or cheaper training plans. Unless your company is a partner with Dell, you don't get the student guide training, etc. Their administrator guide does not have all the information required for a new person. It doesn't cover the basics. The student guide is good, but it's not free. If you are a partner, only then it's free. Otherwise, there is a cost of $2,000 to $3,000. For people who are new to Avamar, there should be some resources to enable them to study on their own at least 50% of the basics. If I want to study Commvault, I get so many documents and resources to study, but in the case of Dell EMC products, there aren't any free resources. Only if you're a partner, the resources are available for you to learn. The user manuals and administrator guides are just for deployment. They aren't good for learning the basics for a fresher.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"They will assist me in achieving whatever budget issue the client may be having."
"Very user-friendly and the QSA is very good."
"Actifio was very stable. Whenever they identified bugs, they would promptly provide us with patches."
"Very user-friendly and the QSA is very good."
"This product has unique capabilities that lead the product category in test data management, cloning and recovery."
"The solution helps reduce costs."
"Avamar has long been the best in its class, but that's changing as new solutions emerge. However, Dell has traditionally been a leader in deduplication and compression. Avamar enabled us to shift data from on-premise local appliances to data centers and multi-tenant infrastructure. That's a powerful feature. because customers can back up to the cloud without upgrading o high-capacity links or congesting their backups."
"I found the most valuable features of Dell Avamar are the user-friendly interface and ease to use. Our clients have administrated this software and there is no additional training required."
"For the on-prem backup, it has all the necessary features that we require. They keep coming up with new scripts and new updates."
"We've been using this solution to backup our servers. It is a simple backup and restore data application."
"We sell Avamar with Data Domain. Data Domain and Avamar work really well together and their compression ratios are very high compared to Veeam, Commvault, and all the other backup software on the market."
"It's simple to configure."
"The most valuable feature for me in Dell Avamar is the automation, which is good for completion."
"It is a very complete product."
 

Cons

"While the product does support various databases, the company needs to make more of an effort to support N-minus-one compatibility."
"Google has stopped supporting the on-premise version of the tool."
"The solution doesn't support AIX software or in-cloud, and we have a lot of servers running on AIX and Oracle."
"Areas that need improvement would be the support for recovery in the physical environment."
"The initial setup is complex."
"Lacks the option to price backup costs within the solution itself."
"It's very slow to backup and store information. It has two consoles and an application which are more difficult to use than a solution like Veeam."
"Some integrations are not in place, such as the email alerts, which are not compatible with Office 365 SMTP gateway."
"Avamar is dependent on the hardware. It can't be implemented with ordinary storage. It can only be implemented with an EMC product. We want to have a backup solution that allows us to use independent storage and other hardware. It would be good if they can simplify its technology and make it possible to implement it with another storage. This is probably not possible because Avamar is an EMC product, and EMC would like to sell its own products."
"Its ability to back up very large objects can be improved. In terms of new features, they can include the ability to use cloud services, like S3, more natively."
"The user interface needs to be improved. It's not as good as it could be."
"If you need to pull data out of it to offload to tapes, that's messy. You have a mechanism for it, but it is painful."
"I want to see a more user-friendly and administrator-friendly Dell Avamar. The solution also needs a better UI and dashboard."
"The user interface still needs to have some level of improvement. It could be more user-friendly and intuitive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing is on a case by case basis."
"Actifio is cheaper than other tools."
"Support is very good. They send out a VM link and help you fix any issues."
"It is expensive. The maintenance comes with it for five years. So, you buy the whole thing for five years, and your maintenance is included with it, but it's a big chunk of change upfront. We like capital expenses because we can CapEx them. We pay once every five years, so we spend a big chunk of change. You'd have to divide that out by the five years to come up with how much it costs. It's just about three-quarters of a million dollars for five years."
"There is a license required for this solution."
"I'm not sure, but perhaps the pricing could be done better at the moment."
"I rate the tool's price as a three out of ten if one means expensive and ten means it is a cheaply priced tool."
"It was very expensive before, but after integrating it with Dell EMC Avamar Data Protection suite licensing, we are getting better discounts."
"Licensing fees are paid annually."
"Dell Avamar is expensive."
"Avamar's pricing is quite competitive compared to other vendors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
19%
Retailer
8%
Government
5%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Actifio?
Actifio is cheaper than other tools. I rate the pricing an eight out of ten.
What needs improvement with Actifio?
The product must provide AI features. Google has stopped supporting the on-premise version of the tool.
What's the difference between Dell EMC Avamar and Dell EMC NetWorker?
From the very beginning, Dell EMC NetWorker considers users and those who might potentially become users. In terms of both pricing and setup, this product offers an experience that is significantly...
What do you like most about Dell Avamar?
Easy to configure and highly reliable for backup.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Avamar
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

IBM, Waste Industries, Nasdaq, Verizon, Sharp, Rosetta Stone, Dakine, JBS Australia, Texas Wesleyan University, Cintra, People's Choice Credit Union, Lotto NZ, Electric Insurance, Tyler Technologies, Intility, Corporate One Federal Credit Union, Bryant University, pc/nametag, Isagenix, Sungard Availability Services, Databank, Electrocraft, Lifescript, Westfleisch, Interstate National Corporation, RestorePoint, Net3, Access Community Health Network, Newmarket International, Rezolve Group Inc., Piri Reis University, MC Assembly, Grass-Merkur, dbMotion, Christian Broadcasting Network, Bezeq, Abilene Christian University, CNW Group, Softcat, Migliori, City of South Portland, NaviSite, News-Press & Gazette, Comtec, Equity Insurance, Admirals Bank, Assistra, Dassault, Henry Davis York Lawyers, SAI Global, Audax Group, DSM, Triad Retail Media, Euronet Worldwide, Palm Beach County School District, iGate, Emerald Queen Casino
Dodge County, St Laurence's College, FieldCore (a GE Company), Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Getronics, Lewisville Independent School District, EnvisionRxOptions, Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions
Find out what your peers are saying about Actifio vs. Dell Avamar and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,236 professionals have used our research since 2012.