Actifio vs IBM Spectrum Protect comparison

Google and IBM are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. Google is ranked #49 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.3. Google holds a 0.4% mindshare in BRS, compared to IBM’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Actifio

Read 8 Actifio reviews

833 Views
633 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect

Read 149 IBM Spectrum Protect reviews

3,978 Views
3,421 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Actifio

IBM Spectrum Protect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM Spectrum Protect and Actifio compete in the data protection category. Actifio seems to have the upper hand due to its efficient and scalable data virtualization capabilities.

Features: IBM Spectrum Protect has strong data backup and recovery features, providing extensive data integrity and advanced storage optimization. Actifio offers efficient data virtualization, significantly enhancing data management efficiency and flexibility.

Room for Improvement: IBM Spectrum Protect needs better integration with cloud services and improved reporting tools. Actifio requires enhanced disaster recovery options and more intuitive management tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Spectrum Protect has a robust deployment model that can be complex and time-consuming, with effective customer service. Actifio offers a straightforward deployment process with quicker setup times but sometimes faces criticism for slow response times in customer service.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Protect has a higher initial setup cost but offers substantial long-term ROI due to comprehensive features. Actifio's pricing is competitive, with a quicker return on investment due to lower initial costs and efficient data management.

To learn more, read our detailed Actifio vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Actifio vs. IBM Spectrum Protect

July 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

Actifio

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

49th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Test Data Management (7th)

IBM Spectrum Protect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

149

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Actifio is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Hitesh Kumar Jamb

Devsecops & Test Automation Practice Lead at APA Group

Helps reduce costs and enables the creation of new non-production databases

We use the solution on our non-production database. We use it to spin up non-production environments using Oracle The product helps to create new non-production databases. The solution helps reduce costs. The product must provide AI features. Google has stopped supporting the on-premise version…

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Syed Habib

Head of Infrastructure Security (S.A.V.P) at EXIM Bank Ltd

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Very user-friendly and the QSA is very good."

"They will assist me in achieving whatever budget issue the client may be having."

"The solution helps reduce costs."

"This product has unique capabilities that lead the product category in test data management, cloning and recovery."

"Actifio was very stable. Whenever they identified bugs, they would promptly provide us with patches."

"The solution is not complex, it's very easy to configure agents or VM backup and restore. Upgrades from one version to another are very fast and the product is very stable."

"They have recently added support tickets specifically engineered around performance. This has been very useful for us when we run into issues where customers are looking to try to squeeze a lot more horsepower out of older system."

"One of the features which is most interesting in Spectrum Protect is the ability to scale out to great environments. This is something that not many vendors have on the market."

"It is pretty scalable. It will scale to anything."

"The software-defined ability to do data reduction through deduplication and compression, as well as being able to replicate data to a cloud container."

"Their GUI has improved quite a bit. It's made the solution a lot simpler and less complex."

"This solution has improved our organization through better file and database recovery."

"It's very robust and has been on the market for a long time."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

Cons

"The initial setup is complex."

"Google has stopped supporting the on-premise version of the tool."

"While the product does support various databases, the company needs to make more of an effort to support N-minus-one compatibility."

"Areas that need improvement would be the support for recovery in the physical environment."

"Lacks the option to price backup costs within the solution itself."

"The solution doesn't support AIX software or in-cloud, and we have a lot of servers running on AIX and Oracle."

"I need to have more than two instances working together. I need a worldwide grid able to have replication between three, four, or five instances."

"The usability of IBM Spectrum Protect could be improved, specifically additional features to the product in the operations center. Additional reporting facilities and stronger reporting tools such as build dashboards would be beneficial."

"Replication services would be nice. If these could be enhanced to be always on so multiple storage backup services could be added as a cluster pool. This would provide a better availability service."

"They need to do a better job on Windows, because if you are running Windows, the scalability is more limited than AIX and Linux."

"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."

"We are having a balance issue between the reclamation and the backup function. It has to take the space back from the tapes before it can record to those tapes, but sometimes those two processes are overlapping."

"It does not do too well in our virtual environment."

"They are behind on many things, especially security. They are catching up a little bit now, but the competitors are doing better security-wise. There should be malware detection and prevention and higher security."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

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."

"The solution has a capacity based licensing, front and back-end license."

"We have found that the pricing is high in our country."

"The pricing of the solution is high in comparison to other products on the market. For example, IBM and Symantec have less costly options."

"IBM Spectrum Protect, cost-wise, has way higher pricing than Veeam. By switching over to Veeam, my company saved over $600,000 in USD. The IBM Spectrum Protect pricing is a two on a scale of one to ten. My company paid additional fees for maintenance, apart from the standard licensing fees."

"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive and there is only a standard licensing fee."

"The pricing model of this solution is another difficult area, it's very sophisticated in the way they charge. It's based on PBU, which is a type of processor, how, many processors, and you need to put everything into an equation. However, they have different ways of charging or licensing. One way is a back-end volume or front-end volume, which is quite complicated."

"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective."

"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

17%

Retailer

11%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Actifio?

The solution helps reduce costs.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Actifio?

The product must provide AI features. Google has stopped supporting the on-premise version of the tool.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect?

IBM Spectrum Protect is stable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect?

It's expensive. I acknowledge the cost associated with it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?

One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past. There is a need for additional layers of security to fill the gaps, which is wh...

See all answers

Comparisons

Rubrik vs Actifio

Compared 42% of the time

Perforce Delphix vs Actifio

Compared 33% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Actifio

Compared 25% of the time

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Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 16% of the time

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 15% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 12% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Actifio

July 2025

Download Actifio product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect

July 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect product report

Also Known As

No data available

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

Overview

Actifio is the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service (EDaaS) platform. It enables thousands of users around the world to deliver their data just as they deliver their applications and infrastructure… as a service available instantly, anywhere. An enterprise-class software platform powered by patented Virtual Data Pipeline™ technology, Actifio frees data from traditional infrastructure to accelerate adoption of hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. For more, visit Actifio.com or follow us on Twitter @Actifio.

Google

IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) is a data protection platform that gives enterprises a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery. It is the flagship product in the IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) family. It enables reliable, cost effective backups and fast recovery for virtual, physical and cloud environments of all sizes.

IBM

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

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

Buyer's Guide

Actifio vs. IBM Spectrum Protect

July 2025

Free Report: Actifio vs. IBM Spectrum Protect

Find out what your peers are saying about Actifio vs. IBM Spectrum Protect and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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