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Azure Backup vs IBM Storage Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2025

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

Azure Backup
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
58
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Storage Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Azure Backup is 2.4%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Azure Backup2.4%
IBM Storage Protect2.1%
Other95.5%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

RituparnaBhattacharya - PeerSpot reviewer
Achieve cost savings and efficiency with high-level restore capabilities
I use Azure Backup mainly for backing up virtual machines The feature I find most effective in Azure Backup is the high-level restore. Additionally, it has a good impact on our cost savings and operational efficiency as it is a low-cost solution. The area that I believe needs improvement in…
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Azure Backup is good because it is entirely cloud-based, which means that you can be 99.9% sure that your backup is safe."
"We use the normal features for Azure Backup, specifically to make backups of the VMs."
"I like that it's a stable solution and their support is good. I think Microsoft's commercial force is superior."
"It is easy to schedule backups."
"The most valuable feature of Azure Backup is the file recovery and file vault."
"The product is cost-effective compared to other vendors."
"Azure Backup is easy to manage from a single dashboard."
"The feature that I have found the most valuable is that it is easy to create a backup by using Azure Backup. It also has a good user interface and nice features for sending notifications when any backup fails or there is a change in the status of virtual machines."
"The software-defined ability to do data reduction through deduplication and compression, as well as being able to replicate data to a cloud container."
"In the past, one of the most valuable features, and the biggest advantage, was the incremental forever feature. Not many other backup vendors provided that. In the pre-virtualization environment, it was very robust and simple technology, especially writing to tape."
"One way they have improved our organization is through the stability of the solution and the availability of the product."
"It is very stable after deployment and will perform in a steady state."
"The solution is very stable. It is one of the most important features that we look for in a product before putting it into the market and when establishing a strategy with our customers."
"It is a very good and mature enterprise product. Once it is set up and everything is put in, you don't have to manage it. It actually runs automatically by itself."
"IBM Spectrum Protect has excellent integration capability."
"I've had no problems with the stability of this solution."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more automation, integration, and security. The price could be better."
"In Avamar, the file-based restores are very quick and fast, whereas, in Azure Backup, VM restore is super easy, but if I have to do a file or a folder restore, I have to mount the entire VM image. I have to wait for some time for it to be mounted, and then I have to go inside and then check the file and copy it somewhere. It's a bit of a manual process, whereas in Avamar, you can directly select a file and folder, and it'll recover with whatever permissions you want."
"It would be beneficial to receive alert messages if something isn't configured correctly, for instance, if service principal names are missing, a message could prompt you to set them up."
"The support for Office365 backup is atrocious and is something that has to be improved."
"The solution is still in its infancy; it's not a mature product yet."
"I would like to see better pricing."
"I would like to see better integration with more products, and more services."
"Azure Backup needs improvements in allowing more specific backup options rather than just full VM snapshots."
"I would like to see integration with Copy Data Management, which is an IBM product. Right now, these two products are siloed, so if these two become integrated, the product would become a bit of a powerhouse."
"The solution needs to work on disaster recovery integration. Basically, VMware applications to the cloud, for example. There needs to be integration with the storage, and integration with VMware."
"The reporting could be better."
"Customers have migrated off of it because of its lack of virtual environment functions."
"It might be seen as leaning towards the legacy side, missing some features of newer solutions. The main drawbacks would be its complexity and high pricing."
"The version that we had when I first started made it look really bad. We are talking about commands that should have run in two seconds, but instead took four to eight hours. Other components were sluggish."
"It doesn't integrate with storage pools, with a normal pool. I'd like to see that."
"It's difficult in terms of the configuration at set up. In our case, it required another admin, one person dedicated to the backup."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Backup is a product that is priced at a cheap rate, and it is a great tool."
"The pricing of this solution is ok, but I'm expecting that the price will decrease in the future."
"We are paying about $100,000 USD per year, just for a couple of servers."
"Pay as you go is the pricing model."
"Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis."
"It is incredibly cost-effective and offers fixed pricing, with no additional fees for the licensing."
"The price is pretty good, maybe $30 for a machine, I can't complain."
"It is a bit costly initially, but it is well worth it in the long run, especially for fighting against a number of threats, such as ransomware, which the IT industry is facing."
"It is expensive."
"There may be an advantage to going with IBM in terms of pricing. They have a pay-as-you-grow policy, so there is no need to take one license for the entire datacenter. You can start with small licenses and then grow, and pay, as you use more."
"The license model that they have at IBM, which is due to volume, from a certain volume onward is not the right license model."
"The platform is neither highly priced nor inexpensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The solution is not cheap."
"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."
"Licensing can be either complicated or simple depending on what type of licensing you wish to use and what works best for your environment."
"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive. However, there are a few packages and it is unclear because, for the entry suite they have both options, which are the back-end storage capacity and the front-end storage capacity."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise22
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise94
 

Questions from the Community

How does Azure Backup differ from Veeam Backup & Replication?
Veeam has a version for Azure but there are organizations, like ours, that are considering moving to an Azure environment and wonder if Azure Backup is better than Veeam Backup and Replication (Vee...
What do you like most about Azure Backup?
Azure Backup is easy to configure and restore.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Backup?
The pricing of Azure Backup is fine; it is a low-cost solution.
What do you like most about IBM Storage Protect?
The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will continue to use in the future.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is generally an expensive tool. However, with good contracts with IBM or its partners, the cost might not be so high. New customers can expect very high prices.
What needs improvement with IBM Storage 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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Spectrum Discover
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Russell Reynolds Associates, Somerset County Council, Kardem, PCL Construction
CEMEX
Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Backup vs. IBM Storage Protect and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.