BackupAssist vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus comparison

BackupAssist and IBM are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. BackupAssist is ranked #68, while IBM is ranked #46 with an average rating of 7.3. BackupAssist holds a 0.3% mindshare in BRS, compared to IBM’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of BackupAssist users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of IBM users who would recommend it.

BackupAssist

Read 5 BackupAssist reviews

496 Views
446 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Read 31 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus reviews

1,482 Views
1,438 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

BackupAssist

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

BackupAssist and IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are both data backup solutions. BackupAssist leads in pricing and support, while IBM Spectrum Protect Plus shines in features, justifying its higher cost.

Features: BackupAssist users value versatile backup options, ease of use, and reliable disaster recovery. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus users highlight data recovery flexibility, robust scalability, and advanced automation.

Room for Improvement: BackupAssist needs better cloud integration, more automation features, and enhanced user interface design. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve its reporting tools, simplify configuration, and streamline user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: BackupAssist is praised for straightforward installation and reliable customer service. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, though comprehensive, requires a longer setup period but offers thorough support.

Pricing and ROI: BackupAssist offers reasonable setup costs and good ROI for small to medium-sized businesses. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, with higher setup costs, provides substantial ROI through enterprise-level features, justifying its higher price for larger organizations with complex needs.

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

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

July 2025

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Helped 865,384 peers since 2012

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

BackupAssist

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

68th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

MSP Backup (13th)

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

46th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of BackupAssist is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is 0.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

RichardMukarakate

Director at Gemini Systems

Provides ransomware protection, does good reporting, and is close to perfect for our use case

The main challenge that I have had with it was no line of support, but I've anyway taken away the Linux machine that I was using. So, I don't need that anymore. I'm migrating my Exchange to the cloud. So, I probably will stop using the exchange backup side of it sometime next year, but the rest of the virtual machines that I have on-premises are very well covered by it. To be able to back up my online Exchange, I know there is a backup in the cloud, but I prefer to have something physical with something on my premises as well. It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it.

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Atif Najam

Chief Information Officer and Program Lead at Gatron Industries Ltd

Enables organizations to make large-scale recoveries easily, but the security must be improved

The security must be improved. We face a lot of cyber threats like ransomware. It impacts data availability and protection. The tool must provide a mechanism to make resilient backups. The tool must ensure that the recent backups have no ransomware. The backup must be immutable. They must be cyber-resilient backups. Finding a good resource person for IBM Spectrum in Pakistan is difficult. We have to rely on the support team. Resource availability is a challenge.

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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

"The most valuable features of BackupAssist are ease of use, configure is simple, and more importantly, ease of recovery. If you needed to do a complete system recovery or another recovery it is straightforward."

"We can configure the notifications themselves so that the right people get the notifications. This is very helpful. It allows key stakeholders to know if backups have happened and to remind each other to check the backups if something is not right."

"I get my reports. It is generally very reliable. Unless there is a major change, it doesn't stop backing up. I've got my server room set up with everything connected to the same power, and I never have power issues or failures of backups because a sub-site has gone off."

"I have found that the backups are usually very successful."

"The support from IBM is very good."

"The most valuable feature of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is the deduplication functionality. The clients moved to this solution originally because of this feature."

"What I like about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is its integration, plus it has very good technical support."

"The most valuable features are the API features because it allows you to integrate with your Microsoft SQL, your Oracle, and your IBM Db2."

"The solution integrates well with other tools."

"The biggest benefit of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is that it's an agentless backup product which is very easy to configure and use."

"This is a multi-platform backup solution where you can take a backup from AIX, Windows, or Linux servers and restore from CD, disk, or tape."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pros

Cons

"The solution needs a dashboard or some form of central control from which you can manage all backups."

"It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it."

"In the future I would like to see more support for Linux."

"Many solutions become stagnant over time. However, BackupAssist has been consistent in updates but they must continue to innovate and improve to avoid stagnation."

"An area that needs improvement is data validation. We currently use another product that gives us immediate validation, information about when the last backup was, and no risk of corruption happening. TSM in IBM Spectrum is not mature so that you can validate on the spot."

"I would like more integration with security. We need to show the value of the product in regards to handling security. For example, how it handles current malware or viruses. IBM should be more proactive in this direction."

"You end up needing to do a lot of troubleshooting to get things to work effectively."

"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve the IBM Spectrum Protect environment. It can be difficult to administer. The initial configuration can be difficult for entry-level teams or deployment teams, and it might be difficult to integrate. There's just too much content involved in the solution. The documentation is way too large."

"With ransomware protection and cyber protection, more improvement is possible."

"Their first level of support can be improved. Often they are too junior to understand the issues we are having, and it takes too much time to get from them to the next level of support, which is what we actually need."

"I would like to see continuous data protection (CDP). If there is machine failure, you don't have to go to the backup copy that you took 12 hours ago. You can actually go back to the backup copy made half an hour ago. That is, it would be good to have certain-point-in-time recovery."

"Not particularly user friendly."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product pricing here in Zimbabwe is good, I cannot complain."

"The cost of the solution is reasonable and there are add-on options that can be purchased. I have used other solutions that are a lot more expensive that are not as good. The ability to get support is very simple and very reasonable from a cost standpoint."

"It's on a yearly basis, but I'm not the one who does the licensing on that. I don't have any figures, but it's on a yearly basis, and I believe it's reasonable."

"There's a yearly licensing cost. The costs might be around $2000 USD annually."

"The price is lower than that of some competing products."

"The price is perpetual, but the maintenance cost is annual. That is, we pay once for the product and pay annually for the maintenance and support. The price was much cheaper than what we would have had to pay for EMC or Veritas. The pricing is competitive, and I would rate it at four out of five."

"I rate the price of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus a one on a scale of one to ten, where one is extremely expensive, and ten is very cheap."

"In addition to the standard licensing fees, we paid for implementation and training."

"There is an annual license required to use IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. The cost of the license could improve, it is expensive."

"The initial cost of the product is perpetual but the support fees are billed annually."

"Clients prefer to buy a perpetual license, but the majority opt for a yearly subscription."

"If you need to extend it, it can be extended acting like a normal Spectrum Protect with a long archive."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?

The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that the product works and helps with restoration areas whenever there is a need to restore something.

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

It is probably based on the number of CPUs. They are fairly expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?

I used IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, but IBM is now replacing it with IBM Data Protect, which is a giant product now in common development with a well-known company in backup solutions.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 38% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

Atempo Live Navigator vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist

August 2025

Download BackupAssist product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

August 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect Plus product report

Overview

BackupAssist is a comprehensive backup and recovery software designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a wide range of features to ensure data protection and minimize downtime in case of system failures or disasters. With BackupAssist, users can easily create and manage backups for their critical data, applications, and systems.

One of the key features of BackupAssist is its support for multiple backup types, including full, incremental, and differential backups. This flexibility allows users to choose the backup strategy that best suits their needs and optimize storage space and backup time. Additionally, BackupAssist supports both local and remote backups, enabling users to store their backups on external drives, network shares, or cloud storage services.

BackupAssist also provides advanced features for application-specific backups, such as Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, and Hyper-V. These features ensure that critical business applications are backed up correctly and can be quickly restored in case of data loss or system failures. Moreover, BackupAssist offers granular recovery options, allowing users to restore individual files, folders, or even specific application items.

To further enhance data protection, BackupAssist includes features like encryption, compression, and verification. Encryption ensures that backups are securely stored and can only be accessed by authorized users. Compression reduces the backup size, optimizing storage space and reducing backup time. Verification checks the integrity of backups, ensuring that they can be successfully restored when needed.

BackupAssist also offers a range of disaster recovery options, including bare-metal recovery and virtual machine backups. Bare-metal recovery allows users to restore their entire system to new or existing hardware, minimizing downtime in case of hardware failures or system crashes. Virtual machine backups enable users to protect their virtualized environments, ensuring business continuity in virtualized infrastructures.

BackupAssist

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a data protection and availability solution for virtual environments that can be deployed in minutes and protect your environment within an hour. It simplifies data protection, whether data is hosted in physical, virtual, software-defined or cloud environments. It can be implemented as a stand-alone solution or integrate with your IBM Spectrum Protect environment to off-load copies for long term storage and data governance with scale and efficiency.

IBM

Sample Customers

Monash University, NASA, NYU, Pfizer, RAF Association, Rockwell Colins, University of Arizona, US Department of State, Volvo

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

July 2025

Free Report: BackupAssist vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

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