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Barracuda Backup vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Barracuda Backup enhances data protection, reduces downtime, lowers costs, and boosts ROI with efficient, user-friendly, and reliable features.
Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers competitive pricing and integration benefits, achieving mixed ROI within two to three years.
It not only saves time but also protects data.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
Barracuda Backup support's efficiency varies; it resolves issues quickly or slowly depending on staff experience and timezone availability.
Sentiment score
4.4
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus support is mostly praised for efficiency, though complex cases sometimes encounter delays and challenges.
Other times I may have to wait longer for solutions if the technical support is less familiar with the product.
Sometimes the engineers allocated to our cases appear to be inexperienced as they ask about basic queries we have already tested.
From my experience, the technical support from Barracuda receives an eight out of ten.
Their documentation, runbooks, troubleshooting articles, and support people are good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.4
Barracuda Backup offers scalable solutions for businesses, with unlimited space and flexible options, though provider limitations may occur.
Sentiment score
6.3
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers scalability for enterprises, supporting storage expansion and workload adjustments despite some infrastructure challenges.
Opting for a virtual appliance model provides easier scalability without requiring much licensing or configuration work.
The scalability is sufficient for my clients' use cases.
The solution does not provide horizontal and vertical scaling.
IBM Data Protect is the scalable solution, not IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
5.9
Barracuda Backup is rated highly for stability, though connectivity issues can affect virtual machines and cause isolated problems.
Sentiment score
7.0
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is stable and reliable, handling heavy loads well, but may occasionally require repeated backup restorations.
Latency issues only occur due to physical connectivity problems, but with good connectivity, it works well.
In using Barracuda Backup, sometimes the VM has issues and becomes non-functional, requiring support tickets to resolve.
 

Room For Improvement

Barracuda Backup requires better integration, UI updates, improved support, more device compatibility, and AI-driven security features.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus needs integration, interface, automation, and security improvements, alongside enhanced installation, support, and data protection features.
The main area for improvement is integration and support for databases.
Adding AI features for security would also be beneficial as artificial intelligence is always helpful from a security perspective.
Integration with vendors other than VMware and Hyper-V would make it more competitive.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could be made more lightweight and user-friendly in terms of GUI features to make it closer to a perfect score.
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.
It does not offer horizontal and vertical scaling.
 

Setup Cost

Barracuda Backup offers budget-friendly pricing with per-terabyte licensing and free device replacement after three years.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers strong value with scalable pricing, though some find it expensive for corporate use.
Barracuda even provides replacements after three years if a device reaches end of life, without any extra charges.
Makes it cheaper compared to other solutions.
They are fairly expensive.
Pricing is good; it is reasonable and more reasonable than any other vendors.
 

Valuable Features

Barracuda Backup excels with cloud functionality, fast restoration, effective email security, and reliable support, surpassing competitors in data protection.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is praised for its integration, ease of use, scalability, and robust disaster recovery features.
Barracuda email security works effectively with O365, and we have been able to achieve many use cases that other competitive products such as Micro, Fortinet, Trellix, or Forcepoint could not accomplish.
The most valuable feature of Barracuda Backup is that it's on the cloud, so there is no need for hardware.
One valuable feature of Barracuda Backup is that it can be used as thin VMware storage.
The biggest benefit of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is that it's an agentless backup product which is very easy to configure and use.
 

Categories and Ranking

Barracuda Backup
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
51st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (40th)
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
49th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Barracuda Backup is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus1.0%
Barracuda Backup0.4%
Other98.6%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

GANESAN K - PeerSpot reviewer
Rating shows fast restoration and reliable support with scope for improved integration and database backup options
The product needs improvement to become better. For example, we attempted to integrate with Postgres SQL server to backup the database alone, which was not supported. For this reason, we required a separate solution for database backups. While other SQL servers are supported, Barracuda Backup has limitations with database backups. The main area for improvement is integration and support for databases.
Atif Najam - PeerSpot reviewer
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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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Barracuda Backup?
The pricing is very competitive. Licensing is on a yearly basis, and Barracuda even provides replacements after three years if a device reaches end of life, without any extra charges.
What needs improvement with Barracuda Backup?
The product needs improvement to become better. For example, we attempted to integrate with Postgres SQL server to backup the database alone, which was not supported. For this reason, we required a...
What is your primary use case for Barracuda Backup?
We are partners with Trellix Move Antivirus and we have sold it previously. That particular bundle has changed as Trellix has moved to Complete Protection and the DLP comes under another bundle. We...
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
Pricing is good; it is reasonable and more reasonable than any other vendors.
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
Technical support could be improved significantly. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could be made more lightweight and user-friendly in terms of GUI features to make it closer to a perfect score.
 

Also Known As

LiveVault
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Ochsner Health System
PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio
Find out what your peers are saying about Barracuda Backup vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.