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Carbonite Server 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

Carbonite Server
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
56th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (46th)
Dell Avamar
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Carbonite Server is 1.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell Avamar is 1.9%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell Avamar1.9%
Carbonite Server1.0%
Other97.1%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

CP
Backup, storage and disaster recovery technical specialist at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
A reliable backup product which needs little management
For most technical users the setup and initial deployment are fairly straightforward and once deployed it 99% of the time looks after itself. Installation of the agents is similar to most other products in that it has an install wizard to guide you, the accompanying documentation is also very useful to assist wherever you are in the agent install and policy setup process. Normally our customers' IT team does the deployment of agents, however, this isn't a daunting task unless you are dealing with multiple servers to protect the product. On a server-by-server basis, the deployment doesn't take long. From the MSP side of things, the infrastructure sitting behind the scenes doesn't take too much to install, configure and maintain.
SamuelThomas - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.
Have supported critical environments despite room for improvement in legacy backup options
It is very efficient in cyber resilience. Deduplication, automation, and everything is very efficient. It is multi-cloud enabled and has broad protections. The software delivers flexible and efficient backup and recovery options through its cyber resiliency features. Dell PowerProtect Manager provides insights in managing backup processes. Its encryption mechanisms are very efficient, helping to secure sensitive data. Its integration with Dell EMC Data Domain is very good. It is easy to integrate with Data Domain. Multi-cloud options are enabled, and backup in cloud options exist in Dell Avamar.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The Granular Restore of SQL feature has been a lifesaver more times than I can count. One of the main reasons for looking at Carbonite was their support for platforms like AIX and AS/400 Series."
"I find the BMR/image and the recovery pieces are valuable."
"The advice that I have for people looking into using Carbonite Server is that it seems reliable and easy to use."
"The efficiency and convenience are excellent."
"It seems reliable and easy to use."
"Technical support handled all our issues quickly and effectively."
"Easy verification of things is the most valuable feature."
"The Granular Restore of SQL feature has been a lifesaver more times than I can count."
"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 love the instant recovery functionality, it's very useful."
"Very reliable tool."
"The backup and recovery speed is very fast."
"I like Dell EMC Avamar's compression of data."
"The most valuable features are image backups and file backups."
"Dell Avamar has a push upgrade feature that lets you simultaneously push updates to thousands of clients. I also found the self-service part of Dell Avamar helpful."
"It was very simple to deploy the solution to the client that you wanted to backup."
 

Cons

"They do not yet have USB recovery but they are adding it in coming releases."
"When you have to restore it, Carbonite takes a lot of time."
"The only thing that I would like to see improved is related to marketing. Currently, it is very difficult to find the right paper and stuff for me. Their marketing department should provide better information because currently, it is very difficult to find information on the internet. It was bought over by OpenText, and you won't be able to find a lot of information about this solution on their site. They should also provide training facilities for commercial purposes. Some of my colleagues recently went for pilot training, and they were technical. If I want to get trained, the training has to be more commercial. Currently, there is no such training for users like me."
"It could be a little bit easier or faster to be able to access data files without having to download anything."
"The support for object storage isn't quite there yet; its public cloud support can be improved."
"In the next release I would like to see an improvement in the auto failover option."
"They do not yet have USB recovery but they are adding it in coming releases."
"The stability has room for improvement."
"It would be helpful if there was cloud support."
"For entry-level companies, I would say it's a six, or perhaps even lower, like a four, because the price point is very high compared to other companies."
"There are limitations when trying to use this solution with Hyper-V."
"The only concern is the cost."
"Interfaces need to be improved."
"Dell EMC Avamar is hard to manage because of the support. It’s very difficult to get support."
"There are limitations when trying to use this solution with Hyper-V."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open source."
"The pricing is between $120 and $150 per year."
"We pay 9,000 dollars per year for our license."
"Its price is reasonable."
"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."
"The solution is costly."
"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."
"Dell's pricing structure is not overly expensive."
"This solution is less expensive than Veeam for us, although it depends on the customer because we get a great discount."
"Licensing was generally on a per VM or terabyte basis. They changed their licensing model a couple of times and turned it into socket-based licensing, which is an improvement in their licensing model."
"Its licensing is weird. It is not just the licenses; we also purchase hardware. With most software products, such as Veeam, Commvault, and Data Protector, there is no hardware purchase at the same time. Because Avamar and Data Domain are tied together, they have an integrated pipe. You can separate them, but basically, they're designed to work as a couple. Because the Data Domain backend is designed to do dedupe and compression, we get 60:1. When you count it, you count it as a straight compression, but of course, that's with dedupe and some other stuff. You have to buy the hardware, the licensing, and the software at the same time. So, it's not just software."
"It is expensive. Its cost is the main thing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise48
 

Questions from the Community

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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.
 

Also Known As

Carbonite Recover Backup
Avamar
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

INLINE Commercial Construction, Hamilton County
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 Carbonite Server vs. Dell Avamar and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,264 professionals have used our research since 2012.