Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Carbonite Server vs Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) 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 PowerProtect DP (IDPA)
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
43rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 PowerProtect DP (IDPA) is 0.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)0.7%
Carbonite Server1.0%
Other98.3%
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.
Pranav Telang - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Architect at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Integrated backup platform has simplified upgrades and centralized management for enterprise sites
You cannot integrate with any other third-party solution or your Data Domain since it is very tightly coupled and has limited licenses with respect to capacity that are integrated directly with Avamar. Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) solutions are usually costly. When it is virtualized or comes with additional licenses and additional hardware, the cost increases. The pricing is defined by what kind of performance you are looking for, so based on that, you have to decide what type of disk you need. Scalability is based on how much capacity you have or what slots are available. After that, you have to include the DAEs and capacities. Again, you have to purchase an additional license for Data Domain if you are increasing the capacity.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution is very simple to use and I will recommend it to anybody."
"Technical support handled all our issues quickly and effectively."
"The advice that I have for people looking into using Carbonite Server is that it seems reliable and easy to use."
"Easy verification of things is the most valuable feature."
"I find the BMR/image and the recovery pieces are valuable."
"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."
"The Granular Restore of SQL feature has been a lifesaver more times than I can count."
"It does not slow down your computer or use a lot of resources as it works."
"In summary, this product is very stable, has the best of Avamar Data Domain, and has good reporting."
"We don't need to manage different devices."
"The solution's most valuable features are networker and continuous data protection."
"We use it for complete backup and recovery. We have multiple clients and have created multiple large virtual capabilities and zoning backlogs."
"Instead of four or five tools, consisting of backup software, storage where the backup resides, and a separate system for reporting and central monitoring, they all now come in the virtual edition for IDP."
"The features I appreciate the most about Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) are that it's self-service, simple to use, and has some immutability to protect the data from any tampering."
"If someone is looking for a very tightly-coupled solution for backup storage and does not want to deal with complicated upgrade processes, and desires easy reporting and a homogeneous solution rather than heterogeneous backup solutions where backup software and storage are different, I believe Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) is one of the best options for such customers."
"Dell PowerProtect is stable and scalable."
 

Cons

"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."
"The Hyper-V backup has room for improvement."
"In the next release I would like to see an improvement in the auto failover option."
"The support for object storage isn't quite there yet. Its public cloud support can be improved. I would love to see the public cloud support for object storage, and it would be great, but what I always hear from the folks at Carbonite is that in a lot of cases, it directly competes with their cloud offering. So, I don't know when or where that will go or if that will go anywhere, but we are hopeful to see something. The dashboard is a little outdated. If they gave it a facelift and put some better design around their dashboard, that would be tremendous. I generally care less about the visual aesthetics of an application as long as it does what it needed to do, which is true in the case of this solution. We also have the Microsoft 365 platform. Because they're two separate platforms, I have to log in to my Microsoft platform to manage it, and I have to log into my Carbonite server backup platform to manage it. Having these two coexist together in one management console is really what we're looking for, but we went for it knowing this. We also knew that there would be some integration coming down the road. So, we're again hoping to see some of that coming in 2021."
"They do not yet have USB recovery but they are adding it in coming releases."
"They do not yet have USB recovery but they are adding it in coming releases."
"The support for object storage isn't quite there yet; its public cloud support can be improved."
"The solution has not been working as advertised."
"There is room for improvement in terms of network connectivity."
"Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) requires more updates and innovations in AI-powered cyber resilience."
"The product's index master feature needs improvement."
"After resizing and compression, the system continuously runs out of space. Dell EMC doesn't do automatic cleanup or other things, so we constantly have to manually go in there or work with Dell support on this. The solution has not been working as advertised."
"We would like to see the pricing drop a bit."
"We cannot add IDPA to DPC, and each IP has a DP Central, which cannot monitor other IDPAs."
"I would like to see integration with Dell EMC's Cloud Tier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is reasonable."
"The solution is open source."
"We pay 9,000 dollars per year for our license."
"The pricing is between $120 and $150 per year."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"We have a perpetual license. It is a capacity-based license."
"Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) has a yearly subscription fee."
"The licensing is billed on a monthly basis. Dell is bundled so that when you order IDPA, you get everything together with the license."
"It is a cost-effective solution."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Educational Organization
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 Business4
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?
The pricing of Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) is competitive compared to its peers in the market, and while it can always come down, I still think it's a fair price.
What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?
You cannot integrate with any other third-party solution or your Data Domain since it is very tightly coupled and has limited licenses with respect to capacity that are integrated directly with Ava...
What is your primary use case for Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?
We implemented Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) for one of our biggest enterprise customers across their 30 sites. The customer had hyperconverged infrastructure and was looking for a completely isolate...
 

Also Known As

Carbonite Recover Backup
Dell EMC IDPA, Dell IDPA, EMC IDPA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

INLINE Commercial Construction, Hamilton County
Under Armour, Christian Brothers University, Presidio
Find out what your peers are saying about Carbonite Server vs. Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.