Cohesity DataProtect vs Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) comparison

Cohesity DataProtect vs. Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)

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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

Cohesity DataProtect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

9th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (7th)

Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

21st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Cohesity DataProtect is 3.4%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) is 0.6%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Giovanni Golinelli.

Hybrid IT Architect at Quanture Spa

Easy to use, offers good scalability and responsive support

The deployment depends on the environment. Deploying on VMs is relatively simple. But for most of our customers, we implement physical clusters with at least three configured hosts using the existing model. So, it depends on the setup. Implementing DataProtect itself wasn't particularly challenging. One key requirement for successful DataProtect deployment is proper network configuration. If the network setup isn't right, you won't achieve optimal performance. We have developed a service for some of our customers where they implement an appliance or physical cluster of Cohesity at the customer site. Then, we use cloud clustering to replicate, and even in production, a second copy of the protected data. And in some cases, we have developed some disaster recovery procedures using Cohesity.

Read full review

SamuelThomas

Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.

Ensures data safety and effective cloud integration with AI-powered protection

Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) offers a backup, recovery, and management tool that is very easy to use. It provides a flexible protection suite that accommodates scalability and performance needs. Integration with VMware and multi-cloud protection is effective. AI integration enhances backup operations by analyzing data and ensuring malware protection. Customers also benefit from hybrid cloud options and tiers of backup.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Instead of four different solutions for protecting VMs, physical servers, SQL, and NAS, we now have one solution with Cohesity that is lightning fast and has amazing features."

"With instant DR failover using SiteContinuity, we are able to keep our files available no matter the situation."

"It is also very easy to determine which VMs are being backed up and which ones aren't. This is helpful to make sure nothing is being missed."

"I like that Cohesity offers the chance to have data on-premises and on the cloud. All the data is automatically sent to the cloud."

"The tool is faster and easier to use than others. The most critical feature for our data protection needs is the accuracy of backups and restores."

"The most valuable features are the rapid VM restores and the ability to quickly find files and download them directly to my desktop so that I can put them where I need them to be."

"One of the most valuable features is the restore functionality that they offer."

"The ease of use and the GUI have really been most valuable to us. Configuring the system to do what we need is simple and straight forward and a lot of guesswork has been removed. One of my favorite features with Cohesity is Kroll for Exchange item-level recovery. The software is simple to use and fast."

More Cohesity DataProtect pros

"We use it for complete backup and recovery. We have multiple clients and have created multiple large virtual capabilities and zoning backlogs."

"The most valuable feature is the deduplication rate."

"Dell PowerProtect is stable and scalable."

"It backs up our Windows systems and our Linux systems and everything."

"The product is easy to troubleshoot and store data."

"What I find valuable about Dell PowerProtect IDPA is its stability and strong performance."

"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 solution's most valuable features are networker and continuous data protection."

More Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) pros

Cons

"The support team sometimes takes a long time to resolve issues, although, in our experience, these have been specific things like SQL blobs."

"The rack mounting instructions did not appear to be correct, but we were able to overcome it."

"The solution's dashboard or UI can be enhanced and made more user-friendly than its competitors."

"I like that Cohesity offers the chance to have data on-premises and on the cloud. All the data is automatically sent to the cloud."

"The platform has certain limitations, mostly stemming from the restrictions imposed by the VMware API and some other factors. One area where there is room for improvement is the tracking of replicated copies, especially in the context of remote archive duplication."

"In terms of the product itself, there have been a handful of patches that have had to be applied outside of the GUI via the command line. It's very straightforward and easy and in the same redundant fashion, but not quite as simple as one or two clicks. I'm hoping that will decrease going forward."

"Non-cloud services need improvement."

"I'd like to be able to pause a backup while it's running and have it resume when I tell it to resume."

More Cohesity DataProtect cons

"Dell PowerProtect DP needs to include more features and improve backup for a continual base."

"The solution's implementation was very complicated and could be improved."

"The only thing that could be improved would be the complexity of the initial setup."

"I would like to see integration with Dell EMC's Cloud Tier."

"The two-factor authentication is missing from Dell products."

"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."

More Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is per node and per protected terabyte. You will also pay 10-15% annually for support."

"It has reasonable pricing, and we know they can give discounts. If you look at the primary pricing or the list pricing, it conforms to the market pricing, but you have to have a discount on it. Otherwise, it is way too expensive."

"The tool's licensing costs are yearly. It is cheaper than other backup solutions."

"The pricing model is impressive and very effective."

"Pricing, setup costs, etc. are pretty typical. The initial cost for Cohesity was less than other products the we evaluated. Cohesity's pricing does offer benefits as DR target costs are less than other solutions. You are not charged for DataProtect licensing for target DR data consumption."

"Sizing is important and it is easy to overestimate."

"Cohesity came in at the best price."

"If SQL is in heavy use at your location, I would highly recommend narrowing your PoC testing to Cohesity and Rubrik. They will be competitive on pricing with each other, so really put them through the paces."

More Cohesity DataProtect pricing and cost advice

"I would rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."

"Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) has a yearly subscription fee."

"We have a perpetual license. It is a capacity-based license."

"It is a cost-effective solution."

"The licensing is billed on a monthly basis. Dell is bundled so that when you order IDPA, you get everything together with the license."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

30%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Government

Educational Organization

24%

University

13%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cohesity DataProtect?

Several features enable us to perform fast recovery, such as instant fast recovery. All our virtual machines protected with the product can be quickly restored to another healthy environment with m...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cohesity DataProtect?

I find Cohesity DataProtect to be expensive.

What needs improvement with Cohesity DataProtect?

What areas have room for improvement? Is there anything that could be simplified to make it better?

What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?

What I find valuable about Dell PowerProtect IDPA is its stability and strong performance.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?

Pricing is competitive with other software vendors. The product's features, network, and VMware integration contribute to its value. There are different licensing options available, such as applian...

What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?

Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) requires more updates and innovations in AI-powered cyber resilience. While technical support is generally not poor, there are challenges with expertise in Linux-based c...

Rubrik vs Cohesity DataProtect

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Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs Cohesity DataProtect

Compared 6% of the time

Veritas NetBackup vs Cohesity DataProtect

Compared 5% of the time

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Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)

Compared 39% of the time

Dell Avamar vs Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)

Compared 20% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)

Compared 19% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)

Compared 9% of the time

Rubrik vs Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)

Compared 6% of the time

More Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) Competitors

Product Reports

Cohesity DataProtect

Download Cohesity DataProtect product report

Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)

Download Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) product report

Also Known As

Cohesity

Dell EMC IDPA, Dell IDPA, EMC IDPA

Overview

What is Cohesity DataProtect?

Cohesity DataProtect is a top-level, sophisticated, software-defined backup and recovery solution created for cloud environments. Cohesity DataProtect is made to hyperscale and is one the most thorough policy-based protection solutions available on the market today.

Cohesity DataProtect melds multiple-point products into a single software that is able to be deployed as on-premise or consumed as a service.

Top Features:

Hyperscale made easy: Cohesity DataProtect improves data protection by doing away with the need for backup silos and administers backup and recovery with a single user-friendly, easy-to-understand interface. Cohesity DataProtect provides extensive 24/7 enterprise-class protection for a large, varying set of sources, including virtual and physical servers, NAS and SaaS workloads, relational and distributed databases, and traditional and containerized applications.

Super fast recovery: Cohesity DataProtect offers near-zero recovery point objectives (RPOs) and near-instant recovery time objectives (RTOs) to satisfy your business service-level agreements (SLAs). Using Cohesity Helios’ unified data plane and control plane you can immediately search and recover data on any Cohesity cluster, located anywhere. DataProtect distinctively minimizes downtime by immediately mass restoring any amount of virtual machines (VMs) to any point in time, and lowers data protection costs by as much as 70% or more.

Backup as a Service: Feel free to take advantage of the elasticity of the public cloud and the cost-effective value of Cohesity DataProtect when delivered as a service. When you choose an OPEX option, you can eliminate the need for on-premises hardware. There is a SaaS option that will allow you to very simply configure your backup workloads and immediately begin protecting your vital all-important data and applications.

It’s as easy as: sign-up, connect, and protect!

Ransomware protection: Cohesity DataProtect offers stellar recovery at scale. The solution is so intuitive, it has machine learning-based anomaly detection to stop incidents before they happen. Cohesity DataProtection can provide immutable backups, Datalock write once, read many (WORM), encryption, and role-based access control (RBAC).

Cohesity DataProtect integrates well with many of today’s top solutions, including, but not limited to:

Hypervisors: VMware vSphere (5.5 and later), Microsoft Hyper-V (2019, 2016, 2012 R2), Nutanix AHV and RHeV

Kubernetes-based data and application state

Cloud: AWS EC2, Amazon RDS, Azure VM, and Google Compute

Physical: Windows, Linux(RHEL, CentOS, OEL, Debian, Ubuntu), AIX (7.x), and Solaris

Databases: Oracle (11g R2, 12c), Oracle RAC and SQL (2008 or later)

Distributed Databases (NoSQL and Hadoop): MongoDB, CouchbaseDB, Apache, Cassandra, Cloudera, and Hortonworks.

Bare Machine Recovery: Windows and Linux

Applications: MS Exchange (2010 SP3 or later), MSFT Active Directory, Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, Teams, Groups), SalesForce (SFDC), and SAP HANA

Primary storage: Pure FlashArray, HPE Nimble, and Cisco Hyperflex

NAS: Pure FlashBlade, NetApp, Isilon, IBM GPFS, Google EFS, Elastifile, and generic solutions*

Reviews from Real Users

One reviewer, who is head of IT infrastructure at Kampmann says, “Cohesity really is a Next-Gen Data Management Software,” and goes on to indicate that Cohesity “works flawlessly with easy replication of backups and numerous supported backup sources.”

Another user, who is a senior network engineer at a legal firm, relates that "Cohesity is a robust and feature-rich solution"

Cohesity

The PowerProtect DP series appliances is the integrated appliance solution from the Dell data protection appliances portfolio.

PowerProtect DP series appliance: Simple, efficient and agile data protection

The DP series is an all-in-one backup appliance that reduces the complexity of managing multiple data silos, point solutions and vendor relationships. The DP series simplifies deployment and management—while delivering powerful, enterprise-grade data protection capabilities for small, mid-size and enterprise organizations at a low cost-to-protect.

It is an integrated solution that offers complete backup, replication, recovery, deduplication, instant access and restore, search & analytics, seamless VMware integration — plus, cloud readiness with disaster recovery (DR) and long-term retention (LTR) to the cloud — all in a single appliance.

With the DP series, customers reduce their time-to-protect and become more agile with a solution that’s fast, protected more efficiently, can be recovered quickly and is reliable.

Simple to deploy, scale and manage

The DP series enables organizations to protect a broad ecosystem of applications quickly with a single system management console, consolidating workload protection, and eliminating infrastructure or data sprawl. The easy-to-use System Manager simplifies backups and automates daily tasks, including monitoring, management, reporting, analytics and search. The DP series delivers all-in-one data protection: protection storage and software, search and advanced monitoring and analytics, combined with cloud extensibility. It offers integration with VMware, SQL and Oracle management tools so that admins can use familiar UIs.

Powerful cloud, performance and efficiency

The DP series can scale to fit the needs of enterprises with the ability to protect up to 195 PB (logical) of data to the public, private or hybrid clouds with Cloud Tier, with no additional hardware.7 Plus, native Cloud DR with end-to-end orchestration allows enterprises to copy backed-up VMs from on-premises DP series environments to the public cloud with AWS, Azure, or VMware Cloud on AWS —3 clicks to failover and 2 clicks to failback.

The DP series provides support for modern applications like MongoDB and MySQL and is optimized for VMware. It provides fast, single-step recovery of individual files, dynamic policies for VMs as well as complete VMware images, which can be instantly accessed and migrated live from the DP series appliance back to the production environment (using vMotion) while still running, further simplifying and optimizing VM recovery. Plus, instantly access up to 64 VMs with up to 60,000 IOPS to meet the strictest SLAs.

Data protection search simplifies file-level-recovery (FLR) activities with an easy-to-use search interface. The DP series is also built on the industry-proven Data Invulnerability Architecture (DIA), for encryption, fault detection, and healing.

Dell Technologies

Sample Customers

Tribune Media

Under Armour, Christian Brothers University, Presidio

Cohesity DataProtect vs. Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)