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Cohesity DataProtect vs IBM Storage Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2025

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
6th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
74
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (9th)
IBM Storage Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Cohesity DataProtect is 2.7%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cohesity DataProtect2.7%
IBM Storage Protect2.1%
Other95.2%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Giovanni Golinelli. - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It offers an easy, quick backup and restore of files and VMs. Also, the "Google-like " search for files is awesome."
"Its most valuable feature is its ransomware protection, so it has immutable backups."
"This solution is easy to manage."
"It's completely reliable and easy to restore."
"It has a lightning fast restore."
"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 solution is stable."
"Cohesity DataProtect is a converged solution that simplifies backup and allows use of the backed-up data."
"The solution can back up every kind of workload in the environment."
"It's very robust and has been on the market for a long time."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the centralized enterprise backup."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is application-aware backups."
"Enterprise-wide type of architecture supports a lot of different platforms."
"The most valuable feature is the backup speed."
"The most valuable feature for data recovery in IBM Spectrum Protect is its database protection capabilities."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is a scalable solution."
 

Cons

"For Oracle DBs, we have observed a few bugs. This can be done better."
"Their UI requires a manual refresh. It doesn't seem like it updates itself sometimes when you're moving from screens or waiting for a change to take effect, so you have to manually refresh."
"Cohesity cluster upgrades have not been as easy as a single button click. They are a manual process that requires upgrading each node into a cluster individually."
"We aren't missing any features. In terms of the solution overall, it's so far so good."
"Cohesity DataProtect takes hours to restore a single file, even a small one."
"I'd like to be able to pause a backup while it's running and have it resume when I tell it to resume."
"Physical RDMs on virtual machines could be a bit easier to configure and plan out."
"I would like to see Microsoft Exchange DAG supported as soon as possible."
"I think Spectrum Protect's interface is not so user-friendly, but the interface is not so friendly. Some of the functions are too complicated. I prefer a simpler solution."
"The reporting could be better."
"It needs agents that take into account more databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)."
"They should introduce more features for virtualization platforms and backing up IBMs. Backup speeds should also be improved."
"Probably educating the virtual group who are not as used to the product. Most of our expertise is with AIX servers and virtual server backups."
"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."
"High availability (HA) is a scalability challenge."
"One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My advice is to always negotiate for better pricing."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly. It is cheaper than other backup solutions."
"Ensure that you understand the per TB licensing model. Also, Exchange backups are not native to Cohesity and require Kroll."
"The pricing model is impressive and very effective."
"The solution's pricing is in the mid-range, where it's neither costly nor cheap."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"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."
"I expect the system to probably pay off within the first two years."
"The pricing is a little expensive for our current employer, so they want to move to a cheaper solution."
"IBM Spectrum Protect, cost-wise, has way higher pricing than Veeam. By switching over to Veeam, my company saved over $600,000 in USD. The IBM Spectrum Protect pricing is a two on a scale of one to ten. My company paid additional fees for maintenance, apart from the standard licensing fees."
"Some of the new advanced features are definitely more into cost savings, e.g., dedupe compression, so doing more with less."
"We have found that the pricing is high in our country."
"Use capacity licensing. It's easier and cheaper."
"That's no longer my department, but I have some past experience with licensing. It is not cheap. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of licensing. In terms of additional costs, there is management overhead. It is a complex solution and a lot of work goes into managing clients. It has gotten better over the years, but compared to its competitor, it is still heavy on management overhead."
"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."
"The different license models can give good benefits to the end customer."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise40
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise94
 

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 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 IBM Storage Protect?
The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will continue to use in the future.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is generally an expensive tool. However, with good contracts with IBM or its partners, the cost might not be so high. New customers can expect very high prices.
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past. There is a need for additional layers of security to fill the gaps, which is wh...
 

Also Known As

Cohesity
IBM Spectrum Discover
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tribune Media
CEMEX
Find out what your peers are saying about Cohesity DataProtect vs. IBM Storage Protect and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.