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Cohesity DataProtect vs Microsoft DPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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
8th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (6th)
Microsoft DPM
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
27th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 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 Microsoft DPM is 1.1%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
RifkanHasan - PeerSpot reviewer
Backup and recovery that is stable but support is no longer in existence
The DPM is pretty good, but when it comes to external devices, you can't back up to the external device. It's a huge drawback because once everything goes down, it goes down fully. We can't take a snapshot and take it outside, which is a problem. Also, when it comes to recovery, the recovery process doesn't work properly. It doesn't recover. One of our drives failed and when we wanted to recover it from the other drive, it never worked. So, we couldn't recover the data. Recovery of data if the server goes down, is not very good. The DPM is good apart from the support services. We were told that the support was no longer in existence, which is why we are looking for another provider. In the next release, I would like to see backup to external devices, so it can always restore the backup and we can take it externally and store it somewhere that it is off-site and archived. Currently, it does not allow us to do that because it is required to be in one location.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's stable."
"We can run test scripts on production data."
"Cohesity DataProtect is user-friendly and straightforward. The setup process was effortless, and both the backup and restore operations are speedy."
"It makes our administrators' lives much easier to combine backup, archiving, and services like hosting file shares in one central system with only one user interface."
"The solution is stable, with regular updates and patching."
"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."
"We are looking forward to the next release, so we can take advantage of the AHV backup for our Nutanix environment."
"We are very satisfied with the product as a whole—all the backup functions, the data protection functions. We are very satisfied with those, and the product is very simple to use."
"The most valuable feature is the total integration of the System Center solution."
"Its capability to give a BMR for all the workstations that I want to connect to."
"The most important feature is that it's easy to use."
"One of the most effective features of Microsoft DPM is its integration with the entire Microsoft ecosystem."
"The user interface is very good. The reporting and monitoring features are also good."
"It is almost perfect for Microsoft products. It is not a very powerful tool, but it is okay for small sites and small businesses with Microsoft products. It is easy to use for backup and restore. It is good for backing up Microsoft servers such as Exchange and SharePoint servers."
"One of the most effective features of Microsoft DPM is its integration with the entire Microsoft ecosystem."
"Microsoft DPM is scalable."
 

Cons

"Reducing storage capacity requirements and improving security features are also areas that could be enhanced."
"If someone were to change an admin account password, I would like an alert raised for that, which is not available at the moment."
"Better support for legacy platforms would be nice, but we should be moving off those anyway."
"This solution is only compatible with a limited number of storage arrays, including Pure and Cisco Hyperflex."
"Many of the reports are basic, at most, and at times we had to open a support ticket to help find or develop a report for our needs."
"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."
"The rack mounting instructions did not appear to be correct, but we were able to overcome it."
"We have had our share of minor bugs over the past two years and a few bigger ones."
"It needs portability for other vendors. It is good for backing up Microsoft servers, but it doesn't support third-party solutions such as Oracle Database. It depends on Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy, especially for Hyper-V, which has a lot of problems. They should enhance the Volume Shadow Copy functionality. Its reporting should also be better. Reporting is too weak in DPM."
"Compatibility and integration with other products needs improvement."
"You have only a few settings and if you change them for some special configurations, it's very difficult."
"The data tagging feature needs improvement. The solution could be a bit more intuitive in certain aspects."
"To evaluate the solution's abilities and its performance under demanding conditions, it is recommended to carry out a stress test."
"The user interface can be improved quite a bit."
"Setting up the solution can be complex."
"It can back up, yet it lacks features compared to Veeam."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Cohesity came in at the best price. Setup was included and done in half a day."
"The pricing model is impressive and very effective."
"With respect to pricing, make sure that you look at both Rubrik and Cohesity as they are very similar and are quite competitive."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly. It is cheaper than other backup solutions."
"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."
"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."
"Microsoft DPM can be considered as an expensive solution for smaller or medium enterprises, but we have been satisfied with the price structure as it is fixed and it offers a variety of useful features"
"I think Microsoft DPM pricing is reasonable. The additional costs are related to storage and technical support."
"Microsoft DPM is a free solution. However, we pay approximately $3,000 annually for support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
40%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

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?
Typically on-premises nodes/clusters are deployed for primary backup (to enable instant mass restore) so price will be dependent on chosen OEM and capacity required. MSPs like us utilise PPU licens...
What needs improvement with Cohesity DataProtect?
While there are improvements to be made, such as providing support for older systems like IBM iSeries and tandem systems from HP, the solution overall shifts from older methods to modern practices....
What do you like most about Microsoft DPM?
This solution helps us to manage all of the operations across servers and different workstations.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft DPM?
Microsoft licensing is complex, especially for enterprise or data center solutions. However, it's not more complicated compared to other competitors and the market is well balanced.
What needs improvement with Microsoft DPM?
I am not sure if I am competent enough to address areas for improvement in Microsoft DPM.
 

Also Known As

Cohesity
DPM, Data Protection Manager, MS DPM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tribune Media
Medical Park, Centropol Energy, a.s., NCFE, D & H Distributing, Metalor, Colosseum, a.s., Sanitas S.A., Icebreaker
Find out what your peers are saying about Cohesity DataProtect vs. Microsoft DPM and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
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