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CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform vs VMware Live Recovery comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 15, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
CTERA Enterprise File Services reduced costs and time, minimized manual storage, and eliminated SSD and alternative storage needs.
Sentiment score
8.2
VMware Live Recovery offers up to 50% DR cost savings and enhances ROI with automation and resource-efficient management since 2012.
Adding SSD storage to Windows file servers is expensive, and we no longer need to back up those devices.
I am positive that CTERA has helped reduce the total cost of ownership by eliminating the need for manual storage management and reducing storage service processes.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.3
CTERA's platform provides responsive support, rated highly for proactive assistance and efficient issue resolution by knowledgeable agents.
Sentiment score
7.2
VMware Live Recovery customer service varies, but technical support is generally responsive and helpful, with minor delays reported.
They swiftly address concerns and take ownership of the call, providing a very satisfactory support experience.
High-priority issues are handled promptly.
I would rate their support a ten out of ten.
They are knowledgeable.
The technical support from VMware is very good and operates based on a service level.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
CTERA's platform is scalable and easy to expand globally, though CPU and memory licensing constraints may pose challenges.
Sentiment score
7.4
VMware Live Recovery is praised for scalability and ease of use, despite challenges with compatibility and configuration issues.
If we need to upgrade CPU and memory, we should be able to do that without a license upgrade.
CTERA is a very scalable product, allowing us to grow.
It offers good scalability options, including vertical and outward scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
CTERA's platform faced initial bugs but improved over time, earning high stability ratings with reliable data access.
Sentiment score
7.5
VMware Live Recovery is reliable with some upgrade challenges, receiving positive ratings for stability and compatibility, despite occasional issues.
It has been pretty stable since then.
We had things deployed for years, and we were suddenly getting cloud sync issues that were crashing our sites.
It is very stable and reliable.
 

Room For Improvement

The CTERA platform needs improvements in monitoring, updates, UI, logging, and performance, while users value current features and support.
VMware Live Recovery struggles with stability, integration, and costs, requiring usability improvements and better support, licensing, and management.
AI and automation features could enhance the platform, such as AI-powered search, predictive storage analytics, and intelligent alerts for proactive monitoring.
It would help to have a global single-pane-of-glass view of all my CTERA devices.
One suggested improvement for the CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is the ability to distribute data across multiple active backend storage nodes rather than the current limitation of a single active node.
It's important for the cost to be justified based on the features used in production.
I would like to see improved integration services with other solutions, such as SIEM management or security monitoring.
The licensing area needs improvement as the cost per virtual machine is high.
 

Setup Cost

CTERA offers cost-effective enterprise file services with flexible licensing, providing significant savings over EMC and Nasuni, especially in Israel.
VMware Live Recovery can be costly, especially for smaller enterprises, compared to alternatives like Veeam or Nutanix.
Unlike other solutions that require hardware purchases, CTERA offers software licensing with flexibility across multiple infrastructure providers.
CTERA's pricing seems to be on par with some of the other players, such as Nasuni and Azure.
I find the pricing reasonable.
Previously, when acquiring a license for Ethiopian drug supply chains, the price was significantly high, especially after Broadcom joined VMware.
For cloud-based solutions, the cost seems quite pricey, so we stick to on-premises deployment.
 

Valuable Features

CTERA excels in scalability, flexibility, data management, and protection, making it ideal for hybrid cloud and remote work environments.
VMware Live Recovery offers automated disaster recovery with seamless integration, minimizing downtime and enhancing business continuity across industries.
As soon as something is written to the device, CTERA copies it to the cloud, where it's versioned with snapshots so we can recover it.
A vital advantage of this platform is its instantaneous recovery capability, allowing seamless access to a secondary gateway if the primary one fails.
It is a three-in-one solution for us. It is a file-sharing platform, an archiving solution, and also a backup solution.
It is used for data replication between data centers and allows for quick response in times of failure, ensuring data availability.
The capability and the functionality of the features are very helpful for us.
The solution offers a rich set of features, well adapted in the market.
 

Categories and Ranking

CTERA Enterprise File Servi...
Ranking in Disaster Recovery (DR) Software
8th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
File System Software (2nd), NAS (9th), Cloud Migration (7th), Cloud Storage (10th), Cloud Backup (12th), Cloud Storage Gateways (2nd), Content Collaboration Platforms (12th)
VMware Live Recovery
Ranking in Disaster Recovery (DR) Software
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery as a Service (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Disaster Recovery (DR) Software category, the mindshare of CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Live Recovery is 8.5%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software
 

Featured Reviews

Igal Muginstein - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers flexibility, fast performance, and ransomware protection
The platform is releasing new features at a fast pace, which sometimes leads to version updates every three to six months. Although updates are generally not complex, it is challenging to stop the production environment during these updates, even if the downtime is just a few minutes. This is a common challenge across all NAS providers. From my perspective, the most important area for improvement is developing a method to perform updates without affecting customer production environments. Additionally, there are some cache size limitations that might become problematic for future use cases, though they don’t impact current applications. Collaboration for NFS and SMB protocols could also be enhanced. Although this issue isn't specific to CTERA, it is something we are working on together to improve. The quality of the versions has improved, but occasional issues still arise. All solutions face this challenge, but we hope to see a continued reduction in the number of bugs. That said, we haven't had any major production problems in the last four years, and we appreciate how responsive CTERA is to our issues. We engage in brainstorming sessions together, and we value this relationship.
ErmiasGirma - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures data availability and enables efficient migration between data centers
In our organization, we have deployed VMware Live Recovery for disaster recovery purposes. We have two data centers, and VMware Live Recovery is used for data replication between these centers. It is used to ensure data availability and for migration purposes when the primary data center is down…
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Disaster Recovery (DR) Software solutions are best for your needs.
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Comparison Review

it_user159711 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 9, 2014
VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto
Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
70%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Educational Organization
4%
University
3%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
I am not directly involved in the pricing aspects, but I understand that CTERA's pricing is competitive and within industry standards.
What needs improvement with CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
One area for improvement is the migration tool, which at times does not work as designed, necessitating the use of alternative solutions like Robocopy. AI and automation features could enhance the ...
What is your primary use case for CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform?
We use it as a hosted cloud solution. We had initially tried Azure File Sync, but that did not work. Due to certain security concerns, I was tasked with researching alternatives. I evaluated severa...
What do you like most about VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery?
Setting up VMs can be done quickly. It is easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery?
We use a three-year license, and the cost for VMware Live Recovery can be high. Previously, when acquiring a license for Ethiopian drug supply chains, the price was significantly high, especially a...
What needs improvement with VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery?
The licensing area needs improvement as the cost per virtual machine is high. If they offered discounts or minimized their prices, it would be more beneficial.
 

Also Known As

No data available
VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery, Datrium DRaaS , VMware SRM
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

McDonald's, WPP, US Navy, Gore, Festo, Stryker, Bezeq, PERI
Certainty Home Loans, VPay, ZEON
Find out what your peers are saying about CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform vs. VMware Live Recovery and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.