DD Boost vs ExaGrid EX Series comparison

Dell Technologies and ExaGrid are both solutions in the Deduplication Software category. Dell Technologies is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3, while ExaGrid is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.0. Dell Technologies holds a 4.1% mindshare in DS, compared to ExaGrid’s 5.7% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of ExaGrid users who would recommend it.

DD Boost

Read 40 DD Boost reviews

1,664 Views
1,631 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

ExaGrid EX Series

Read 7 ExaGrid EX Series reviews

1,742 Views
1,707 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

DD Boost

ExaGrid EX Series

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

ExaGrid EX Series and DD Boost are competing in the data backup and recovery market. ExaGrid EX Series has an edge in pricing and support, while DD Boost stands out for its advanced features.

Features: ExaGrid EX Series offers fast backup speed, scalability, and efficient data deduplication, promoting cost savings and storage efficiency. DD Boost is recognized for enhanced integration capabilities and optimal backup performance, suitable for environments requiring sophisticated data management.

Room for Improvement: ExaGrid EX Series can enhance its feature set to match the high-end capabilities of competing solutions. Further advancements in integration could strengthen its market position. Simplifying long-term storage management might also be beneficial. DD Boost may benefit from improving initial cost efficiency, enhancing user interface for simplicity, and optimizing long-term data management to reduce complexities in extensive infrastructures.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ExaGrid EX Series is lauded for its straightforward setup and responsive customer service, facilitating easier transitions for IT teams. DD Boost's deployment features a robust process with dedicated support channels, appealing to enterprises needing comprehensive assistance.

Pricing and ROI: ExaGrid EX Series offers a competitive initial setup cost and minimizes ongoing expenses through effective data deduplication, providing a strong ROI. DD Boost, with its potentially higher entry cost, justifies this with advanced features that provide substantial long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed DD Boost vs. ExaGrid EX Series Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

DD Boost vs. ExaGrid EX Series

March 2026

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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

DD Boost

Ranking in Deduplication Software

7th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ExaGrid EX Series

Ranking in Deduplication Software

8th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of DD Boost is 4.1%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExaGrid EX Series is 5.7%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Deduplication Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
DD Boost	4.1%
ExaGrid EX Series	5.7%
Other	90.2%

Deduplication Software

Featured Reviews

Brijesh Pillai

Regional Manager - Enterprise Sales at Noventiq

Provides robust data protection solutions with room for better pricing options

Dell is a strategic partnership for us as resellers. We rarely focus on PowerProtect Data Manager (PPDM). Every data protection solution vendor offers encryption as part of their solution. This is one of the default standards required for data protection. Regarding Network Efficient Replication on disaster recovery operations, it is definitely effective. Customers get native capability out of the box to do a restoration. Typically, customers look at a secondary copy in the cloud, but primary will be on-premise. While we have a partnership with AWS, we do not buy from the AWS Marketplace. I would recommend this product to medium enterprises to large enterprises. On a scale of 1-10, I rate DD Boost a 7.

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Daniel Gillber

Information Technology advisor at Lotus Consulting

Improvements in data storage efficiency and customer support experience

ExaGrid EX Series and Veeam was easy to set up, and it worked seamlessly. It was very simple to use. We rarely needed to touch the ExaGrid boxes, except for upgrades. With the systems engineer from ExaGrid, and with our common knowledge of backup software, it was very easy to use. The performance was good, the interface was good, and the GUI was good. When ExaGrid introduced the air gapped feature, it was almost complete. Almost every hardware vendor has an air gapped feature, but they were significantly ahead of other vendors. The air gapped and immutable storage are very nice features. The price compared to other competitors was good with better features. It is not a cheap product, but compared to the features, it is a good competitor.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"DD Boost's best features are deduplication and compression."

"The functionality is very good. DD Boost and DD entry replication are used in almost all backup concepts. Those are the most used features."

"The features I find most valuable is the ease of installation and the ease of maintenance, more than the functionality."

"This solution is very stable; it doesn't crash and there are no errors."

"The tool's deployment was easy."

"The initial setup of DD Boost involves a simple procedure."

"The solution can scale."

"The product is necessary in order to communicate with both Data Domain and NetWorker devices."

More DD Boost pros

"The most valuable features of the solution are deduplication and landing zone."

"The solution easily integrates with the backup targets, such as Veeam."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of use and data deduplication. It's extremely easy to use and does a very good job of data deduplication and compression."

"The tool has improved backup and recovery times. One of the key features contributing to this improvement is the landing zone and deduplication retention zone. When data is in the landing zone, the process is fast, ensuring smooth backup and recovery operations at high speeds. However, the process becomes slower for long-term backups moved to the retention zone due to fragmentation. So, if the data is older than a few days, the speed may be limited, especially for non-deduplicated data in the landing zone."

"ExaGrid EX Series and Veeam was easy to set up, and it worked seamlessly."

"The equipment is pretty solid."

"One of the main features is the landing zone, it is a particular space where the information is not duplicated."

"ExaGrid has improved my organization in the way that we get reliable backups with very little administration."

More ExaGrid EX Series pros

Cons

"Though the customer uses the product, they don't receive active support from DD Boost even though they pay for it."

"If we talk about Dell backup software, there is room for improvement in areas such as backup from IBM operating systems, open-source products, and Office 365."

"I'd like the be able to deploy the solution on SAN backups."

"There are limitations when using the VTL protocol in extreme cases."

"It would be nice if they could have the same tool set right from the smallest to the biggest modules, but being specific frame dependent."

"This solution should cover more platforms, and there should be more product coverage."

"DD Boost needs to improve its interface. It should be easier to use."

"The multi-tier functionality can be improved, but it is quite good. They could improve replication and perhaps support additional sharing network protocols. I would also like to see better implementation of NFS Version 3, but it is already implemented and quite usable as it is."

More DD Boost cons

"The support is not that fast to deal with our concerns. It is next day support, they could improve on the speed."

"When speaking about a scale-out, you want to have better equipment. You cannot just add a disc to the foreign equipment. You have to buy another one and put it together, like parallel."

"The tool reduces storage footprint. However, clients are now storing data for longer durations with increasing requirements to retain backups for longer periods, particularly as a defense against ransomware attacks. As a result, the retention zone with duplicated data is experiencing more demand, leading to space constraints. This necessitates using higher-end, more expensive models to address the issue."

"The one place where we are sometimes losing the opportunity with ExaGrid is that a few customers still require a fiber channel connectivity, which is not always possible."

"The solution could improve by switching to a flash-type solution rather than the spinning drives that they currently use. However, we have not had any failure with the spinning drives. The flash-type drives are more up-to-date and are something that is in their roadmap."

"I would like for them to develop direct cloud integration with a third-party cloud. Direct integration with AWS and other cloud providers."

"The product's documentation can be made more precise."

"I would like for them to develop direct cloud integration with a third-party cloud. Direct integration with AWS and other cloud providers."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The hardware platform is cost intense, so for small and mid-range, this product is not the best choice."

"The solution comes with a capacity license and it is a one-time purchase. There are additional costs, such as support."

"The pricing is definitely competitive and unmatchable. The price of Data Domain is very attractive compared to HPE, StoreOnce, or its current alternative, which is probably more expensive."

"My company must pay approximately 10,000 USD annually, making it an expensive product."

"The solution is very good because it is easy to use and it speeds up the backup and lowers the requirement for the storage rate. It is capable of encryption, compression, and deduplication and it is fast for sending all of the data over the network because it sends only the change blocks from the client to the DD server."

"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product. The price of the product is on a higher scale, meaning not everybody can afford it."

"You don't have to pay additional costs."

"The pricing is high compared to the competition and should be reconsidered."

More DD Boost pricing and cost advice

"The previous solutions I have used both included the Backup Software and the Appliance making it hard to compare to this solution. However, overall the solution is reasonably priced for the features you receive. ExaGrid EX Series is priced better than HP, Dell, and possibly Commvault which I have compared in the past."

"I rate ExaGrid EX Series' pricing eight to nine out of ten."

"The current agreement has 21 terabytes of free space and it cost approximately $35,000."

"My company had to pay 1,60,000 EUR for the system we use, and the payment was made just once for the system and five years of full support."

"In comparison to other solutions, it's affordable. They're all too expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Energy/Utilities Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about DD Boost?

The time taken for backup is very fast.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DD Boost?

It's complicated for me because when we buy, we buy a package, so I don't have the DD price. Every Data Domain we buy comes with Boost technology, with the DDoS feature. I don't know the price of D...

See all answers

What needs improvement with DD Boost?

DD Boost can improve by providing some sort of API to track the progress or the number of remaining data transfers. For instance, in other Dell products such as storage, SRDF replication protocol i...

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What do you like most about ExaGrid EX Series?

The tool has improved backup and recovery times. One of the key features contributing to this improvement is the landing zone and deduplication retention zone. When data is in the landing zone, the...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExaGrid EX Series?

I rate ExaGrid EX Series' pricing eight to nine out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ExaGrid EX Series?

Everything can always be better, so I would give it a nine.

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs DD Boost

Compared 15% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs DD Boost

Compared 15% of the time

Veritas NetBackup Appliance vs DD Boost

Compared 13% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs DD Boost

Compared 8% of the time

IBM ProtectTIER vs DD Boost

Compared 5% of the time

More DD Boost Competitors

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 31% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 20% of the time

Quantum DXi Series vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 13% of the time

Veritas NetBackup Appliance vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 8% of the time

BridgeSTOR Microsoft DPM Appliance vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 4% of the time

More ExaGrid EX Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

DD Boost

March 2026

Download DD Boost product report

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series

March 2026

Download ExaGrid EX Series product report

Also Known As

No data available

EX Series

Overview

DD Boost software delivers an advanced level of integration with backup applications and data base utilities, enhancing performance and ease of use. Dell also provides a DD Boost File System Plug-In (BoostFS) with DD Boost for even greater application support, which enables all the benefits of DD Boost for applications that use NFS for data protection. Rather than sending all data to the system for deduplication processes, DD Boost enables the backup server or application client to send only unique data segments across the network to the system.

Dell Technologies

The ExaGrid EX Series hyper-converged secondary storage for backup product line consists of eight appliance models. Each appliance is sized for a full backup and for long-term retention. Any ExaGrid appliance can be mixed and matched in the same scale-out system with any other size or age appliance, allowing customers to buy what they need as they need it. This pay-as-you-grow model allows up to 25 appliances in a single scale-out system.

ExaGrid

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

NCI Group, North Attleborough Public School, North Kingstown School Department, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Rathbone Brothers PLC, Rio Hondo College, Ruder Finn, Sarah Lawrence College

Buyer's Guide

DD Boost vs. ExaGrid EX Series

March 2026

Free Report: DD Boost vs. ExaGrid EX Series

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