DD Boost vs ExaGrid EX Series comparison

Dell Technologies and ExaGrid are both solutions in the Deduplication Software category. Dell Technologies is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.6, while ExaGrid is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.0. Dell Technologies holds a 4.7% mindshare in DS, compared to ExaGrid’s 9.0% 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 38 DD Boost reviews

1,971 Views
1,108 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

ExaGrid EX Series

Read 6 ExaGrid EX Series reviews

2,343 Views
1,804 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: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

DD Boost vs. ExaGrid EX Series

April 2025

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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

5th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

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

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of DD Boost is 4.7%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExaGrid EX Series is 9.0%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Deduplication Software

Featured Reviews

Daniel Dumitru

Inginer de system IT Senior at ENGIE

Speedy data backup with significant space savings and efficient deduplication

DD Boost has been very beneficial in enhancing our data backup processes. We perform backups with less time, and it allows for efficient on-premises recovery and restoration. We use it in conjunction with the Veeam suite. Overall, it has helped us make a big impact by allowing us to have more restore points and optimizing our storage efficiency with faster backups compared to tape backups.

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Daan Lieshout

Server and Storage Specialist at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees

With great features like deduplication and landing zone, the tool also provides stability and scalability

Speed-wise, ExaGrid is much faster than the other solutions in the market. When you choose between or from several different manufacturers, you need to understand a little bit about how the product exactly works and why its speed can be so high while being able to compare it to other solutions, allowing you to know of the backup window if you ever need it. You have to understand how it works and the product's preferences, even though the price may be slightly higher. Learning about the solution is not at all a problem, but when you open a console, you see so many things, and in the beginning you don't understand it all. Later on, it becomes more usable when you start understanding it. In general, ExaGrid provides you with a lot more information than any other system in the market. It is difficult to say what is additionally required in the solution because, presently, it has a lot of things like immutability, anti-hacking, and retention. The solution does put efforts towards improvement. The product's interface provides you with a proper overview of the deduplication rate and the status of how many storage systems you are left with through a visual screen, which is more than enough. When you go deeper, you can access all the enhanced consoles. The product can easily be integrated with third-party products because ExaGrid has all its best practice documents for integrating it with many other products. I rate the overall product a nine out of ten.

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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 serves as a backup appliance providing data deduplication and synchronization, which accelerates processes."

"I'd rate the solution ten out of ten."

"Very stable solution."

"To be sincere, I never had problems with the stability of DD Boost."

"The tool's deployment was easy."

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

"The solution can scale."

More DD Boost pros

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

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

"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."

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

"It is a solid and a quite simple solution, which is a good combination. The customers like the simplicity and its scale-out capacity. They like the support pricing, and even the extension capacity pricing, a fixed price, which the executive is offering in Czech market."

Cons

"It should be expanded to include other databases and software. It should also be made easier to restore."

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

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

"This product is expensive compared to other storage so the price can be improved."

"The performance of the backup software with connection to DD Boost could be improved."

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

"One area that requires improvement is the time needed for cleanup processes."

"DD Boost could improve the solution by offering additional customizations that build upon existing features such as deduplication ratios. The primary objective of the solution is to create backups of existing data and push that data out to clients' backup systems. If they can make the process faster and introduce more enhancements, it would greatly benefit the backup environment."

More DD Boost cons

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

"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 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."

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

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is monthly."

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

"Dell EMC Data Domain Boost is an expensive product. There are extra costs for support because every year, you have to renew your SLA for support, and the cost is always increasing."

"DD Boost's price is good for its features."

"We scale this product by adding licenses, which are related to capacity."

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

"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."

"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."

More DD Boost pricing and cost advice

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

18%

Healthcare Company

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

The setup and handover process was not effective, preventing us from leveraging the software's available benefits. The cost of support has become high, especially with the split between Dell and VM...

See all answers

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?

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 r...

See all answers

Comparisons

HPE StoreOnce vs DD Boost

Compared 36% of the time

Veritas NetBackup Appliance vs DD Boost

Compared 16% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs DD Boost

Compared 14% of the time

Quantum DXi Series vs DD Boost

Compared 10% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs DD Boost

Compared 4% of the time

More DD Boost Competitors

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 52% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 21% of the time

Quantum DXi Series vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 14% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 5% of the time

More ExaGrid EX Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

DD Boost

April 2025

Download DD Boost product report

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series

April 2025

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

April 2025

Free Report: DD Boost vs. ExaGrid EX Series

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