No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

DD Boost vs IBM ProtectTIER comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM ProtectTIER
Ranking in Deduplication Software
13th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (65th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of DD Boost is 3.8%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 2.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Deduplication Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
DD Boost3.8%
IBM ProtectTIER2.5%
Other93.7%
Deduplication Software
 

Featured Reviews

Brijesh Pillai - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
AG
Technical Lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Provides a short-term backup, archive, and cataloging for 20,000 people in our organization
The backup for a large amount of data is slow. When there's a large amount of data, sometimes the backup isn't completed in time. I have a 24 hour cycle, so it doesn't get completed in 24 hours with the large amount of data. With Veritas NetBackup, I can take 20 terabytes of backup in a day.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell's support helped restore the hardware."
"The solution offers very good daily and weekly updates on the deduplication and the compression ratio."
"We can retain the data for a pretty long time."
"The solution is very easy to manage. That's its most valuable feature."
"DD Boost serves as a backup appliance providing data deduplication and synchronization, which accelerates processes."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it can support both the CIFS and NFS protocols simultaneously."
"I haven't had any issues. It has been working for two years with no problems."
"It's a stable solution."
"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable. I've walked into the server room when it was at 60 degrees Celcius, and it was still running fine."
"The most valuable features are the self-service features and the ability to search the data."
"The solution is highly stable."
"The cataloging is the best feature, as it takes millions of frames for the backup and, because it's incremental, it takes less time to complete."
"I will highly recommend this product for excellent and quick backup solution in small and large IBM I Series environment."
"The most valuable feature is the incremental backup."
"The command-line interface is good."
"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable."
 

Cons

"It would be good if the product could be useful not just for general backup. Its pricing is also expensive, and it can be a difficult application, particularly when you need to write a script for anything you would like to do."
"The main issue I've identified is that when backing up a final backup from the branch server, we don't have deduplication functionality."
"Lack of this functionality is, in my opinion, big limitation."
"When my company faced a problem with the product, it took some time to get proper support."
"The solution could always be cheaper."
"DD Boost can improve by providing some sort of API to track the progress or the number of remaining data transfers."
"It should be expanded to include other databases and software. It should also be made easier to restore."
"I'd like the be able to deploy the solution on SAN backups."
"The backup for a large amount of data is slow. When there's a large amount of data, sometimes the backup isn't completed in time."
"These days, we are thinking about pushing another solution because of the poor support from IBM."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"It is unmanageable. Support would be good."
"I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM."
"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
"My advice to anybody who is considering this solution is to conduct a proof of concept first because everybody's needs are different, and this product is not suitable for every kind of backup."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"DD Boost's price is good for its features."
"My company must pay approximately 10,000 USD annually, making it an expensive product."
"We scale this product by adding licenses, which are related to capacity."
"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."
"The pricing is competitive when compared to other vendors."
"The cost is monthly."
"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"This solution is very expensive."
"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Deduplication Software solutions are best for your needs.
896,942 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
19%
Construction Company
19%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
What is your primary use case for DD Boost?
I am handling the storage part, not the compute part. Through storage, I have Dell PowerMax 2000, Dell Unity, Data Domain, and Dell SAN switches. Additionally, I have two boxes from IBM FlashSystem...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber
Find out what your peers are saying about DD Boost vs. IBM ProtectTIER and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,942 professionals have used our research since 2012.