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Dell Avamar vs IBM ProtectTIER comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

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

Dell Avamar
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
7th
Ranking in Deduplication Software
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM ProtectTIER
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
89th
Ranking in Deduplication Software
13th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of Dell Avamar is 9.6%, up from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Deduplication Software
 

Featured Reviews

Ayodeji  Oyewole - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable with good backups but has occasional failures
I use Dell Avamar primarily for backup and recovery The most valuable feature for me is the backup functionality. It gives large enterprises the comfort of knowing their workloads are being backed up. There are instances where backups fail on certain applications, which is an area that could be…
ValereFEUGWANG - PeerSpot reviewer
Protects data in hybrid infrastructures, but it is an expensive product with poor support
The main challenge for our customers is to replicate the virtual environment upon restart, without using any additional solutions such as VMware SLM. 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. It would be much better for us. This solution can be made easier to use. Technical support is very frustrating and we are considering other solutions because of it. Stability is something that should be improved. The product is expensive and the licensing should be changed.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell EMC Avamar has many valuable features. It's very stable and it's easy to manage."
"Effective in protecting the virtualization system and end points."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The performance of Dell EMC Avamar is good."
"The installation process is pretty straightforward."
"Source based deduplication is the most attractive feature as it drastically reduces the backup window."
"The deduplication feature is the best aspect of the solution."
"The most valuable feature is the integration with Data Domain and your VM stacks."
"The solution is highly stable."
"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."
"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."
"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 command-line interface is good."
"The cataloging is the best feature. It takes millions of frames for the backup. It's incremental, so it takes less time to complete."
 

Cons

"There are limitations when trying to use this solution with Hyper-V."
"The licensing model is not very flexible. Every time we upgrade our storage size, we need to upgrade the Avamar license."
"It would be helpful if there was cloud support."
"The interface could be more helpful for people."
"The licensing price must be reduced."
"The solution used to freeze sometimes while taking a snapshot backup."
"If there is a need to move the data from one backup solution to another, it might be difficult since there is no option for a straightforward migration."
"I want to see a more user-friendly and administrator-friendly Dell Avamar. The solution also needs a better UI and dashboard."
"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"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."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is a fairly expensive solution. It cost approximately 21,000 each year."
"Dell Avamar, including its virtual add-ons and cloud-based offerings, is cheaper than other solutions, but in the end, the price still depends on your use case. Price-wise, I'm rating Dell Avamar as six out of ten."
"There is a license required for this solution."
"The solution is not expensive for the value one gets."
"It is expensive. The maintenance comes with it for five years. So, you buy the whole thing for five years, and your maintenance is included with it, but it's a big chunk of change upfront. We like capital expenses because we can CapEx them. We pay once every five years, so we spend a big chunk of change. You'd have to divide that out by the five years to come up with how much it costs. It's just about three-quarters of a million dollars for five years."
"Licensing was generally on a per VM or terabyte basis. They changed their licensing model a couple of times and turned it into socket-based licensing, which is an improvement in their licensing model."
"It was very expensive before, but after integrating it with Dell EMC Avamar Data Protection suite licensing, we are getting better discounts."
"When it comes to competition the price is not what is important, it's not the problem."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."
"This solution is very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between Dell EMC Avamar and Dell EMC NetWorker?
From the very beginning, Dell EMC NetWorker considers users and those who might potentially become users. In terms of both pricing and setup, this product offers an experience that is significantly...
What do you like most about Dell Avamar?
Easy to configure and highly reliable for backup.
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Also Known As

Avamar
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dodge County, St Laurence's College, FieldCore (a GE Company), Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Getronics, Lewisville Independent School District, EnvisionRxOptions, Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions
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 Dell Avamar vs. IBM ProtectTIER and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.