Dell Avamar vs IBM ProtectTIER comparison

Dell Technologies and IBM are both solutions in the Deduplication Software category. Dell Technologies is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.9, while IBM is ranked #13. Dell Technologies holds a 10.8% mindshare in DS, compared to IBM’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Dell Avamar

Read 90 Dell Avamar reviews

5,936 Views
2,256 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

IBM ProtectTIER

Read 7 IBM ProtectTIER reviews

1,149 Views
299 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

Dell Avamar

IBM ProtectTIER

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM ProtectTIER and Dell Avamar compete in the data protection market. Dell Avamar has a slight edge in features due to its versatility and ease of integration.

Features: IBM ProtectTIER offers high deduplication efficiency, strong storage space reduction, and robust data protection. Dell Avamar provides multi-platform support, ease of integration, and efficient performance. Dell Avamar's versatility is a key advantage.

Room For Improvement: IBM ProtectTIER needs enhanced reporting tools, simpler configuration, and improved user interface. Dell Avamar requires better support for newer applications, a more intuitive management console, and enhanced automation features. Each product has areas to refine.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ProtectTIER deployment is resource-intensive but has positive customer service feedback. Dell Avamar is known for straightforward deployment and comprehensive support from Dell, making it a standout option.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ProtectTIER has higher setup costs but offers significant ROI through storage reduction. Dell Avamar features competitive setup costs and consistent ROI with efficient data protection capabilities. Users feel Dell Avamar provides tangible ROI benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell Avamar vs. IBM ProtectTIER Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. IBM ProtectTIER

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

Dell Avamar

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

11th

Ranking in Deduplication Software

6th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM ProtectTIER

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

69th

Ranking in Deduplication Software

13th

Average Rating

7.2

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 Dell Avamar is 10.8%, up from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Deduplication Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Dell Avamar	10.8%
IBM ProtectTIER	1.9%
Other	87.3%

Deduplication Software

Featured Reviews

SamuelThomas

Consultant at Key Information Technology L.L.C.

Have supported critical environments despite room for improvement in legacy backup options

It is very efficient in cyber resilience. Deduplication, automation, and everything is very efficient. It is multi-cloud enabled and has broad protections. The software delivers flexible and efficient backup and recovery options through its cyber resiliency features. Dell PowerProtect Manager provides insights in managing backup processes. Its encryption mechanisms are very efficient, helping to secure sensitive data. Its integration with Dell EMC Data Domain is very good. It is easy to integrate with Data Domain. Multi-cloud options are enabled, and backup in cloud options exist in Dell Avamar.

Read full review

Avdhesh Garg

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is very easy when you want to restore back to the original state."

"We love the instant recovery functionality, it's very useful."

"Duplication and the speed of backup are great."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The solution is easy to use and has high performance."

"The installation of the solution is easy."

"The most valuable feature of Avamar would have to be the way it works over needing very little bandwidth to move data across a WAN or LAN."

"We are talking about a complete end-to-end solution which comes with its own hardware storage to back up the data on tape-less."

More Dell Avamar pros

"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable."

"I will highly recommend this product for excellent and quick backup solution in small and large IBM I Series environment."

"The cataloging is the best feature. It takes millions of frames for the backup. It's incremental, so it takes less time to complete."

"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."

"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."

"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."

"The command-line interface is good."

"The most valuable features are the self-service features and the ability to search the data."

More IBM ProtectTIER pros

Cons

"The challenges we do face typically revolve around aligning specific features with our accustomed tool usage."

"The only concern is the cost."

"The configuration and expansion aspects of the solution need improvement. They're complicated and don't really integrate well."

"Desktop-laptop backups and backup over the WAN needs lot of improvisation. For DTLT there must be a provision to push agents from the management console."

"Interfaces need to be improved."

"The product could offer more integration capabilities."

"There are limitations when trying to use this solution with Hyper-V."

More Dell Avamar cons

"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."

"These days, we are thinking about pushing another solution because of the poor support from IBM."

"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."

"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."

"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."

"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 is unmanageable. Support would be good."

"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm not sure, but perhaps the pricing could be done better at the moment."

"Dell EMC needs to lower Avamar's price and add more features to stay competitive."

"Its licensing is weird. It is not just the licenses; we also purchase hardware. With most software products, such as Veeam, Commvault, and Data Protector, there is no hardware purchase at the same time. Because Avamar and Data Domain are tied together, they have an integrated pipe. You can separate them, but basically, they're designed to work as a couple. Because the Data Domain backend is designed to do dedupe and compression, we get 60:1. When you count it, you count it as a straight compression, but of course, that's with dedupe and some other stuff. You have to buy the hardware, the licensing, and the software at the same time. So, it's not just software."

"The price of this product should be lower."

"It's an expensive tool"

"Licensing fees are paid annually."

"Dell Avamar is a moderately priced solution."

"I rate the pricing a seven out of ten because it is expensive."

More Dell Avamar pricing and cost advice

"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."

"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."

"This solution is very expensive."

"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	48

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC Avamar?

The cost is very significant, and it could be lower.

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell Avamar?

Easy to configure and highly reliable for backup.

See all answers

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Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Dell Avamar

Compared 34% of the time

Rubrik vs Dell Avamar

Compared 6% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Dell Avamar

Compared 6% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Dell Avamar

Compared 4% of the time

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs Dell Avamar

Compared 3% of the time

More Dell Avamar Competitors

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 14% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 11% of the time

Barracuda Backup vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 6% of the time

CMIT Data Backup vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 6% of the time

Bacula Enterprise vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM ProtectTIER Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Deduplication Software

March 2026

Download IBM ProtectTIER product report

Also Known As

Avamar

No data available

Overview

Dell Avamar data protection software delivers flexible and efficient backup and recovery operations that can scale from daily backup protection for endpoints to high-performance protection for large enterprises with diverse applications and workloads. With application consistent recovery, automation and fast backup and restores, Avamar can help you meet your SLAs and optimize your backup and recovery processes

If you are deploying all or part of your backup environment to the cloud, Avamar enables you to make the most of your cloud investment, enabling replication, disaster recovery and long-term retention for customers using AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud.

Avamar is available as part of Dell Data Protection Suite, which offers comprehensive data protection software applications and tools. Avamar is delivered as software and as a virtual edition.

Dell Technologies

IBM TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway is designed to meet the disk-based data protection needs of the enterprise data center while enabling significant infrastructure cost reductions. The solution offers industry-leading inline deduplication performance and scalability up to 1 petabyte (PB) of physical storage capacity per system, and can provide up to 25 PB or more backup storage capacity. Combined with IBM or third-party storage, TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway provides a powerful disk-based repository to improve the performance, retention and availability of backup and archive data in a small footprint for energy and cost efficiency.

IBM

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

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. IBM ProtectTIER

March 2026

Free Report: Dell Avamar vs. IBM ProtectTIER

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