Dell Avamar vs NetApp SnapCenter comparison

Dell Technologies and NetApp are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. Dell Technologies is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.1, while NetApp is ranked #53 with an average rating of 7.0. Dell Technologies holds a 2.6% mindshare in BRS, compared to NetApp’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

Dell Avamar

Read 90 Dell Avamar reviews

5,260 Views
4,787 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

NetApp SnapCenter

Read 27 NetApp SnapCenter reviews

1,268 Views
1,192 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell Avamar

NetApp SnapCenter

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Dell Avamar and NetApp SnapCenter are key players in data protection and backup solutions. NetApp SnapCenter has an edge due to its robust feature set and seamless NetApp storage integration.

Features: Dell Avamar is valued for efficient data deduplication, ease of backup management, and user-friendly interface. NetApp SnapCenter provides strong integration with NetApp storage arrays, ability to perform application-consistent backups, and compatibility with varied environments.

Room for Improvement: Dell Avamar needs enhancements in scalability, support for newer technologies, and more detailed documentation. NetApp SnapCenter requires better documentation, streamlined upgrade processes, and improved scalability for large environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell Avamar has straightforward deployment but can be time-consuming, with efficient customer support. NetApp SnapCenter offers straightforward deployment with comprehensive guidance, and responsive, knowledgeable customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Dell Avamar has competitive pricing and users report reasonable ROI, especially with its deduplication feature. Extensive features justify NetApp SnapCenter's higher pricing, providing a strong ROI and better value according to user feedback.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell Avamar vs. NetApp SnapCenter Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. NetApp SnapCenter

September 2025

Download the complete report

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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

7th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (5th)

NetApp SnapCenter

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

53rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell Avamar is 2.6%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp SnapCenter is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Dell Avamar	2.6%
NetApp SnapCenter	0.7%
Other	96.7%

Backup and Recovery

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.

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MervynMorgan

IT Storage Engineer at Unixque Solutions Pty Ltd

Enables us to save data for data projection but could improve its integration with other backup solutions

NetApp SnapCenter is highly efficient because it allows you to automate the creation of snapshots. Instead of manually creating snapshots using IMS or HMS, you can schedule and automate them, specifying the timing and frequency. This eliminates the need for daily manual intervention and streamlines the process. SnapCenter also enables you to assign specific user roles to manage these tasks, enhancing efficiency. SnapCenter ensures that your LPOs and RTOs are extremely quick. Although it may seem expensive initially, after using it for a while, you'll appreciate the efficiencies and gains it provides. I recommend the solution. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

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 a cost-effective solution."

"The solution is very stable."

"The most valuable feature is the virtual backup."

"The function I find most valuable in Dell Avamar is its ability to take differential backups for users. This feature is very effective for both backup and restore operations. We've had multiple cases where we needed to restore files directly from Avamar, and it worked perfectly. The Delta feature, which captures changes in user files, is particularly useful."

"Dell EMC Avamar has many valuable features. It's very stable and it's easy to manage."

"Quick incremental backups and product replication are the two highlights of the product. Once you capture a full backup, incrementals are pretty quick. It is fairly efficient from that perspective."

"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."

"The entire system operates seamlessly, with minimal hands-on involvement, allowing us to focus on monitoring rather than constant adjustments or deployments, as seen in larger, more dynamic environments."

More Dell Avamar pros

"It has very fast backup and can handle a huge amount of data. It also enables really fast recovery."

"The centralized GUI is the best feature, that there is only one webpage where we can see the states of all the backup jobs. We can see all the tasks that are running and we can quickly see if one fails; if they are running or have any issues. We have all that in one place."

"The most valuable feature is that it's centralized. In the old SnapManager days, we had software for each server. Now, with a centralized system, we're able to manage all systems remotely, and all agents remotely, and update them remotely. That's a huge benefit for us."

"Restoring and cloning are easy to do."

"The simplicity of backup and restore directly with VMware is an advantage and the time to backup and restore is reduced."

"What is very handy for our clients is the consolidated view. They have a dashboard with everything, through a single pane of glass. This is what they really need because, within seconds, they can have a good overview and see if there are any errors or any issues."

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"It's integrated with VMware vCenter. You can also see the backups there and you can do a restore completely out of vCenter."

More NetApp SnapCenter pros

Cons

"The interface has room for improvement. It's not ideal right now."

"The user interface still needs to have some level of improvement. It could be more user-friendly and intuitive."

"A benefit would be support for either Azure Cool Storage or AWS Glacier."

"Backup image browse times should be faster."

"The user interface needs to be improved. It's not as good as it could be."

"The support is very bad."

"I think they could also move more towards cloud solutions. It already has some cloud tiering, but I think that could be more extensive. They should work with all cloud providers and I think in the future they will be on all cloud platforms."

"I would like to see better integration with third-party applications and platforms."

More Dell Avamar cons

"When you have role-based access, for example, it's a bit of a problem that the person who creates the backup job is the owner of it. We are struggling a bit with this, that everyone has the same view and the same permissions in there."

"Groups might be helpful for each site or data center so that we know a given data center has these resources while another data center has those resources. It's not always easy to group hosts by type."

"The product lags in terms of availability."

"It needs to support vSphere 6.7."

"The compatibility with other manufacturers, like Oracle and Hyper-V, could be improved. I would like to see it be more compatible with other software."

"My major issue is when I upgrade. I have to touch every last client that I have in SnapCenter, and right now I have 60... They said that in another release that will get better, but right now it's not better and I've had to do this three times."

"I'm waiting for SnapCenter for hybrid solutions. Right now, we only have SnapManager for hybrid. I need agents for that. People are looking to install SnapCenter in a SQL environment, but where they're running SQL on Hyper-V and using virtual files. Currently, we don't have support for hybrid."

"What I did witness lately are issues with some Microsoft KBs, the updates. But it happened only once, and not on a major platform, it was on a small one."

More NetApp SnapCenter cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dell's pricing structure is not overly expensive."

"The cost is high."

"Regarding pricing, I would say Avamar is slightly expensive compared to its functionalities. It's not high-priced or low-priced but somewhere in between."

"I rate the tool's price as a three out of ten if one means expensive and ten means it is a cheaply priced tool."

"There are licensing costs for Dell EMC Avamar and it is paid annually."

"It's an expensive tool"

"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."

"The current pricing is generally satisfactory."

More Dell Avamar pricing and cost advice

"It's free. The license is included with other NetApp products."

"We see a financial value with SnapCenter because we don't have to license Commvault, which is pretty expensive."

"The licensing is well-designed because it's already included in some packages with NetApp storage. Therefore, for most customers, it's okay as the SnapCenter license is already included in some NetApp bundles."

"The product is inexpensive."

"It comes free with the amount of equipment we purchase from NetApp. In terms of pricing, zero is my favorite number."

"Pricing is very good because if you already have NepApp controllers, then it's included."

"The license for SnapCenter was included with the storage array."

"We have a site license, so it comes with the product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

17%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

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	8
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	11

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...

See all answers

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

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp SnapCenter?

The product should be free because it is just software to administrate systems purchased from NetApp, which are already expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp SnapCenter?

The interface usability needs improvement. It should be more user-friendly and easier for customers to use.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NetApp SnapCenter?

I help my customers to install and integrate NetApp SnapCenter ( /products/netapp-snapcenter-reviews ). The solution is used for central consolidation of NetApp ( /products/netapp-41749-reviews ) d...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Dell Avamar

Compared 38% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Dell Avamar

Compared 12% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Dell Avamar

Compared 8% of the time

Rubrik vs Dell Avamar

Compared 7% of the time

Dell NetWorker vs Dell Avamar

Compared 6% of the time

More Dell Avamar Competitors

Synology DSM vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 22% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 14% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 14% of the time

Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 11% of the time

Rubrik vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 11% of the time

More NetApp SnapCenter Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar

October 2025

Download Dell Avamar product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapCenter

September 2025

Download NetApp SnapCenter product report

Also Known As

Avamar

SnapCenter

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

Unified, scalable platform for application-consistent data protection and clone management. This software simplifies backup, restore, and clone lifecycle management with application-integrated workflows.

NetApp

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

All for One Steeb AG, Accenture

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. NetApp SnapCenter

September 2025

Free Report: Dell Avamar vs. NetApp SnapCenter

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Avamar vs. NetApp SnapCenter and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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