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 8.3, while NetApp is ranked #50 with an average rating of 7.5. Dell Technologies holds a 3.3% mindshare in BRS, compared to NetApp’s 0.6% 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 89 Dell Avamar reviews

5,970 Views
4,238 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

NetApp SnapCenter

Read 27 NetApp SnapCenter reviews

1,151 Views
639 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: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. NetApp SnapCenter

June 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

Dell Avamar

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

7th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (5th)

NetApp SnapCenter

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

50th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell Avamar is 3.3%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp SnapCenter is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Ayodeji Oyewole

Managing Director at Atlantic factorial

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…

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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

"The installation process is pretty straightforward."

"The stability is okay."

"The performance of Dell EMC Avamar is good."

"The deduplication feature is the best aspect of the solution."

"It is one of the best solutions for backing up Oracle and other servers."

"The backup is the solution's most valuable feature. It's very reliable."

"Graphically, it's very user interactive. It's got a very nice interface."

"What I found valuable in Dell Avamar is the deduplication feature. I also like that the solution can be integrated with Data Domain."

More Dell Avamar pros

"The support from NetApp is very good, and I would rate it as ten points."

"The backup features are the most valuable because they allow the DBAs to replace SnapManager for Oracle (SMO), which is going away, and to do cloning as well. We can also clone to different servers and have the actual backup clone mounted on different servers. And we can split easily too."

"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."

"It's very helpful because SnapCenter is already integrated with VMware Snapshot, so it's very easy to use."

"The central pane view is the most valuable feature. You have one console where you can monitor all your jobs, as opposed to going to different vCenters."

"The way that it interconnects with VMware is really handy, because you can go right into your vSphere client, where you spend a lot of the day anyway, right-click on one of the VMs where you have backups running for however long, and you can restore either some files or restore the entire thing."

"The backup process finishes very quickly."

"The main advantage is its fast backup and restore."

More NetApp SnapCenter pros

Cons

"Setting up Avamar wasn't so easy, and we had a partner doing the installation for us. Though it was hard at first, it's getting better. The main difficulty was finding plugins for Oracle Database. It took some time to open a ticket with Dell, but everything was fine after that."

"The UI is not easy to use. There are other products such as Veeam that are easy to use for the end-user which is why they are moving away from Avamar or Networker."

"It would be helpful if there was cloud support."

"Dell EMC Avamar is a very complex product. It took a lot of time for the IT admins to get trained on how to use it. It is not very user-friendly, and we won't be using Avamar anymore. It needs a lot of improvement in terms of how the backups have been configured, and the reporting is too complex."

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

"The UI is quite old. We've been using this UI since last year, and they haven't changed it. It would be better to update the UI periodically and create attractive dashboards from an administrative point of view."

"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."

"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."

More Dell Avamar cons

"Some of the minor functionalities from SnapManager did not transfer over to SnapCenter. These should be added in future releases."

"The product lags in terms of availability."

"The replication feature needs improvement in future releases."

"I feel a little bit that during the whole process of putting this software into production we were like a beta program. It was full of bugs... For example, we had a problem with truncating our Exchange log files... It has improved over time."

"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."

"The UI, the User Interface, needs to be improved. It's not as clean or modern as it could be."

"We have experience some difficulties with our current support. We are engaging in engineering level support because some of our problems are more technical."

"Plugins should be developed in shorter times. Performance generally could be a little bit faster."

More NetApp SnapCenter cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are paid annually."

"The price of this product should be lower."

"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."

"It is very expensive. It's a trust based licensing. So that's an ethical challenge."

"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."

"It is expensive. Its cost is the main thing."

"Its price should be reduced. It would be good if you could pay as per usage, and there is a subscription model like VMware. There should be some flexibility because sometimes, the customer only uses the backup for one month or three months. Currently, I have to pay whether I use it or not. Its licensing should be flexible and based on consumption."

"The price is fair."

More Dell Avamar pricing and cost advice

"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."

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

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

"The product is inexpensive."

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

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

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

19%

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

Government

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...

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.

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What do you like most about Dell Avamar?

Easy to configure and highly reliable for backup.

See all answers

What do you like most about NetApp SnapCenter?

Most banks and financial institutions use the solution.

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

Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Dell Avamar

Compared 34% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Dell Avamar

Compared 15% of the time

Dell NetWorker vs Dell Avamar

Compared 9% of the time

Rubrik vs Dell Avamar

Compared 6% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Dell Avamar

Compared 6% of the time

More Dell Avamar Competitors

Synology DSM vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 26% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 17% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 14% of the time

Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 8% of the time

Cohesity DataProtect vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 8% of the time

More NetApp SnapCenter Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar

June 2025

Download Dell Avamar product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapCenter

May 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

June 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: June 2025.

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