Dell Avamar vs IBM Spectrum Protect comparison

Dell Technologies and IBM are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. Dell Technologies is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3, while IBM is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.3. Dell Technologies holds a 3.2% mindshare in BRS, compared to IBM’s 2.2% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Dell Avamar

Read 89 Dell Avamar reviews

6,178 Views
5,560 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect

Read 149 IBM Spectrum Protect reviews

3,978 Views
3,421 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Dell Avamar

IBM Spectrum Protect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM Spectrum Protect and Dell Avamar both offer robust data protection and backup solutions. Users tend to prefer IBM Spectrum Protect for pricing and support, but Dell Avamar is favored for its advanced features, making it a strong choice for handling large data sets.

Features: IBM Spectrum Protect users note its scalability, comprehensive data protection, and reliable backup capabilities. Dell Avamar is recognized for its efficient deduplication, seamless integration with existing systems, and superior handling of large data sets.

Room for Improvement: IBM Spectrum Protect users suggest enhancements in reporting capabilities, performance during peak loads, and user interface. Dell Avamar users recommend better support for cloud environments, enhanced user experience, and streamlined update processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Spectrum Protect has a relatively complex deployment process but offers strong customer support. Dell Avamar is easier to deploy and has responsive customer service, giving it an edge in deployment.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Protect offers competitive setup costs and a favorable ROI over time. Dell Avamar has higher setup costs, but its advanced features justify the investment for many users.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell Avamar vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. IBM Spectrum Protect

July 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)

IBM Spectrum Protect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

149

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell Avamar is 3.2%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.2% 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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Syed Habib

Head of Infrastructure Security (S.A.V.P) at EXIM Bank Ltd

Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking

It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I have found the product to be scalable."

"The most valuable feature for me is the backup functionality."

"So far, Avamar covers everything we want. We are replicating to other sites for disaster recovery, so it's working well for us."

"The data reduction feature and the ease of enabling a server in a DR location are the most valuable."

"Avamar has long been the best in its class, but that's changing as new solutions emerge. However, Dell has traditionally been a leader in deduplication and compression. Avamar enabled us to shift data from on-premise local appliances to data centers and multi-tenant infrastructure. That's a powerful feature. because customers can back up to the cloud without upgrading o high-capacity links or congesting their backups."

"The most valuable features are scalability and integration."

"Duplication and the speed of backup are great."

"Avamar's source side deduplication is very strong, it can easily back up remote sites' data, and not much bandwidth is required on the Avamar side."

More Dell Avamar pros

"Scalability is pretty much unlimited."

"Its flexibility is valuable. It is a very flexible solution. There are always more ways than one to do something. It is a software solution, which means you can buy your own hardware and expand it whenever you want. You are not boxed in or locked into something you've bought and outgrown. You can always expand it."

"Every time we go and try to get a file, we can get it. Restores are quick and the data is always there."

"The archiving feature is the most valuable aspect of the solution."

"Performance and recoveries are better. Our clients and customers are happier with the performance of it."

"We optimize our costs of media and storage use, thanks to the Incremental Forever backup. The TDP software provides us many ways to protect our data, so we don't need to use monstrous scripts for doing backups now."

"It's a very stable product, and we've never had any downtime with it."

"The scalability of IBM Spectrum Protect is good."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

Cons

"This solution could improve by introducing daily verifications and another repository."

"The client caches and deduplication system have a few problems."

"Avamar is not the best tool when it comes to taking Azure backups. Like Commvault, if Avamar can support VM-level backups for the cloud, that would make it a bit better."

"There also needs to be single sign-on support."

"It would be helpful if the product offered more integration potential."

"The solution, in the future, should offer support for mobile."

"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 management of this solution is a little bit difficult for IT administrators. They have to be trained before going through the system."

More Dell Avamar cons

"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."

"There have been some sizing issues now, and we are dealing with those."

"It does what we need it to do, but it could be better with VM backups. It could be better integrated with virtual machines or VM backups, but that's why they have their Plus out now. Plus version is more geared toward VM backups. The regular version is more for endpoint clients."

"They do not have a unified GUI, they only work on CLI and operations center, which is really complicated for the installation and configuration."

"The solution's ability to integrate with a cloud solution is one area that needs improvement."

"For the database side, it does not have object level recovery."

"This product comes up against other products available that are marketed better but the other products that it's in competition with are a single product and this is one of IBM products. If it could be marketed as more for competitors I think that's where it comes short."

"Its price can be better. It is very expensive. Its interface is very old and not user friendly. They can improve its interface. Their support can also be better. My clients are not very satisfied with the support because they are not really quick."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

"On a scale of one to five, I would rate the pricing policy of Dell Avamar as five. The solution has a very good price, and a lot of improvements were done to it."

"The price is fair."

"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."

"There is a license required for this solution."

More Dell Avamar pricing and cost advice

"The different license models can give good benefits to the end customer."

"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective."

"Customers need to pay for licensing in order to use IBM Spectrum Protect. The customers that have been using it for a long time are okay and happy with it. From a cost point of view, it's better for them to renew their licenses than to go through the difficult process of changing a backup product in their environment, and migrate from one product to another."

"We have been at our size for a few years. We are not really looking to battle the licensing costs, as this is our primary system."

"IBM Spectrum Protect can be considered an averagely-priced product."

"Licensing IBM Spectrum Protect can be somewhat confusing for new users due to the options available, such as licensing on a capacity or per server basis."

"Spectrum Protect is not a cheap option."

"Going to IBM Tech University Conference saved me from making a major purchase of the wrong thing, which was very helpful."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Educational Organization

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...

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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.

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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 IBM Spectrum Protect?

IBM Spectrum Protect is stable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect?

It's expensive. I acknowledge the cost associated with it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?

One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past. There is a need for additional layers of security to fill the gaps, which is wh...

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

Commvault Cloud vs Dell Avamar

Compared 6% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs Dell Avamar

Compared 6% of the time

More Dell Avamar Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 16% of the time

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 15% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 12% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Protect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar

July 2025

Download Dell Avamar product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect

July 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect product report

Also Known As

Avamar

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

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 Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) is a data protection platform that gives enterprises a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery. It is the flagship product in the IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) family. It enables reliable, cost effective backups and fast recovery for virtual, physical and cloud environments of all sizes.

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

CERN, Einstein Healthcare, Nyherji, Allianz Australia, TZM, ABT Online, NCT, Kindred Healthcare Inc., Cobalt Iron, TransGrid, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Cash America, Piedmont Healthcare, RWGV, Arkansas Tech University, British Columbia Institute of Technology

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. IBM Spectrum Protect

July 2025

Free Report: Dell Avamar vs. IBM Spectrum Protect

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Avamar vs. IBM Spectrum Protect and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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