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Dell NetWorker vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.8
Dell NetWorker enhances efficiency and savings, minimizing expenses, and proving valuable despite limited financial insight among some users.
Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers competitive pricing and integration benefits, achieving mixed ROI within two to three years.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
Dell NetWorker support is responsive and friendly, but expertise and resolution timeliness vary, with better higher-level assistance.
Sentiment score
4.4
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus support is mostly praised for efficiency, though complex cases sometimes encounter delays and challenges.
quick responses whenever we log a complaint
Technical support from Dell is excellent.
They are very responsive and helpful.
Their documentation, runbooks, troubleshooting articles, and support people are good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Dell NetWorker scalability experiences vary; some praise its enterprise scalability, while others face challenges with licensing and configurations.
Sentiment score
6.3
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers scalability for enterprises, supporting storage expansion and workload adjustments despite some infrastructure challenges.
While the solution is scalable, the cost involved in upgrading or enhancing the solution can be significant.
Dell NetWorker is very scalable and flexible, deserving a high rating for its scalability.
It is scalable enough for our environment.
The solution does not provide horizontal and vertical scaling.
IBM Data Protect is the scalable solution, not IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Dell NetWorker's stability varies by setup; newer versions and best practices improve reliability despite initial version issues.
Sentiment score
7.0
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is stable and reliable, handling heavy loads well, but may occasionally require repeated backup restorations.
The stability of Dell NetWorker is excellent.
Dell NetWorker is stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Dell NetWorker needs user-friendly improvements, better cloud integration, enhanced support, and automation features to address user dissatisfaction.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus needs integration, interface, automation, and security improvements, alongside enhanced installation, support, and data protection features.
The interface on the Java application makes it difficult, whereas the web interface is simple to use.
To connect to a server, it's necessary to install a client on the server, which is challenging.
It is complex, and compared to solutions like Tivoli, Veritas, Veeam, and others, its look and feel are not up to par.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could be made more lightweight and user-friendly in terms of GUI features to make it closer to a perfect score.
I used IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, but IBM is now replacing it with IBM Data Protect, which is a giant product now in common development with a well-known company in backup solutions.
It does not offer horizontal and vertical scaling.
 

Setup Cost

Dell NetWorker is mid-range priced but has complex licensing; bundling offers savings despite newer competitive options.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers strong value with scalable pricing, though some find it expensive for corporate use.
The licensing cost is somewhat expensive.
They are fairly expensive.
Pricing is good; it is reasonable and more reasonable than any other vendors.
 

Valuable Features

Dell NetWorker offers efficient data protection with automation, scalability, user-friendly GUI, and integration with diverse systems and applications.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is praised for its integration, ease of use, scalability, and robust disaster recovery features.
Dell NetWorker is versatile, allowing server backups and IBM tape library backups.
The new deduplication feature helps significantly with data compression and saves disk space by using pointers for repeated data, improving backup speed.
I find NetWorker valuable for its wide range of automation features, including replication and data processing systems.
The biggest benefit of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is that it's an agentless backup product which is very easy to configure and use.
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell NetWorker
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
85
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
25th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell NetWorker is 2.3%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell NetWorker2.3%
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus0.9%
Other96.8%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

ErmiasGirma - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers seamless integration and cost-saving benefits with enhanced recovery capabilities
Currently, in my organization, I am using Dell NetWorker for open-source solutions like PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, and some large VM environments. It also supports the Dell library and is used for the library archiving system Dell NetWorker allows for extensive customization, supporting…
Atif Najam - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables organizations to make large-scale recoveries easily, but the security must be improved
The security must be improved. We face a lot of cyber threats like ransomware. It impacts data availability and protection. The tool must provide a mechanism to make resilient backups. The tool must ensure that the recent backups have no ransomware. The backup must be immutable. They must be cyber-resilient backups. Finding a good resource person for IBM Spectrum in Pakistan is difficult. We have to rely on the support team. Resource availability is a challenge.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise37
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
 

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 NetWorker?
The feature that offers the greatest benefits in ensuring data integrity is its backup capability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell NetWorker?
The licensing cost is somewhat expensive. While we use a traditional license, there is a capacity-based license available, but our customer is not comfortable switching to it. A five to seven perce...
What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that the product works and helps with restoration areas whenever there is a need to restore something.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
Pricing is good; it is reasonable and more reasonable than any other vendors.
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
Technical support could be improved significantly. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could be made more lightweight and user-friendly in terms of GUI features to make it closer to a perfect score.
 

Also Known As

NetWorker
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Republic Bank, Westgate Resorts, Macquire Cloud Services, Shriners, Panatonni, Qatar Islamic Bank, Eurosport
PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell NetWorker vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.