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Dell NetWorker vs IBM Storage Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2025

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 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 Storage Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
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 Storage Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.1% 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 Storage Protect2.2%
Other95.5%
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…
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Anybody could drive the GUI."
"The initial setup is simple."
"Dell's technical support are quite helpful with straightforward issues."
"I like that it's stable and scalable."
"If it's set up the right way, it's a stable product."
"Once the scheduler is configured, backups proceed without any interruption."
"Dell NetWorker is easy to install, configure, and operate."
"Dell NetWorker allows for extensive customization, supporting various open-source databases like PostgreSQL."
"Traditional archiving. One of our revenue streams involves maintaining archives of our customers' data for very long periods of time."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is application-aware backups."
"With the new features that we have added, it has made a difference as far as faster recovery and speed."
"The most valuable features are the stability and also how it's seamlessly integrated with other IBM offerings."
"We can use it with any storage for the back-end to save data."
"One of the features which is most interesting in Spectrum Protect is the ability to scale out to great environments. This is something that not many vendors have on the market."
"The components of IBM Spectrum Protect explain how the data is protected. The administration is very easy, and the vertical migration is intuitive."
"The addition of the retention set feature provides a reduction in storage costs. It also reduces RTO and RPO so that you can respond quickly to your clients and services in case of data loss."
 

Cons

"Reporting and support for this product need to be improved. There are multiple bugs that need to be fixed."
"The user interface of this solution could be improved. It is not user friendly and is difficult to understand for new users. New users struggle to understand the logic."
"We have faced problems with the initial configuration of the solution."
"Reporting templates could be easier to understand and more comprehensive."
"We encountered challenges during the solution's deployment, particularly integrating our database system and Microsoft Exchange. This area needs improvement."
"Could have a better recovery system."
"When you're working with VMware, you need to use vProxy machines. You have to install the vProxy for every host in the VMware environment."
"The data storage capabilities should be improved."
"Customers have migrated off of it because of its lack of virtual environment functions."
"Integration with some applications in the healthcare field could be added, as that is a big part of our business."
"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 Hyper-V and SQL Server backup could be improved. In the 2016 version there was a significant improvement, but I think IBM has a big challenge with these technologies."
"It can be improved for large file systems with many files. Spectrum Protect can restore large files very well, but if you're restoring millions of little files, it is not as great. At one point, we tried to implement the VMware module with it, and it was awful and terrible. I don't know if that has improved. If it hasn't, this would be one big improvement."
"The solution is expensive."
"Better integration with other tools and databases is needed."
"It is not easy to manage like other products in the market. It is okay only if you are command-line driven. Even though the operation center is there, it doesn't provide a single view of everything. You have to, for example, use TSMManager on top of it, which gives you a far better management capability, but it is a third-party product. Its management needs to be improved. There should be an HTML or graphical interface. It is a very difficult product. For example, you have a backup policy where you want a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly policy standard. It is an old kind of system where you have to keep retention for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly backups, which is very difficult in IBM Spectrum Protect. In other products, in a matter of five minutes, you can configure such a policy. In TSM, it takes you one, two, or three days because you need to configure a node for each of them. If you have 250 nodes, you have to configure each node for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly retention. If you have 1,000 nodes, it is going to take you ages just to configure and register the nodes. You need to configure the schedule and the CAD daemons or services, depending on whether it is a Unix or Windows OS. Unfortunately, it is a very long and drawn-out process. You have to stop and start the services for changes to take effect. This is a very difficult part of TSM in IBM Spectrum Protect. To configure a backup policy, I should be able to select the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly options in one screen and finish it. After that, everything should happen in the background. All the backup products in the market already do that, and they are very simple to manage. This particular part of this solution has really been a major pain area for us, and unfortunately, we could not find a workaround. There is nobody at IBM who can give us a way to configure all this easily through a GUI or even scripts."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They are not cheap."
"The pricing of this solution is very good."
"We use a license without a time term. We just need to buy additional support when needed."
"Licensing is based on the number of terabytes, so you need to purchase packages."
"Dell NetWorker is an expensive solution. None of the backup products are cheap. The licensing model offered is usually a five-year one."
"The pricing of the solution is not the cheapest compared to other similar solutions. The Networker is available as a component of the Dell EMC Data Protection Suite package and it should have the ability to be purchased separately."
"If you purchase Avamar, NetWorker is free with Avamar, for one terabyte license capacity."
"The solution follows a subscription model for licensing. We pay annually to use the solution and the price is high."
"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."
"There may be an advantage to going with IBM in terms of pricing. They have a pay-as-you-grow policy, so there is no need to take one license for the entire datacenter. You can start with small licenses and then grow, and pay, as you use more."
"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."
"It's very complicated. Licensing is a pain."
"IBM Storage Protect is not expensive and fits the needs of all business types. The licensing is based on a capacity-based model. You can take a license for one, two, or three terabytes."
"We are paying for support and maintenance on a monthly basis."
"The different license models can give good benefits to the end customer."
"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive and there is only a standard licensing fee."
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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
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
 

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 Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise94
 

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 Storage Protect?
The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will continue to use in the future.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is generally an expensive tool. However, with good contracts with IBM or its partners, the cost might not be so high. New customers can expect very high prices.
What needs improvement with IBM Storage 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...
 

Also Known As

NetWorker
IBM Spectrum Discover
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Republic Bank, Westgate Resorts, Macquire Cloud Services, Shriners, Panatonni, Qatar Islamic Bank, Eurosport
CEMEX
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell NetWorker vs. IBM Storage Protect and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.