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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
8.5
Dell NetWorker reduces expenses and improves efficiency, with 60% ROI for some, though not all experienced financial gains.
Sentiment score
6.8
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is viewed as a competitive, reasonably priced investment with excellent integration and future roadmap visibility.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Dell NetWorker's customer service is praised, but technical support varies, with some users experiencing delays and communication issues.
Sentiment score
7.8
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus support is reliable and efficient, with users praising quick responses, expertise, and comprehensive resources.
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
7.5
Dell NetWorker is praised for scalability and flexibility, despite some upgrade challenges, with generally high ratings from users.
Sentiment score
7.1
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers scalable, flexible data management for various businesses, supporting extensive virtual machines and environments efficiently.
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.
IBM Data Protect is the scalable solution, not IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
The solution does not provide horizontal and vertical scaling.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Dell NetWorker stability varies, with improvements in later versions, and depends on proper implementation and system requirements.
Sentiment score
8.5
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is stable and reliable, managing large environments efficiently, though occasionally needing specialized expertise.
The stability of Dell NetWorker is excellent.
Dell NetWorker is stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Users criticize Dell NetWorker for its complexity, performance issues, limited features, inadequate support, and insufficient integration and documentation.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus needs better integration, user-friendly design, enhanced reporting, cyber resilience, and improved backup and virtualization support.
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.
It does not offer horizontal and vertical scaling.
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.
 

Setup Cost

Dell NetWorker offers complex capacity licensing with varying prices and potential discounts, competitive yet sometimes costly compared to alternatives.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers competitive pricing with various licensing models, often seen as fair compared to alternatives.
The licensing cost is somewhat expensive.
They are fairly expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Dell NetWorker offers automation, broad compatibility, and efficient data protection with user-friendly interface and robust recovery features.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers fast, scalable, multi-platform backup and recovery with integration, cloud support, and user-friendly 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
12th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
84
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
31
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 NetWorker is 2.9%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
 

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...
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?
It is probably based on the number of CPUs. They are fairly expensive.
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
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.
 

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: July 2025.
860,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.