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Dell NetWorker vs OpenText Data Protector comparison

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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell NetWorker
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpenText Data Protector
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
47th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell NetWorker is 1.2%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Data Protector is 1.1%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell NetWorker1.2%
OpenText Data Protector1.1%
Other97.7%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

RaedHassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Specialist Backup/Storage at National Bank of Kuwait
Has supported flexible multi-platform backups and improved over time
Regarding the effectiveness of Dell NetWorker in terms of role-based access controls, I have experience with it, but I find it somewhat lacking in flexibility as it offers limited features, and I would rate it around seven out of ten. It is not that there is something wrong with the role-based access controls in Dell NetWorker, but it lacks many permissions or roles to assign, providing options only for administrator or user. To improve Dell NetWorker for the next release, I recommend enhancing flexibility in the policy, allowing selection of multiple options within the same policy, and addressing issues like the DNS lookup dependency to make it more controllable from Dell NetWorker itself rather than relying on other applications. Looking forward, I would like to see improved policy features and a more enhanced GUI, as it is still slow.
Ahmad-Hassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager And Technical Consultant at EEMC
Provides effective backup for physical servers and needs improvements for cloud compatibility
We use OpenText Data Protector for Oracle database backup and some applications that run for database security OpenText Data Protector is good for physical backup, specifically for physical servers. It is effective for direct backups to EMC library or storage without using a repository. However,…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Support for various operating systems, we use, AIX, Solaris, Linux, VMware, and Windows Excellent deduplication with Data Domain Boost A good user interface, so we can, from a single console, manage the entire backup infrastructure"
"I started off as a storage engineer and ended up owning Dell EMC Data Domain and Dell EMC NetWorker. I've not used any other backup solutions at this scale. Dell EMC NetWorker does what I need it to do, it's efficient."
"The solution is stable."
"When you reach out to your maximum license availability, or you exceed your license limit, NetWorker never stops doing your backups."
"The GUI is user-friendly."
"The initial setup is simple."
"If you need to backup multiple OS platforms, this is the product to purchase."
"Technical support from Dell is excellent."
"The most valuable feature of Data Protector is its integration with VMware."
"The best and biggest improvement for us is that we can rely on the backups it provides."
"Integration with HP storage is a very strong point for Micro Focus Data Protector. It is the best solution for general operations like backup and restore. Zero downtime backup (ZDB) is one very important feature, which is basically the integration with the storage array. It is a very strong feature. We're using storage with snapshots with this integration."
"The installation was simple and provided an easy way to install even on Unix servers. It has excellent features like deduplication."
"It's very easy to use."
"Huge, simply eliminating the need for tape changers returned the cost of the hardware within less than half a year."
"The most valuable feature for us is the central, single pane of glass that allows us to manage our clients without having to log into their systems."
"The initial setup wasn’t that complex, because Data Protector recognized all the tapes automatically, and we could adapt some settings."
 

Cons

"Its console UI should be better. It should also have more out-of-the-box reporting functionalities."
"I haven't had a good experience with technical support. It takes them a very long time to resolve issues."
"I believe that the reporting could be improved and the report templates should be easier to understand and more comprehensive."
"The web console could be a lot better."
"The process of upgrading versions should be improved because as it is now, you have to completely uninstall the old version first, and then install the new version."
"I believe that the area of support could be improved. They don't appear to have an adequate number of staff members to assist us if we have any problems."
"When it comes to the stability of the product, some of the stores that have bad connectivity have some challenges backing them up because they operate remotely, the connection is slow, and it takes longer to manage the backup stuff."
"I would like to see the user interface improved, more documentation, faster support, and it could be easier to configure."
"While technically it's a good product, the technical support is an area that could use a lot of improvement."
"The reporting capabilities of HPE Data Protector are very limited and is the main area I feel that HPE Data Protector needs to improve on."
"Based on a recent conversation, technical support has been working to fix a problem for six months, but still haven’t actually fixed it."
"The operation is not so friendly for new users. The GUI could also use improvement."
"The interface has been the same for many years and needs to be updated."
"Data Protector is great software, but after we started getting support from Micro Focus, it was taking too much time, there was too much delay."
"I'd say that our ROI is bad."
"For me, the main weakness of Data Protector now is the Granular Recovery integrations, as they just don’t work as smoothly as they could."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you purchase Avamar, NetWorker is free with Avamar, for one terabyte license capacity."
"The licensing model can be traditional licensing or capacity-based licensing."
"Licensing is based on the number of terabytes, so you need to purchase packages."
"The price of the solution could be lower, it is expensive."
"The solution follows a subscription model for licensing. We pay annually to use the solution and the price is high."
"The price of the license could be cheaper and it would be a benefit if they came up with a new pricing model. The competitors here in Oman sell universal licensing where a number of virtual machines are hosted at the customer place which can be licensed, or you can license the CPU sockets in those servers. However, NetWorker offers only CPU sockets or overall storage capacity to backup, but there is no universal licensing where you can provide a number of VMs. They should offer more options to stay competitive with other solutions, such as Veeam."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."
"They are not cheap."
"The licensing structure provides cost savings to business."
"In Data Protector, if you need extra features, you need to buy the agents for these features. Some of the features are Terabytes, some of them are agents. There's some complexity in the pricing and licensing."
"The pricing is neither too expensive nor very cheap."
"Avoid using many LTO drives; when using fewer drives, the price will be extremely good."
"It is more affordable compared to other vendors."
"The license for the solution is very expensive compared to the other products in the market."
"The pricing is around $3,000 to $5,000. The charge additionally for support and to scale."
"The product is cheaper than Commvault."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise61
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell NetWorker?
Regarding the pricing of Dell NetWorker, it depends on the deal or negotiation we have with the vendor, making it reasonable, although I cannot make a definitive decision without knowing the specif...
What needs improvement with Dell NetWorker?
Regarding the effectiveness of Dell NetWorker in terms of role-based access controls, I have experience with it, but I find it somewhat lacking in flexibility as it offers limited features, and I w...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus Data Protector?
The solution is expensive as it requires purchasing all features without the option to negotiate based on client numbers, unlike Veeam which offers flexibility in pricing.
What needs improvement with Micro Focus Data Protector?
OpenText Data Protector is not user-friendly, especially for cloud backup. It lacks functions and facilities compared to Veeam, which offers more user-friendliness for virtual machine backups. Ther...
What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Data Protector?
We use OpenText Data Protector ( /products/opentext-data-protector-reviews ) for Oracle database backup and some applications that run for database security.
 

Also Known As

NetWorker
Micro Focus Data Protector, Data Protector, OmniBack, HPE Data Protector
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Republic Bank, Westgate Resorts, Macquire Cloud Services, Shriners, Panatonni, Qatar Islamic Bank, Eurosport
GSK Vaccines, Repsol, Vodafone Group, Siemens AG, Medium Enterprise Transportation Services Company
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell NetWorker vs. OpenText Data Protector and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.