Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs ExaGrid EX Series comparison

Dell Technologies and ExaGrid are both solutions in the Deduplication Software category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while ExaGrid is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.0. Dell Technologies holds a 26.6% mindshare in DS, compared to ExaGrid’s 7.0% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of ExaGrid users who would recommend it.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain

Read 76 Dell PowerProtect Data Domain reviews

10,786 Views
6,148 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

ExaGrid EX Series

Read 7 ExaGrid EX Series reviews

1,801 Views
1,765 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain

ExaGrid EX Series

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2025

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain and ExaGrid EX Series are competing in data backup and recovery solutions. Dell holds a competitive edge in pricing and support, while ExaGrid's advanced features appeal to those prioritizing functionality.

Features: Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is known for its data deduplication efficiency, integration with IT environments, and user-friendly interface. ExaGrid EX Series features a landing zone for quick restores, scalability for large data sets, and enhanced backup processes due to its unique architecture.

Room for Improvement: Dell PowerProtect Data Domain could enhance its scalability options for larger environments, improve speed of data restoration, and offer better pricing transparency. ExaGrid EX Series might benefit from improving its deduplication technology, enhancing customer service response times, and reducing initial setup complexity for smaller organizations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers straightforward deployment, extensive support, and reliable updates for seamless setup. ExaGrid EX Series provides an intuitive deployment experience with a focus on integration ease and responsive customer service for complex organizational needs, simplifying overall setup.

Pricing and ROI: Dell PowerProtect Data Domain offers a cost-efficient setup with appealing ROI through data reduction, providing long-term savings. ExaGrid EX Series, while more expensive at first, provides substantial ROI by reducing backup windows and speeding up restores, adding value for larger-scale operations seeking faster performance.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs. ExaGrid EX Series Report (Updated: November 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs. ExaGrid EX Series

November 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 PowerProtect Data Domain

Ranking in Deduplication Software

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Disk Based Backup Systems (1st)

ExaGrid EX Series

Ranking in Deduplication Software

8th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is 26.6%, down from 29.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExaGrid EX Series is 7.0%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Deduplication Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)	26.6%
ExaGrid EX Series	7.0%
Other	66.4%

Deduplication Software

Featured Reviews

Faisal_Zia

Team Lead of Senior Directors at Net-International

Offers efficient data management with robust features and reliable performance

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) can be improved in terms of price. While Dell is providing a proper device, other solutions, such as Symantec, can replicate their data through any NAS storage. Although their deduplication and compression might not be as effective, they can still accomplish the task. Medium-level and SME-level businesses can easily utilize this feature, but Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is a relatively expensive solution to propose to customers.

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Rastislav Maniak

Partial Owner at Storage One

Improves backup and recovery time and integration with other products is good

The tool reduces storage footprint. However, clients are now storing data for longer durations with increasing requirements to retain backups for longer periods, particularly as a defense against ransomware attacks. As a result, the retention zone with duplicated data is experiencing more demand, leading to space constraints. This necessitates using higher-end, more expensive models to address the issue. I was asking about the mutual appliance, which would provide the same features as the integrated client without the hardware. This would allow it to be used in the public cloud, which I heard might be available soon. However, the private cloud is not reliable.

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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

"The most valuable feature is the performance because you can back up data really quickly."

"The most valuable features of this product are its guaranteed reliability and its duplication capability."

"The most important feature is the level of data compression provided by Dell EMC. It's a leader in data compression and deduplication, and the level of compression isn't available with any other vendors in the market."

"The most valuable features of Dell EMC PowerProtect DD are the duplication security and uptime."

"This is a superior and reliable backup system that can handle large capacities with little management."

"It is a stable solution."

"The integration of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) with leading backup applications within the infrastructure is very good."

"The compression aspect of the solution is great."

More Dell PowerProtect Data Domain pros

"One of the main features is the landing zone, it is a particular space where the information is not duplicated."

"It is a solid and a quite simple solution, which is a good combination. The customers like the simplicity and its scale-out capacity. They like the support pricing, and even the extension capacity pricing, a fixed price, which the executive is offering in Czech market."

"The most valuable features of the solution are deduplication and landing zone."

"The solution easily integrates with the backup targets, such as Veeam."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of use and data deduplication. It's extremely easy to use and does a very good job of data deduplication and compression."

"The tool has improved backup and recovery times. One of the key features contributing to this improvement is the landing zone and deduplication retention zone. When data is in the landing zone, the process is fast, ensuring smooth backup and recovery operations at high speeds. However, the process becomes slower for long-term backups moved to the retention zone due to fragmentation. So, if the data is older than a few days, the speed may be limited, especially for non-deduplicated data in the landing zone."

"ExaGrid EX Series and Veeam was easy to set up, and it worked seamlessly."

Cons

"I would like to see integration with public cloud."

"The model 3330 may need improvement."

"Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is expensive. Also, it has a sort of a big physical footprint that data domains have, and that's part of the problem."

"It could be more secure."

"They should reduce the CPC cost to customers. The product is becoming very expensive."

"Technical support needs improvement."

"We have had deduplication and replication issues. When we used another backup software we noticed that it didn't have the same issues."

"The only problem is that it's more expensive than any other vendors available in the market."

More Dell PowerProtect Data Domain cons

"When speaking about a scale-out, you want to have better equipment. You cannot just add a disc to the foreign equipment. You have to buy another one and put it together, like parallel."

"The product's documentation can be made more precise."

"The tool reduces storage footprint. However, clients are now storing data for longer durations with increasing requirements to retain backups for longer periods, particularly as a defense against ransomware attacks. As a result, the retention zone with duplicated data is experiencing more demand, leading to space constraints. This necessitates using higher-end, more expensive models to address the issue."

"The solution could improve by switching to a flash-type solution rather than the spinning drives that they currently use. However, we have not had any failure with the spinning drives. The flash-type drives are more up-to-date and are something that is in their roadmap."

"I would like for them to develop direct cloud integration with a third-party cloud. Direct integration with AWS and other cloud providers."

"The one place where we are sometimes losing the opportunity with ExaGrid is that a few customers still require a fiber channel connectivity, which is not always possible."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is really high compared to other vendors. The licensing cost is huge. Normal, mid-tier companies or small-scale companies wouldn't be able to afford it easily."

"The price of the solution and support for Dell PowerProtect DD is expensive. We have customers that cannot upgrade to a newer version of the solution because the support is too expensive."

"The cheaper device costs around $70,000."

"It is expensive, but the performance and deduplication cover for the cost."

"The solution is expensive. However, if you pay less you receive less, it is cost-effective."

"The price may be a bit higher than other products in the market, but you will receive ten out of ten support with next-business-day delivery on parts' availability."

"Pricing is related to size. A lower range solution might be about $33,000. My customers use higher range versions with a price of around $100,000. That's the price for both the hardware and software."

"If we do not move to the cloud solution and stay with our on-premise version we will miss some new features."

More Dell PowerProtect Data Domain pricing and cost advice

"The previous solutions I have used both included the Backup Software and the Appliance making it hard to compare to this solution. However, overall the solution is reasonably priced for the features you receive. ExaGrid EX Series is priced better than HP, Dell, and possibly Commvault which I have compared in the past."

"The current agreement has 21 terabytes of free space and it cost approximately $35,000."

"I rate ExaGrid EX Series' pricing eight to nine out of ten."

"My company had to pay 1,60,000 EUR for the system we use, and the payment was made just once for the system and five years of full support."

"In comparison to other solutions, it's affordable. They're all too expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	32
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	32

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is an integrated backup appliance-based solution, and our installed base in Pakistan is substantial. We possess high expertise in both pre-sales and post-sales ac...

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What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?

The product, a disk backup solution, improves our data application tasks. We used tape libraries with Dev drives in legacy architectures, resulting in slow backups compared to modern drives like NV...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)'s licensing cost was excellent in 2023, but after 2023, the operating environment licensing cost is huge. It is almost four times the earlier price.

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What do you like most about ExaGrid EX Series?

The tool has improved backup and recovery times. One of the key features contributing to this improvement is the landing zone and deduplication retention zone. When data is in the landing zone, the...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExaGrid EX Series?

I rate ExaGrid EX Series' pricing eight to nine out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ExaGrid EX Series?

Everything can always be better, so I would give it a nine.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 24% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Dell PowerProtect Data Domain

Compared 7% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Dell PowerProtect Data Domain

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Storage Protect vs Dell PowerProtect Data Domain

Compared 4% of the time

More Dell PowerProtect Data Domain Competitors

HPE StoreOnce vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 18% of the time

Quantum DXi Series vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 15% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 7% of the time

Veritas NetBackup Appliance vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 7% of the time

DD Boost vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 4% of the time

More ExaGrid EX Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain

November 2025

Download Dell PowerProtect Data Domain product report

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series

November 2025

Download ExaGrid EX Series product report

Also Known As

DataDomain, Dell EMC Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain

EX Series

Overview

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain ranks as the #1 Purpose-Built Backup Appliance. Known for its exceptional cyber resilience, it integrates well into any size organization's on-premises environment, optimizing data protection for traditional and modern workloads like AI and containers.

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain stands out with its patented data services, providing powerful protection and operational simplicity. By enabling seamless integration with a wide range of backup applications, it ensures efficient data management. Its flash and disk-based appliances support cost-effective operations with secure storage capabilities. Along with integration with cloud services, it assures excellent data handling and recovery performance for enterprises.

What are the key features of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain?

Deduplication: Reduces data volume to save storage space.
Data Domain Boost: Enhances backup speed and efficiency.
Compression: Optimizes storage capacity and performance.
Cloud Integration: Supports backup to and from cloud services.
Security Measures: Provides data protection with high security standards.

What benefits should users consider when evaluating Dell PowerProtect Data Domain?

Reliability: Ensures data availability and system dependability.
Scalability: Adapts to the growing data needs of enterprises.
Compatibility: Works seamlessly with major backup software.
User-friendly Setup: Facilitates easy management and use.
Cost-effectiveness: Lower storage costs due to data reduction technologies.

Organizations across the financial, enterprise, and governmental sectors leverage Dell PowerProtect Data Domain for secure data backup and deduplication. It is essential in environments requiring data archiving and critical workload protection. With applications like Veeam, NetWorker, and Avamar, these appliances support both on-premises and cloud deployments, ensuring business continuity through effective disaster recovery strategies.

Dell Technologies

The ExaGrid EX Series hyper-converged secondary storage for backup product line consists of eight appliance models. Each appliance is sized for a full backup and for long-term retention. Any ExaGrid appliance can be mixed and matched in the same scale-out system with any other size or age appliance, allowing customers to buy what they need as they need it. This pay-as-you-grow model allows up to 25 appliances in a single scale-out system.

ExaGrid

Sample Customers

The US Army, City of Houston, Lloyds TSB, TiVo, Teck, Ingram Entertainment, The New York Mets

NCI Group, North Attleborough Public School, North Kingstown School Department, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Rathbone Brothers PLC, Rio Hondo College, Ruder Finn, Sarah Lawrence College

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs. ExaGrid EX Series

November 2025

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