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Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs N2W comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 2025

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
4.7
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers cost-effective performance but doesn't outperform Cohesity or Veeam in financial returns for all users.
Sentiment score
2.2
<p>N2WS Backup &amp; Recovery users saved time and money, improved efficiency, reduced downtime, and achieved better data protection and ROI.</p>
I would recommend Dell PowerProtect Data Manager to other organizations because it is cost-effective and delivers good performance compared to alternative solutions.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
I do find that with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, the ROI is good when compared to other Dell products, but when compared to others in the current market, such as Cohesity or Veeam, it is not as good.
Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
In my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing, I have seen a return on investment as there are definitely fewer employees required to manage the backups, and there is definitely a major time save due to the single pane of glass.
Sr. Manager Data Protection at Epsilon
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.9
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager support is generally good but uneven, with room for improvement in responsiveness and local accessibility.
Sentiment score
4.1
N2W's customer service is praised for promptness, expertise, and proactive problem-solving, making them a valued partner for users.
Dell provides reliable support for PowerProtect Data Manager, with 24/7 availability and a qualified support team.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Delays in feedback and scheduling can affect interactions, but generally, support provides good solutions once engaged.
System Engineer at Konvergenz
Organizations considering Dell PowerProtect Data Manager should be aware that customer support responsiveness could be improved.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Their support is amazing. They get back to you in a timely manner and work with you.
Sr. Manager Data Protection at Epsilon
We would rate the customer support of N2W a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10, as they are very easily accessible, friendly, and absolutely knowledgeable.
Director of Information Technology & Customer Success at Maplewave
Customer support for N2W is excellent, as they are able to answer quickly.
Director, Cloud Infrastructure and Systems Operations at d1g1t Inc.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.5
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is scalable with licensing flexibility but faces cloud scalability and disaster recovery limitations.
Sentiment score
3.8
N2W effectively manages AWS accounts and instances, ensuring seamless scaling and reliable backup without performance issues for growing needs.
Its capability to back up existing environments can be improved, particularly when it comes to disaster recovery in the cloud.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager performs well from a scalability perspective and is functioning properly with our current implementation.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is stable and efficient, though some experience connection issues and minor bugs during upgrades.
Sentiment score
5.4
N2W is highly stable, with no downtime, exceptional cloud resource use, and consistent nine out of ten ratings.
It is extremely reliable and I have never experienced a crash.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Making sure the system is properly understood before deployment and handling upgrades efficiently would improve stability.
System Engineer at Konvergenz
I would assess the stability and reliability of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager as quite stable; there are no issues with the workloads I am using.
Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager needs integration, compatibility enhancements, improved UI, better support, and advanced features for modern infrastructures.
N2W requires UI, documentation, and functionality upgrades with enhanced automation, multicloud support, and comprehensive AWS integration.
I would like to see improvements that include bare metal restore capabilities and enhanced data restore features in Dell PowerProtect Data Manager.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Enhancements for microservices and container backups would be beneficial, enabling a more consolidated management platform for modern architectures.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
The main issue that needs improvement is the support system.
System Engineer at Konvergenz
Adding an 'auto-delete after X days' option to manual backups, similar to scheduled policies, would be a fantastic addition for cost management and general housekeeping.
Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
An automated account enrollment or bulk import feature integrated with AWS Organizations or Control Tower would save significant time and reduce administrative overhead.
VP, Solutions Architecture at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Improved disaster recovery options and expanded multicloud support are two areas where N2WS has already made significant advancements in the latest version.
Cloud Manager at St. John's University
 

Setup Cost

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers competitive, flexible pricing options, seen as cost-effective despite some viewing it as slightly expensive.
Enterprise buyers appreciate N2W's competitive pricing, flexibility, and ROI, with easy AWS Marketplace purchases and praised usability.
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is cost-effective, as it is licensed per socket rather than by workload.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Overall, pricing does not significantly impact our decision.
Business Development Manager at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
compared to some other products, it is a bit more costly.
Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Pricing can increase as backup volumes grow, so it is important to balance the level of protection with cost-optimization strategies such as tiering snapshots to S3 or Glacier.
Platform Engineer at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
While N2W is a paid product, the cost is easily justified by the significant reduction in engineering hours spent on managing and troubleshooting custom backup scripts.
Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
I believe N2WS offers a highly competitive pricing model, delivering excellent value.
Cloud Manager at St. John's University
 

Valuable Features

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers flexible, user-friendly, and secure data protection for container and virtual environments with strong integration capabilities.
Users value ease of use, speed, cost efficiency, centralized management, and intuitive interfaces in backup and recovery features.
It provides a seamless backup solution integrated with a dashboard full of capabilities, enhancing recovery point objectives and recovery time objectives.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
It satisfies my customers' scalability needs and provides interactive features, allowing efficient integration.
System Engineer at Konvergenz
Compared to other products such as Veritas, Dell offers more competitive pricing while other vendors charge significantly more.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Lifecycle management and automated transitions to lower-cost storage tiers have been instrumental in optimizing costs while meeting compliance and retention requirements.
Cloud Manager at St. John's University
We had a ransomware event in 2023, and we were able to recover every machine with minimal effort.
IT Operations Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The ability to define backup schedules, retention periods, and disaster recovery policies and have them apply automatically based on resource tags scales perfectly with our environment and enforces a consistent data protection strategy across the organization.
Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (6th)
N2W
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
8th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (6th), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is 2.6%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N2W is 0.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
N2W0.6%
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager2.6%
Other96.8%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

MinaMagdy1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Comprehensive integration and user-friendly dashboard enhance data protection workflows
PowerProtect Data Manager lacks the tape-out functionality, which is important for organizations relying on it for offsite backup. While PowerProtect Data Manager offers a workaround, it's not always accepted, notably by sectors like banking. Additionally, I would like PowerProtect Data Manager to provide microservices and container backup for modern applications.
reviewer2757345 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Automation has transformed our backup process and validated our disaster recovery strategy
While the product is excellent, there are a couple of areas for potential improvement. The process for version upgrades, which sometimes requires deploying a new instance, could be streamlined to allow for a more seamless in-place update. It would be extremely useful to have the ability to set a retention period on manual backups. Occasionally, we take a manual snapshot before a major deployment, and currently, these can be forgotten, leading to unnecessary storage costs. Adding an 'auto-delete after X days' option to manual backups, similar to scheduled policies, would be a fantastic addition for cost management and general housekeeping. The EKS backup module should be a great feature, and it would have been a useful functionality to have for cluster backup management.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
8%
Government
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?
One notable feature is its robust backup support for Kubernetes and container environments. Additionally, PPDM stands out for its ease of deployment and management compared to other backup solution...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?
I think the license for Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is the same as other backup software.
What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?
Regarding data recovery improvements in Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, there are challenges with data sets larger than one terabyte that are not related to VM. While VM recovery functions adequate...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for N2WS Backup & Recovery?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is smooth, as I have not faced any issues while spinning up the instance from the marketplace, and the documentation is very comprehensive.
What needs improvement with N2WS Backup & Recovery?
The EKS environment solution could be improved.
What is your primary use case for N2WS Backup & Recovery?
Backup and snapshots. Before implementing a dedicated cloud-native solution, our primary pain point was the fragmented and manual nature of our data protection strategy. We were relying on a patchw...
 

Also Known As

PowerProtect, Dell EMC PowerProtect
N2WS Backup & Recovery, N2WS Cloud Protection Manager, N2W Backup & Recovery for AWS Free Trial/BYOL
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Bank of Greece, USC Australia, PCS Publishing, Dell Digital IT, Rushmore Electric, Melanson Health, Arrow Electronics
Deloitte, NASA, Johnson & Johnson, Dyson, Deuthsche Bahn, Skechers, Allan Gray, Hewlett Packard, St. John's University, City of Oakland
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs. N2W and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.