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Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM ProtectTIER comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 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 PowerProtect DD (Data ...
Ranking in Deduplication Software
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Disk Based Backup Systems (1st)
IBM ProtectTIER
Ranking in Deduplication Software
13th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (89th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is 28.1%, down from 29.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Deduplication Software
 

Featured Reviews

Faisal_Zia - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
ValereFEUGWANG - PeerSpot reviewer
Protects data in hybrid infrastructures, but it is an expensive product with poor support
The main challenge for our customers is to replicate the virtual environment upon restart, without using any additional solutions such as VMware SLM. I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM. It would be much better for us. This solution can be made easier to use. Technical support is very frustrating and we are considering other solutions because of it. Stability is something that should be improved. The product is expensive and the licensing should be changed.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The stability is excellent."
"PowerProtect is a flexible solution that you can cover various cloud and on-premise environments."
"The most valuable features of Dell PowerProtect DD are ease of use and deduplication."
"Dell PowerProtect DD’s most valuable feature is data deduplication."
"The solution can scale up to one petabyte right now. It's very good for enterprise-level organizations."
"The solution is very scalable."
"Dell is more stable than any other device."
"The most valuable features of this product are its guaranteed reliability and its duplication capability."
"The solution is highly stable."
"The command-line interface is good."
"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."
"The cataloging is the best feature. It takes millions of frames for the backup. It's incremental, so it takes less time to complete."
"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable. I've walked into the server room when it was at 60 degrees Celcius, and it was still running fine."
"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."
 

Cons

"The price could be improved."
"Improvement is needed in terms of telemetry and high availability as the high availability feature is only present in the higher models of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)."
"We encountered data loss during the configuration process."
"The pricing could be lower."
"The Data Domain solution appliance is quite expensive. It is on the higher side, but technically or functionally, there is no issue."
"It could be more secure."
"We have had deduplication and replication issues. When we used another backup software we noticed that it didn't have the same issues."
"The pricing could be better, but it's still not too expensive."
"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM."
"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Users have to pay a capacity-based licensing fee for the solution."
"In Naira it was twenty-five or twenty-seven million (approximately $75,000 USD) for the implementation and maintenance cost for three years."
"There are many options in the pricing structure which can cause some confusion and necessitate the purchase of additional licensing."
"The solution is expensive. However, if you pay less you receive less, it is cost-effective."
"If we do not move to the cloud solution and stay with our on-premise version we will miss some new features."
"Pricing for this product could still be improved, though several years ago, its price was very high. When buying an IDPA product such as Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain), you don't have to buy anything else, because you'll have an integrated solution: a data domain appliance plus software."
"The cost is expensive."
"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."
"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"This solution is very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
The typical use case for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is for backup purposes; it is disk-based backup, which provides fast backup capabilities. Additionally, data can be replicated from site ...
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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Also Known As

DataDomain, Dell EMC Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The US Army, City of Houston, Lloyds TSB, TiVo, Teck, Ingram Entertainment, The New York Mets
Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs. IBM ProtectTIER and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.