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Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) vs IBM Spectrum Protect 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
21st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Spectrum Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
150
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) is 0.6%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

SamuelThomas - PeerSpot reviewer
Ensures data safety and effective cloud integration with AI-powered protection
Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) offers a backup, recovery, and management tool that is very easy to use. It provides a flexible protection suite that accommodates scalability and performance needs. Integration with VMware and multi-cloud protection is effective. AI integration enhances backup operations by analyzing data and ensuring malware protection. Customers also benefit from hybrid cloud options and tiers of backup.
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It backs up our Windows systems and our Linux systems and everything."
"The product is integrated with Huawei software and its backup and recovery time is very fast."
"We don't need to manage different devices."
"The product is easy to troubleshoot and store data."
"Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) offers a backup, recovery, and management tool that is very easy to use."
"We use it for complete backup and recovery. We have multiple clients and have created multiple large virtual capabilities and zoning backlogs."
"The most valuable feature is the deduplication rate."
"It is very simple to perform an upgrade of the system and the environment."
"The fact that we can take the backup straight onto tape is the most valuable feature."
"It's very robust and has been on the market for a long time."
"The technical support for Spectrum Protect is very mature. It is very committed to giving a top-notch support experience."
"The scalability of IBM Spectrum Protect is good."
"The backup is very good. In other backup systems, you need a lot of storage to gain the same backup policy."
"It has increased our security, scalability, and high availability."
"I've had no problems with the stability of this solution."
"Our customers have come to trust IBM."
 

Cons

"Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) requires more updates and innovations in AI-powered cyber resilience."
"The only thing that could be improved would be the complexity of the initial setup."
"After resizing and compression, the system continuously runs out of space. Dell EMC doesn't do automatic cleanup or other things, so we constantly have to manually go in there or work with Dell support on this. The solution has not been working as advertised."
"We would like to see the pricing drop a bit."
"We cannot add IDPA to DPC, and each IP has a DP Central, which cannot monitor other IDPAs."
"Managing the product is a little bit complicated."
"The price could be lowered slightly, to make it more competitive."
"The solution should be easier to use."
"I need to have more than two instances working together. I need a worldwide grid able to have replication between three, four, or five instances."
"Needs more support for non-mainstream databases, in particular PostgreSQL, SQL, and MySQL."
"For the database side, it does not have object level recovery."
"We cannot take VMware backups for our banking data center environment."
"Software-wise, IBM Spectrum Protect didn't handle virtual machines that well. The license cost is mainly the area for improvement in IBM Spectrum Protect."
"Any feature that is compliant with virtualizing the application should be improved."
"We would like to see bare-metal restorers."
"It doesn't integrate with storage pools, with a normal pool. I'd like to see that."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) has a yearly subscription fee."
"It is a cost-effective solution."
"We have a perpetual license. It is a capacity-based license."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The licensing is billed on a monthly basis. Dell is bundled so that when you order IDPA, you get everything together with the license."
"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."
"There may be an advantage to going with IBM in terms of pricing. They have a pay-as-you-grow policy, so there is no need to take one license for the entire datacenter. You can start with small licenses and then grow, and pay, as you use more."
"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective.​"
"The most important feature which I wish to be added involves the GUI, the user interface."
"The licensing is varied. If we have small environments (not many TB being managed) it is best to license by PVUs (depending on the number of cores of the machine). If we manage many TBs we look at licensing by capacity which allows us to use all the agents of the product."
"We have capacity licensing. We use the front end. The capacity licensing is pretty okay on the licensing price. I used to use the old PVU-based licensing in the early environment, but now we use capacity-based licensing."
"It can be perceived as expensive since it is designed for enterprise use."
"Technical support is pretty good. It is doing fine, but you pay for it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
21%
University
14%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?
What I find valuable about Dell PowerProtect IDPA is its stability and strong performance.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?
Pricing is competitive with other software vendors. The product's features, network, and VMware integration contribute to its value. There are different licensing options available, such as applian...
What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA)?
Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) requires more updates and innovations in AI-powered cyber resilience. While technical support is generally not poor, there are challenges with expertise in Linux-based c...
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dash...
 

Also Known As

Dell EMC IDPA, Dell IDPA, EMC IDPA
IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Under Armour, Christian Brothers University, Presidio
CERN, Einstein Healthcare, Nyherji, Allianz Australia, TZM, ABT Online, NCT, Kindred Healthcare Inc., Cobalt Iron, TransGrid, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Cash America, Piedmont Healthcare, RWGV, Arkansas Tech University, British Columbia Institute of Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerProtect DP (IDPA) vs. IBM Spectrum Protect and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,533 professionals have used our research since 2012.