IBM ProtectTIER vs N-able Cove Data Protection comparison

IBM and N-able are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #82, while N-able is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.3. IBM holds a 0.1% mindshare in BRS, compared to N-able’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 60% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of N-able users who would recommend it.

IBM ProtectTIER

Read 7 IBM ProtectTIER reviews

210 Views
167 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

N-able Cove Data Protection

Read 22 N-able Cove Data Protection reviews

2,651 Views
1,693 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM ProtectTIER

N-able Cove Data Protection

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM ProtectTIER and N-able Cove Data Protection are two widely used backup solutions, each with unique strengths. N-able Cove Data Protection seems to have the upper hand due to its ease of use, cloud integration, user satisfaction with pricing, and support.

Features: IBM ProtectTIER offers high-speed backup, data deduplication, and robust performance. N-able Cove Data Protection provides intuitive management, seamless cloud integration, and a comprehensive feature set enhancing user experience.

Room for Improvement: IBM ProtectTIER users report challenges with complex configuration, occasional performance issues under heavy loads, and need for simplified setup. N-able Cove Data Protection users desire enhancements in reporting tools, increased flexibility in data recovery options, and better usability for SMBs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ProtectTIER requires detailed planning and specialized knowledge for deployment but has reliable customer support. N-able Cove Data Protection is recognized for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ProtectTIER has higher initial setup costs but long-term ROI through strong performance. N-able Cove Data Protection features competitive pricing and quicker ROI due to lower setup costs and consistent reliability.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM ProtectTIER vs. N-able Cove Data Protection Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM ProtectTIER vs. N-able Cove Data Protection

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 850,028 peers since 2012

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

IBM ProtectTIER

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

82nd

Average Rating

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (13th)

N-able Cove Data Protection

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

30th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (17th), SaaS Backup (9th), MSP Backup (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 0.1%, down from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N-able Cove Data Protection is 1.3%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

ValereFEUGWANG

Information System Consultant at CFAO Technologies

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.

Read full review

Jack Henson

Owner at Henson Business Products

Allows us to back up workstations and servers, and saved us time when checking endpoints and the viability of backups

I have some issues with the agent failing on workstations. I've had to completely uninstall several of them, delete everything, and start over to get them to work. That's been the biggest source of my problems recently. The problem is that when we delete one, we lose the backup. Consequently, it means we're without a backup unless we have a local copy. When we delete the agent, there's the problem of how to go back and restore it. I haven't had to deal with it yet, because I haven't had a failure that occurred while I was doing that. I had a workstation that started failing, and we couldn't get the services to run. I don't know what caused it. I had to reinstall the agent, which didn't work. I had to go into the machine and delete everything and load another agent onto it. Once I did that, I was able to make it work, but 90% of the time I never have an issue. During the other 10% of the time when I have a problem, it's a mess. The ability to recover to a different workstation or a different data point is a little bit clumsy. It could use some work.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The command-line interface is good."

"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."

"The solution is highly stable."

"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."

"The monitoring makes it very easy to check whether a backup has gone bad."

"The solution has reduced backup times by an immeasurable amount. Its backups are incremental, so you are only backing up data changes based on the last 24 hours or so. If you are also maintaining the stored images, the restores are also only incremental, happening in minutes. Whereas, with a lot of the other solutions that we have looked at, each time it goes to refresh the restore, then it has to build a completely new image. That takes forever. This solution also improves recovery time."

"The most valuable feature of N-able Cove Data Protection is its ease of use."

"N-able Cove Data Protection is user-friendly and straightforward, and the dashboard is clear."

"For starters, this is one of few databases that allow us to backup MySQL databases, most others only support Microsoft SQL. This solution also has a very user-friendly interface accessed through a web browser. Additionally, backups can be easily configured through N-able Backup."

"Because the package includes cloud storage, we don't need to worry about hosting it inside. That was very important to us. And because the vendor has data centers worldwide, our reps in Europe and other places can get to what they need quickly and easily."

"The initial setup of N-able Cove Data Protection was very easy."

"What I like the most about it's the ease of use and the reliability that it has when copying information to the cloud."

More N-able Cove Data Protection pros

Cons

"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."

"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."

"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."

"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."

"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."

"N-able Cove Data Protection for Microsoft 365 is an area with shortcomings that need improvement."

"The only area that needs improvement is that it is a little bit difficult when you get into virtual machines. The initial deployment of Cove is a little tedious, not for standard machines, but when you get into specialty stuff, like Hyper-V."

"A better default view on my dashboard would be great. There is a lot of useless information there that it pulls up. They could present the dashboard slightly better, in terms of the extra information after the first five columns. The first five columns are awesome. After that, I don't care about the rest, and there are another seven things after that."

"We would like to have better reporting."

"There aren’t any challenges. Regarding the additional features, Cove is limited to disaster recovery with Azure. It would be great to make disaster recovery compatible with AWS."

"An area for improvement that would really work out well would be if there were a little bit more of an elegant handshake relationship between SolarWinds RMM and the PCs that are being backed up, to advise regarding "up" status... Since RMM is an agent that feeds back that a machine is alive and on, I don't see any reason why they can't either tap into that one feature or build the same exact polling within the backup agent, to update right away and say the system is online or offline."

"We don't use the solution’s automated recovery testing because SolarWinds made me cross. When they released it, I went, "Oh, well, that's quite good." Because if you use the system, then it supposedly spins up, and on the portal, it gives you a screenshot of the booted device. So, I phoned up, and I said, "Oh, that's really quite cool. How much is that?" They said, "No, no, no. It's all included in your license." I went, "Okay then," and went and deployed it on about half the fleet. One of the options that our customers have is they can pay us a small amount every month for us to test the recovery just to prove that it's viable, and I thought, "Well, this will do that for us. Nice." Then, in the next invoice, we got a charge for it. While It was not a huge amount, I took offense at the fact that we were told that it would be a no extra cost option that was part of our license, but it turns out that it's chargeable. Therefore, we haven't used it since."

"This solution is not very good for image restores, mainly just files. The solution also does not allow you to enable or disable backups. Sometimes, our users will connect via mobile device and it will use their data to perform the backup. If they were able to enable and disable the backup, they would not have this issue."

More N-able Cove Data Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The cost is around ten dollars per workstation a month and that includes a certain amount of data."

"The pricing, for now, is good. The package that they gave us recently is pretty good. It depends on how many clients you have, and you pay for certain terabytes per license. These terabytes, if not used, are pooled together."

"The price isn't extreme, but I'd love to pay less."

"The pricing of SolarWinds seems to be fair compared to the rest of the industry."

"The pricing is very competitive and it's well worth the price."

"The only option I would like to see is an adjustable scale. Right now we have 250 seats and we're not using all of them. It would be nice to be able to save that little bit of money by being able to buy just what we need."

"The pricing is affordable. N-able Cove Data Protection has a direct-to-cloud architecture, but it also allows saving backups locally without extra storage costs."

"When you have a device/appliance on the site quite a lot of the other enterprise class backup people insist that you have their appliance, which is frankly offensively expensive. Because when you pry the top off, it's just a standard 19-inch tin box with a standard Intel I5 in it, some RAM, and a hard drive. Then, you go, "Why have they just charged me 5,500 quid for a box, which I could have probably build for under 500." Whereas, with the SolarWinds product, they don't have that. The backup appliances that we have onsite are just plain cooking PCs. We can build our own machines, which is reflected in the price that we can offer a customer."

More N-able Cove Data Protection pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

29%

Computer Software Company

24%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

21%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What do you like most about N-able Backup?

The initial setup of N-able Cove Data Protection was very easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for N-able Backup?

In terms of pricing, N-able Cove Data Protection is neither cheap nor expensive compared to other competitors.

See all answers

What needs improvement with N-able Backup?

N-able Cove Data Protection does not provide a lot of SaaS backup products, which is an area they can improve. Additionally, there are some limitations on the storage side, where I cannot have a lo...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 100% of the time

More IBM ProtectTIER Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 15% of the time

Acronis Cyber Protect vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 11% of the time

Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 6% of the time

Azure Backup vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 5% of the time

Rubrik vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 5% of the time

More N-able Cove Data Protection Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Deduplication Software

March 2025

Download IBM ProtectTIER product report

Buyer's Guide

N-able Cove Data Protection

April 2025

Download N-able Cove Data Protection product report

Also Known As

No data available

N-able Backup, SolarWinds Backup, SolarWinds MSP Backup & Recovery, SolarWinds MSP Backup

Overview

IBM TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway is designed to meet the disk-based data protection needs of the enterprise data center while enabling significant infrastructure cost reductions. The solution offers industry-leading inline deduplication performance and scalability up to 1 petabyte (PB) of physical storage capacity per system, and can provide up to 25 PB or more backup storage capacity. Combined with IBM or third-party storage, TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway provides a powerful disk-based repository to improve the performance, retention and availability of backup and archive data in a small footprint for energy and cost efficiency.

IBM

Cove Data Protection, from N-able, is a comprehensive solution designed to safeguard critical business data. It offers a range of features including backup and recovery, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection. With automated backups and flexible scheduling options, it ensures data is protected and easily recoverable.

The solution also includes advanced security measures such as encryption and ransomware detection to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches. Cove Data Protection provides seamless integration with various platforms and offers centralized management for efficient monitoring and control.

With its user-friendly interface and robust capabilities, Cove Data Protection is an ideal choice for businesses seeking reliable data protection.

N-able

Sample Customers

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber

Computer Depot, Leading Edge Computers, IT Logic Australia

Buyer's Guide

IBM ProtectTIER vs. N-able Cove Data Protection

April 2025

Free Report: IBM ProtectTIER vs. N-able Cove Data Protection

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM ProtectTIER vs. N-able Cove Data Protection and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IBM ProtectTIER vs. N-able Cove Data Protection report.

See our list of best Backup and Recovery vendors.

We monitor all Backup and Recovery reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.