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 #83, while N-able is ranked #41 with an average rating of 7.7. IBM holds a 0.3% mindshare in BRS, compared to N-able’s 1.1% mindshare. Additionally, 60% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of N-able users who would recommend it.

IBM ProtectTIER

Read 7 IBM ProtectTIER reviews

581 Views
360 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

N-able Cove Data Protection

Read 23 N-able Cove Data Protection reviews

3,635 Views
2,036 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM ProtectTIER

N-able Cove Data Protection

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM ProtectTIER vs. N-able Cove Data Protection

September 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

IBM ProtectTIER

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

83rd

Average Rating

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (13th)

N-able Cove Data Protection

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

41st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (16th), SaaS Backup (7th), MSP Backup (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N-able Cove Data Protection is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
N-able Cove Data Protection	1.1%
IBM ProtectTIER	0.3%
Other	98.6%

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.

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Per MøllerJacobsen

Senior consultant at Azend A/S

Delivers cost-effective data backup with room for search improvements

The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems. You cannot just search for something—you need to know where it was and when it was there to restore it, plus it would be nice to take out data from Microsoft 365 in some portable format, which is currently not an option. I would like to extract the data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format, something like a database or maybe just to take out a PST file or SharePoint and Teams files to the file system. Especially in these times, where we discuss potential risks with the Microsoft cloud for European companies, companies would want to know how to access their data from the backup if they suddenly don't have a tenant. I believe there should be the ability to take out data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format. I know that Cohesity is working on making such a thing. It's not there yet; I asked last week for something for forensics, and the support team said it's not possible yet, but I know from our technical account manager they are working on some solutions.

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."

"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 cataloging is the best feature. It takes millions of frames for the backup. It's incremental, so it takes less time to complete."

"The most valuable feature by far is the Virtual Disaster Recovery. On top of that is the bare-metal recovery. The recovery options that we have are great. We have tested the Virtual Disaster Recovery and the bare-metal recovery in just about any scenario you can think of. We have even restored bare metal, a full server, to a laptop, and had full functionality. It's just insane how well it works and how simple it is. It does most of the work for you."

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

"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."

"The most valuable aspect is the added protection of having a cloud-based backup service. It provides redundancy in case of data loss."

"The integration of N-able Cove Data Protection into our existing infrastructure is easy."

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

"The user interface is the most valuable. It gives us the ability to check everything. With more than 100 endpoints running that software, I like the ability to quickly check that everything is working correctly. That's one of the biggest selling points."

"We use a neat feature called VDR status, Virtual Disaster Recovery status. It only works on servers... It's automated. Once or twice a month it will virtually mount the backup and provide a screenshot and advise whether or not there have been any errors."

More N-able Cove Data Protection pros

Cons

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

"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."

"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."

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

"A disaster recovery console would be an improvement for the product."

"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."

"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."

"We would like to have better reporting."

"The one thing they don't are Linux servers, it's Windows only. I understand that directive. I have another product that I use for our Linux servers and stuff, but it would be nice if they had that flexibility on the Linux side. I understand the development and the world is geared towards Windows in 365, I know that's where the clienteles are and the business and the money is."

"The recovery side, the restore side, could be a little more optimized."

"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."

"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 lot of employees backing up their data."

More N-able Cove Data Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."

"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."

"I believe that the price is very reasonable in comparison to other options. It is cheaper than both Redstor and Acronis and, since we are now using our own on-premise cloud, there is absolutely no comparison since we have unlimited storage rather than paying per gigabyte used for their onsite storage. We are currently able to backup fifty computers for the same price that we use to backup five computers."

"There is no per node cost, at least not the way I am doing it. I am on bulk. New customers can be set up on a trial, where they can get things all squared away, then they can switch over to being a billed customer."

"Cove only takes the data you have on the physical server. I can back that up for long periods of time, and I don't accrue high charges to have the data in the cloud. It stays at one rate. This allows me to forecast payment for the next one or two years and show clients their estimated growth."

"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."

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

More N-able Cove Data Protection pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	1

Questions from the Community

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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.

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What needs improvement with N-able Backup?

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What is your primary use case for N-able Backup?

Our main use cases for enabling N-able Cove Data Protection include backing up our customers' data on servers hosted in data centers and servers hosted in our own data center, as well as a few onsi...

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Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 65% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 35% of the time

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Veeam Data Platform vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 13% of the time

Synology C2 Backup vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 7% of the time

Acronis Cyber Protect vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 6% of the time

NinjaOne vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 5% of the time

Boxafe 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

September 2025

Download IBM ProtectTIER product report

Buyer's Guide

N-able Cove Data Protection

September 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

September 2025

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