IBM ProtectTIER vs NetApp SnapCenter comparison

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #84, while NetApp is ranked #52 with an average rating of 7.0. IBM holds a 0.3% mindshare in BRS, compared to NetApp’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 60% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

IBM ProtectTIER

Read 7 IBM ProtectTIER reviews

566 Views
334 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

NetApp SnapCenter

Read 27 NetApp SnapCenter reviews

1,312 Views
1,233 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM ProtectTIER

NetApp SnapCenter

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM ProtectTIER and NetApp SnapCenter are two robust data protection solutions. Users seem to favor NetApp SnapCenter for its extensive features more than IBM ProtectTIER, even though IBM ProtectTIER is competitively priced.

Features: Users value IBM ProtectTIER for efficient data deduplication, high backup speed, and reliable performance. NetApp SnapCenter is praised for its seamless integration with various environments, centralized management, and broad feature set supporting different storage infrastructures.

Room for Improvement: IBM ProtectTIER could improve scalability, enhance technical documentation, and provide more user-friendly interfaces. NetApp SnapCenter users suggest better stability, simplified configuration processes, and quicker updates to address bugs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ProtectTIER offers a straightforward deployment process but has mixed feedback on customer service responsiveness. NetApp SnapCenter is more complex to deploy but generally receives better customer service support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ProtectTIER is seen as cost-effective with satisfactory ROI. NetApp SnapCenter, though more expensive, justifies its cost with advanced features and comprehensive support, giving users a higher perceived ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter

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

84th

Average Rating

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (13th)

NetApp SnapCenter

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

52nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 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 NetApp SnapCenter is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
NetApp SnapCenter	0.7%
IBM ProtectTIER	0.3%
Other	99.0%

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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Mir Gulzar Ahmed

IT Manager at Synergy Computers

Integrates well with various applications , provides a cloning feature for creating snapshots or clones of volume and a centralized command

It is basically centralized command control software. When the users visualize the workflow of the backup, the management and the customer storage administrator know the ins and outs of the backup and recovery. They can make the strategy for their backup and recovery and the certainty of their backups and restore. Strategic planning: Also, it is easy to make a strategy when you have visualized the inflow and outflow of the backup and recovery. With the CLI or native way, without any UI or management tool, you might not be able to create any strategy at all. This is especially important when you have multiple storage systems inside your data center or organization. You need a tool that connects and visualizes the workflow of the backup and recovery from all the storage systems and NetApp storage systems installed within the organization. It is very important when you have multiple storage systems, and you need to manage your backup and recovery workflow. Ease of Management: Unlike other storage vendors, NetApp has its own product called SnapCenter. Other vendors need to acquire third-party software or integrate with other software to manage storage systems. NetApp has its own solution, which is SnapCenter. NetApp's SnapCenter gels well with their storage systems and products. Ease of management is already there. It's a fine software with easy installation, management, and understanding. It's not a complicated software to understand.

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

"The solution is highly stable."

"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."

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

"The command-line interface is good."

"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."

"What is very handy for our clients is the consolidated view. They have a dashboard with everything, through a single pane of glass. This is what they really need because, within seconds, they can have a good overview and see if there are any errors or any issues."

"Most banks and financial institutions use the solution."

"We have been very satisfied with the technical support's help. Their knowledge level is great. For a noncritical question, they will get back to us within a day."

"It helps with strategic planning because it is easy to make a strategy when you have visualized the inflow and outflow of the backup and recovery."

"It's very helpful because SnapCenter is already integrated with VMware Snapshot, so it's very easy to use."

"I like the instant backups and recovery feature that SnapCenter provides within NetApp storage systems."

"A feature that stands out is cloning databases. If you have a SQL database and it's huge, like one terabyte, the classical SQL way would be to do a backup-restore to create a clone of your database for test purposes. With SnapCenter now, we can clone a database but through the Snapshot technology, which means if you right-click and you click Clone, the one terabyte database is there instantly."

"The backup features are the most valuable because they allow the DBAs to replace SnapManager for Oracle (SMO), which is going away, and to do cloning as well. We can also clone to different servers and have the actual backup clone mounted on different servers. And we can split easily too."

More NetApp SnapCenter pros

Cons

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

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

"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."

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

"It needs to support vSphere 6.7."

"We tend to have a lot of Hyper-V... so now we have two management consoles and we would ideally like to leverage SnapCenter to include Hyper-V."

"The Dashboard view needs to be more compressed with better ease of access and drill-down features. They should also reinstate Linux filesystem backups of storage volumes (which existed in the prior version)."

"One thing that might be improved is the ease of management."

"I'm waiting for SnapCenter for hybrid solutions. Right now, we only have SnapManager for hybrid. I need agents for that. People are looking to install SnapCenter in a SQL environment, but where they're running SQL on Hyper-V and using virtual files. Currently, we don't have support for hybrid."

"Plugins should be developed in shorter times. Performance generally could be a little bit faster."

"The interface usability needs improvement. It should be more user-friendly and easier for customers to use."

"The GUI is still so-so. I' don't use the GUI that often anymore because it's really slow, refreshing disks, refreshing hosts, and you have to click a lot."

More NetApp SnapCenter cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."

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

"This solution is very expensive."

"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."

"We have a site license, so it comes with the product."

"The licensing is well-designed because it's already included in some packages with NetApp storage. Therefore, for most customers, it's okay as the SnapCenter license is already included in some NetApp bundles."

"Pricing is very good because if you already have NepApp controllers, then it's included."

"The license for SnapCenter was included with the storage array."

"The product is inexpensive."

"It's free. The license is included with other NetApp products."

"We see a financial value with SnapCenter because we don't have to license Commvault, which is pretty expensive."

"It comes free with the amount of equipment we purchase from NetApp. In terms of pricing, zero is my favorite number."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

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	8
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp SnapCenter?

The product should be free because it is just software to administrate systems purchased from NetApp, which are already expensive.

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What needs improvement with NetApp SnapCenter?

The interface usability needs improvement. It should be more user-friendly and easier for customers to use.

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What is your primary use case for NetApp SnapCenter?

I help my customers to install and integrate NetApp SnapCenter ( /products/netapp-snapcenter-reviews ). The solution is used for central consolidation of NetApp ( /products/netapp-41749-reviews ) d...

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Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 68% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 33% of the time

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Synology DSM vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 23% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 14% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 14% of the time

Cohesity DataProtect vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 11% of the time

Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 10% of the time

More NetApp SnapCenter Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Deduplication Software

August 2025

Download IBM ProtectTIER product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapCenter

August 2025

Download NetApp SnapCenter product report

Also Known As

No data available

SnapCenter

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

Unified, scalable platform for application-consistent data protection and clone management. This software simplifies backup, restore, and clone lifecycle management with application-integrated workflows.

NetApp

Sample Customers

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

All for One Steeb AG, Accenture

Buyer's Guide

IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter

September 2025

Free Report: IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp SnapCenter

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