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IBM ProtectTIER vs NetApp SnapCenter comparison

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #83, while NetApp is ranked #53 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
  • 581 Views
  • 360 Comparison Views
60% willing to recommend
NetApp SnapCenter
Read 28 NetApp SnapCenter reviews
  • 1,268 Views
  • 1,192 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

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.

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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
83rd
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (13th)
NetApp SnapCenter
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
53rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 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
ProductMarket Share (%)
NetApp SnapCenter0.7%
IBM ProtectTIER0.3%
Other99.0%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Read full review
SaneeshC - PeerSpot reviewer
Has reduced backup time for large workloads and supports smooth workload migration
Role-based access control and multi-factor authentication are security features available in NetApp SnapCenter. The one-time password comes to our multi-factor authentication tool; we work with Cisco Duo, and that OTP is generated through that tool, which we use to access the device. There are different options through which we can migrate workloads without downtime. The user interface is very easy to handle and not complicated. There are multiple features that make NetApp SnapCenter valuable. In case of any job failure, we get an alert over email. For jobs replicating from site A to site B, we know how long it will take to complete that replication. All that information is available in the console, and there aren't any difficulties or objections that need to be improved.
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 solution is highly stable."
"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."
"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."
"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."
"The command-line interface is good."
"I like the instant backups and recovery feature that SnapCenter provides within NetApp storage systems."
"Restoring and cloning are easy to do."
"The support from NetApp is very good, and I would rate it as ten points."
"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 simplicity of backup and restore directly with VMware is an advantage and the time to backup and restore is reduced."
"The way that it interconnects with VMware is really handy, because you can go right into your vSphere client, where you spend a lot of the day anyway, right-click on one of the VMs where you have backups running for however long, and you can restore either some files or restore the entire thing."
"The most valuable feature is the RBAC, the Role-Based Access Control. In our managed service, we can have different layers of security."
"The reporting feature has been particularly beneficial to upper management... When you do manual backups, you do not get the benefit of seeing successes and failures and how often you have to do restores. With SnapCenter, you get all of that."
More NetApp SnapCenter pros
 

Cons

"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 configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."
"My major issue is when I upgrade. I have to touch every last client that I have in SnapCenter, and right now I have 60... They said that in another release that will get better, but right now it's not better and I've had to do this three times."
"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."
"What I did witness lately are issues with some Microsoft KBs, the updates. But it happened only once, and not on a major platform, it was on a small one."
"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."
"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)."
"There is one area that needs improvement and that's in the alerting. When you set up your SMTP alerts, it only has - and I don't understand why - the ability to send an anonymous SMTP. It doesn't do basic authentication, which frustrated me for a while until I figured out that I'm not missing something. It's just not there."
"I feel a little bit that during the whole process of putting this software into production we were like a beta program. It was full of bugs... For example, we had a problem with truncating our Exchange log files... It has improved over time."
"Reporting of the jobs could be better."
More NetApp SnapCenter cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"This solution is very expensive."
"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"The product is inexpensive."
"Pricing is very good because if you already have NepApp controllers, then it's included."
"We have a site license, so it comes with the product."
"The license for SnapCenter was included with the storage array."
"It comes free with the amount of equipment we purchase from NetApp. In terms of pricing, zero is my favorite number."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise12
 

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

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Compared 14% of the time
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Veeam Data Platform vs NetApp SnapCenter
Compared 14% of the time
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Compared 11% of the time
Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter Logo
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Compared 10% of the time
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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Deduplication Software
October 2025
IBM ProtectTIER reportDownload IBM ProtectTIER product report
Buyer's Guide
NetApp SnapCenter
October 2025
NetApp SnapCenter reportDownload 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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