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IBM ProtectTIER vs Unitrends 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

IBM ProtectTIER
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
84th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (13th)
Unitrends
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
31st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
34
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 Unitrends is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Unitrends0.5%
IBM ProtectTIER0.3%
Other99.2%
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.
Todd Guthrie - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution can be used to back up servers and Hyper-V cluster nodes, but its support is super expensive
I wouldn't rate Unitrends a ten out of ten because we had some hard drive failures in the appliance. Typically, when you have OneDrive, you can get it replaced. For some particular reason, the situation caused the entire system to crash. We had to reinstall the CentOS operating system on it, and we lost all our backups. They said there was no way to retain it, and it was pretty devastating and concerning that a drive failure would cause the loss of all the data on the appliance. It was extremely disappointing, and we had to start from scratch after three years worth of backup data. I rate Unitrends a nine out of ten for stability.

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."
"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 command-line interface is good."
"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."
"If you are a large organization, this is a product for you."
"I am impressed with the tool's reporting and UniView features."
"It is fairly stable."
"It is very easy to set up and get started. Almost too easy. We racked this device and had it up and running in less than 15 minutes."
"Replication to Forever Cloud."
"The predictive analytics are great and the reporting is awesome."
"When we talk about a backup point of view, from a backup perspective, it's a good one."
"The ability to backup both physical and virtual machines, along with having an appliance store the backups locally instead of on a file server, NAS, or SAN."
 

Cons

"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."
"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."
"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
"Support is great for small simple issues, but anything more difficult, it is hard to get good resolutions without having to badger them and their management."
"There are some questions as to how safely they are storing backup data."
"The solution’s UI can be improved. I am saying this because I have seen solutions with better UIs."
"Network-based storage stability could be improved."
"The amount of updates which are being released. Updates should be limited to two or three a year, focusing more on quality instead of a rushed bug release."
"It would be great to have the job throttle/limit the max number of backups on a single ESXi host."
"Probably the biggest issue I've had is actually paying for the unit, and part of that problem is that they use a third party for the billing."
"The ability to run just differentials without pulling the full on your archive."
 

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."
"This solution is very expensive."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"Initial pricing is competitive. Renewal pricing is steep, so make sure to project costs for the lifetime of the appliance(s)."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten. The licensing is yearly and it depends on the customers."
"The cost of Unitrends definitely draws you in. The licensing is all included in the appliance, which is a great incentive."
"Their licensing depended on the number of CPUs you had."
"Based on a scale of one to ten, with one being low and ten being high, I would rate the pricing of this solution as a three. Also, there are no additional costs involved in the standard licensing of the solution."
"When you purchase initially, get into the program which gives replacement hardware for free when you renew your support agreement."
"Unitrends is an expensive solution."
"Pricing model constantly changes."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Retailer
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Educational Organization
10%
Non Profit
9%
 

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 Business12
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What do you like most about Unitrends?
The most valuable feature of Unitrends for me is the automated feedback
What needs improvement with Unitrends?
In terms of improvement, the UI, especially in the recovery section, is unclear about which repository it uses—I had to hover over to find that information. Figuring out the scripting part wasn't s...
What is your primary use case for Unitrends?
I use Unitrends to back up my VMware virtual machines and files, ensuring redundancy for both disks and protection against ransomware. I have implemented an air gap strategy by keeping some backups...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber
NHL Players Association, Salvation Army, Sligro Food Group, Mason General Hospital, Tec Group, Saldab IT, Baker Tilly, Clinton Savings Bank, Ennit Magna Bank, Manukau Institute of Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM ProtectTIER vs. Unitrends and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.