Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Storage Protect vs Veritas NetBackup comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is 0.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.3%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Veritas NetBackup is 3.4%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Atif Najam - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables organizations to make large-scale recoveries easily, but the security must be improved
The security must be improved. We face a lot of cyber threats like ransomware. It impacts data availability and protection. The tool must provide a mechanism to make resilient backups. The tool must ensure that the recent backups have no ransomware. The backup must be immutable. They must be cyber-resilient backups. Finding a good resource person for IBM Spectrum in Pakistan is difficult. We have to rely on the support team. Resource availability is a challenge.
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.
Wesam Qashou - PeerSpot reviewer
A mature backup solution, with many features, and great support
Veritas NetBackup is the first line of defense when disaster strikes. Before performing disaster recovery, we must have a good backup of our image that is also protected from ransomware. This way, we have a golden image that is resilient to ransomware attacks. We saw the benefits of Veritas NetBackup within the first three months.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's stability is high because it is derived from Spectrum Protect."
"This solution is very stable and has good support available online."
"The solution is scalable."
"Reliability, recovery features, and stability are valuable to me."
"We used to use the solution with tapes a few years ago. We've switched to discs, and it has gotten much faster."
"The most valuable feature of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is its ease of use. Additionally, it does backups of all of the things we need, such as OS, files, and databases."
"Using this tool, we can easily backup and restore or recover the data for PCs and mobiles in case of system crashes."
"This is a multi-platform backup solution where you can take a backup from AIX, Windows, or Linux servers and restore from CD, disk, or tape."
"The most valuable features are compression and de-duplication."
"It is very stable after deployment and will perform in a steady state."
"Performance and recoveries are better. Our clients and customers are happier with the performance of it."
"The ability to use S3 Data Store as a repository."
"IBM Spectrum Protect offers stable software and products."
"The software-defined ability to do data reduction through deduplication and compression, as well as being able to replicate data to a cloud container."
"The solution is mostly stable."
"From a tech perspective, utilizing deduplication is one of the most valuable features."
"It is a good solution. It covers most of the applications."
"Includes snapshots and multiple database agents."
"What I like most is it is a professional product. It supports all kinds of technologies, and I consider it one of the best backup products available."
"The most valuable feature is that it is basically a replica of our SAND data. We archive the SAND data for recovery, if there is an issue on the fence."
"Could be used for both of Physical and Virtual Environments."
"The simulation engine is highly valuable as it allows us to simulate what a failure would be like and generate reports."
"The most valuable feature is replication because, using NetBackup replication, we can have disaster recovery of the data we have."
"Best feature is its three-tier backup."
 

Cons

"I would like integration into where the VMware guys can do their own restores."
"In the future, I would like to see support for global deduplication."
"With ransomware protection and cyber protection, more improvement is possible."
"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve security."
"The one issue we are facing is related to file restores."
"Rooms for improvement in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are installation and configuration because those were difficult. They should try their best to improve those areas. In the next release of the product, better implementation and administration are what we're expecting."
"You end up needing to do a lot of troubleshooting to get things to work effectively."
"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve the IBM Spectrum Protect environment. It can be difficult to administer. The initial configuration can be difficult for entry-level teams or deployment teams, and it might be difficult to integrate. There's just too much content involved in the solution. The documentation is way too large."
"Needs more support for non-mainstream databases, in particular PostgreSQL, SQL, and MySQL."
"It has a lot of areas for improvement. Its reporting for job completion or incompletion can be improved. It should also provide a granular recovery, ease of operation, data life cycle management, and media management. It should support a backup in such a format that in case of a disaster, one can start the virtual machine out of the backup itself. Its reliability can also be better. It is also expensive, and their support is also poor."
"Replication of data could be more user friendly."
"Its management part can be better and simplified. It is kind of a beast as compared to Commvault or Veeam, but they are more user-friendly. They are also easier to learn, whereas Spectrum Protect definitely takes time. They should simplify it. Our teams are pretty comfortable with it because we have been using it for a long time, but from the perspective of a new user who is evaluating or using this solution, it is definitely more complex in terms of manageability. Its monitoring could be improved so that it can even monitor the jobs that are scheduled by external schedulers. There are situations where a database team might decide to use their own schedulers, but currently, Spectrum Protect is not able to catch those jobs in the Operation Manager console."
"It doesn't integrate with storage pools, with a normal pool. I'd like to see that."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is not a very user-friendly tool."
"The solution is evolving, so it has to be evolved to fit all new types of software requirements too."
"I would like to see integration with Copy Data Management, which is an IBM product. Right now, these two products are siloed, so if these two become integrated, the product would become a bit of a powerhouse."
"Maybe they could add more cloud solutions."
"Veritas NetBackup has been in the backup and recovery market for quite a long time, but somehow, from my own observations and from feedback from end users, its user interface is lagging behind other comparable solutions such as Veeam."
"Like the other enterprise solutions, Veritas NetBackup isn't easy to implement. It's a little bit hard compared to other solutions like Data Protector for HPE. You have to struggle to learn a lot of features that Veritas NetBackup offers to customers."
"The flip side about NetBackup is that it is not policy-based."
"The implementation process could be simplified to make it quicker."
"Extra features come with additional costs."
"The database integration could be better."
"The solution is quite expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a perpetual license for the tool since it is deployed on-premise."
"The initial cost of the product is perpetual but the support fees are billed annually."
"The price is perpetual, but the maintenance cost is annual. That is, we pay once for the product and pay annually for the maintenance and support. The price was much cheaper than what we would have had to pay for EMC or Veritas. The pricing is competitive, and I would rate it at four out of five."
"In addition to the standard licensing fees, we paid for implementation and training."
"There is an annual license required to use IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. The cost of the license could improve, it is expensive."
"The price offering from IBM is coming down because it is based on number of VM machines. So, IBM is coming to the market to show the added value of the product."
"Unlike some other solutions, such as Veritas NetBackup where you have to pay for different licenses to use different features, there is a single license that allows you to use all of the features."
"The licensing model of Spectrum Protect Plus is more efficient and cheaper compared to the original."
"Regarding retro-compatibility of the product between versions, your data is always available and the ROI is unquestionable."
"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."
"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive and there is only a standard licensing fee."
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"The most important feature which I wish to be added involves the GUI, the user interface."
"It is very scalable, but the downside is that it costs money."
"IBM Spectrum Protect can be considered an averagely-priced product."
"The licensing is varied. If we have small environments (not many TB being managed) it is best to license by PVUs (depending on the number of cores of the machine). If we manage many TBs we look at licensing by capacity which allows us to use all the agents of the product."
"Licensing was very expensive and did not scale well if needed to move between license models."
"It is slightly more expensive than Commvault, but it is pretty much the same. It is an enterprise solution, so it scales quite well. It has a lot of features. So, you pay for what you get. It is not cheap, but it is fit for the purpose."
"Veritas NetBackup's pricing is a bit steep when compared to other tools. It is very costly, but service-wise and overall, the Veritas NetBackup is a good product."
"The solution is expensive compared to other products."
"The licensing model is cost-prohibitive as you scale out."
"Veritas NetBackup's price could be a problem for small businesses."
"The solution is expensive."
"In terms of cost, it's not very good."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that the product works and helps with restoration areas...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
It is probably based on the number of CPUs. They are fairly expensive.
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
I used IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, but IBM is now replacing it with IBM Data Protect, which is a giant product now in ...
What do you like most about IBM Storage Protect?
The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will contin...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is generally an expensive tool. However, with good contracts with IBM or its partners, the cost m...
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past....
What is the best next generation backup tool?
Assuming you have an onprem ecosystem which runs the VMware, physical systems on Win, Linux and Unix and run both tra...
What do you like most about Veritas NetBackup?
The most valuable feature of cloud integration is the ability to send data outside of your location. This can be achi...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Veritas NetBackup?
The product is cost-effective, and I would rate its pricing as an eight out of ten. The pricing model is based on the...
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Spectrum Discover
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio
CEMEX
Beta Offshore
Find out what your peers are saying about Veeam Software, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Commvault and others in Backup and Recovery. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.