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IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs Microsoft DPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers competitive pricing and integration benefits, achieving mixed ROI within two to three years.
Sentiment score
3.3
Microsoft DPM improved backup efficiency, reduced costs, minimized data loss, and enhanced productivity with streamlined integration and minimal maintenance.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.4
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus support is mostly praised for efficiency, though complex cases sometimes encounter delays and challenges.
Sentiment score
5.7
Microsoft DPM support is mixed, with praise for responsiveness but concerns over limited features and paid technical assistance.
Their documentation, runbooks, troubleshooting articles, and support people are good.
They provide professional services that are quite good and can meet your needs.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.3
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers scalability for enterprises, supporting storage expansion and workload adjustments despite some infrastructure challenges.
Sentiment score
5.8
Microsoft DPM scales well with Microsoft products but may need adjustments for non-Microsoft databases and user-friendliness.
The solution does not provide horizontal and vertical scaling.
IBM Data Protect is the scalable solution, not IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is stable and reliable, handling heavy loads well, but may occasionally require repeated backup restorations.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft DPM's stability is generally praised, though some users experience synchronization issues and challenges with integration and patching.
The product is very stable, rating between eight and nine out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus needs integration, interface, automation, and security improvements, alongside enhanced installation, support, and data protection features.
Microsoft DPM lacks user-friendliness, struggles with backups, and needs better integration, documentation, and support for efficient performance.
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could be made more lightweight and user-friendly in terms of GUI features to make it closer to a perfect score.
I used IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, but IBM is now replacing it with IBM Data Protect, which is a giant product now in common development with a well-known company in backup solutions.
It does not offer horizontal and vertical scaling.
The backup should have compression, deduplication, and DR replication.
Microsoft DPM could improve by adding S3 backup to S3 storage capabilities.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers strong value with scalable pricing, though some find it expensive for corporate use.
Microsoft DPM pricing is appealing for enterprise buyers due to integration, reasonable value, and affordability compared to competitors.
They are fairly expensive.
Pricing is good; it is reasonable and more reasonable than any other vendors.
Microsoft licensing is complex, especially for enterprise or data center solutions.
The pricing of Microsoft solutions rates in the middle range at five out of ten.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is praised for its integration, ease of use, scalability, and robust disaster recovery features.
Microsoft DPM efficiently manages VM migration, backup, and recovery, integrates with Microsoft tools, and supports SMB environments.
The biggest benefit of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is that it's an agentless backup product which is very easy to configure and use.
Microsoft DPM impacted my organization positively, and that was definitely possible.
The two-layer backup system is a particularly valuable feature in Microsoft DPM.
One of the most effective features of Microsoft DPM is its integration with the entire Microsoft ecosystem.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
49th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft DPM
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
37th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
21
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 Spectrum Protect Plus is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft DPM is 0.9%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft DPM0.9%
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus1.0%
Other98.1%
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.
Nirukshitha Gamage - PeerSpot reviewer
User finds setup straightforward but seeks wider platform support and advanced features
Microsoft DPM could implement backup capabilities for third-party systems such as Linux. They also need to consider other features such as replication to DR sites, similar to what Veeam and other products offer. Microsoft DPM didn't have that capability at that time. If they want to remain competitive in the market, they need to observe the competition and implement improvements. The backup should have compression, deduplication, and DR replication. They should also improve monitoring of the environment. Microsoft DPM didn't have these basics at that time. If they had continued development on the products, they could have reached a higher level, especially given Microsoft's significant presence and majority of servers. Microsoft DPM didn't have any support structure in the backend. If they had a support structure, we could have escalated issues. I never received any support from Microsoft DPM.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise7
 

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 whenever there is a need to restore something.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
Pricing is good; it is reasonable and more reasonable than any other vendors.
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?
Technical support could be improved significantly. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could be made more lightweight and user-friendly in terms of GUI features to make it closer to a perfect score.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft DPM?
The pricing of Microsoft solutions rates in the middle range at five out of ten.
What needs improvement with Microsoft DPM?
Microsoft DPM could improve by adding S3 backup to S3 storage capabilities. AI integration is not necessary for backups as this is not a security solution.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft DPM?
We use Microsoft DPM for backup servers. ManageEngine is used to manage workstations and servers, and Operation Manager is used for monitoring.
 

Also Known As

No data available
DPM, Data Protection Manager, MS DPM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio
Medical Park, Centropol Energy, a.s., NCFE, D & H Distributing, Metalor, Colosseum, a.s., Sanitas S.A., Icebreaker
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. Microsoft DPM and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.