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IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs N-able Cove Data Protection 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:
 

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
7.8
N-able Cove Data Protection provides high ROI, efficient backups, cost savings, seamless transitions, and reduced downtime compared to competitors.
I have experienced time savings and money savings.
Senior Product Owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
We think the ROI is very good; we are very satisfied with our return on investment, even though I don't sit and calculate what would be better.
Senior consultant at Azend A/S
 

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
7.6
N-able Cove Data Protection offers fast, knowledgeable support via multiple channels, ensuring high user satisfaction despite minor frustrations.
Their documentation, runbooks, troubleshooting articles, and support people are good.
Senior System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
if it gets complicated, the backend support comes in quickly
Senior consultant at Azend A/S
If I raise a ticket, they get back to me.
Senior Product Owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
 

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
7.8
N-able Cove Data Protection is praised for adaptability, ease of integration, scalability, advanced features, with minor storage issues.
The solution does not provide horizontal and vertical scaling.
Senior System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
IBM Data Protect is the scalable solution, not IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
IT Specialist at Saudi Business Machines - SBM
There are some limitations, such as storage, where I cannot support a large number of employees who need to back up their data.
Senior Product Owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
 

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
8.1
N-able Cove Data Protection is praised for stability, minor issues, compatibility, and reliability with minimal downtime over years.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus needs integration, interface, automation, and security improvements, alongside enhanced installation, support, and data protection features.
N-able Cove Data Protection needs improvements in dashboard, cloud integration, backup speed, disaster recovery, and support response.
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.
Manager - Storage & Backup at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
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 Specialist at Saudi Business Machines - SBM
It does not offer horizontal and vertical scaling.
Senior System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
There should be the ability to take out data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format.
Senior consultant at Azend A/S
N-able Cove Data Protection does not provide a lot of SaaS backup products, which is an area they can improve.
Senior Product Owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers strong value with scalable pricing, though some find it expensive for corporate use.
Enterprise users appreciate N-able Cove Data Protection's fair pricing, flexibility, no lock-ins, and competitive costs compared to others.
They are fairly expensive.
Senior System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Pricing is good; it is reasonable and more reasonable than any other vendors.
Manager - Storage & Backup at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
In terms of pricing, N-able Cove Data Protection is neither cheap nor expensive compared to other competitors.
Senior Product Owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is praised for its integration, ease of use, scalability, and robust disaster recovery features.
N-able Cove Data Protection provides reliable cloud-based data protection with easy management, fast setup, and seamless integration for diverse needs.
The biggest benefit of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is that it's an agentless backup product which is very easy to configure and use.
IT Specialist at Saudi Business Machines - SBM
The integration of N-able Cove Data Protection into our existing infrastructure is easy.
Senior consultant at Azend A/S
The most valuable feature of N-able Cove Data Protection is its ease of use.
Senior Product Owner at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
 

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
N-able Cove Data Protection
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
36th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (17th), SaaS Backup (8th), MSP Backup (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, 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 N-able Cove Data Protection is 1.1%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
N-able Cove Data Protection1.1%
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus1.0%
Other97.9%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1656648 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Offers reliable recovery and backup but needs better ransomware protection
With ransomware protection and cyber protection, more improvement is possible. IBM provides these through a third party, so enhancement is needed. There's significant room for improvement. They are not yet where I want them to be. It does not offer horizontal and vertical scaling. These are areas IBM can improve.
Per MøllerJacobsen - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior consultant at Azend A/S
Delivers cost-effective data backup with room for search improvements
The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems. You cannot just search for something—you need to know where it was and when it was there to restore it, plus it would be nice to take out data from Microsoft 365 in some portable format, which is currently not an option. I would like to extract the data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format, something like a database or maybe just to take out a PST file or SharePoint and Teams files to the file system. Especially in these times, where we discuss potential risks with the Microsoft cloud for European companies, companies would want to know how to access their data from the backup if they suddenly don't have a tenant. I believe there should be the ability to take out data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format. I know that Cohesity is working on making such a thing. It's not there yet; I asked last week for something for forensics, and the support team said it's not possible yet, but I know from our technical account manager they are working on some solutions.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Educational Organization
5%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

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 Business19
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

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 N-able Backup?
In terms of pricing, N-able Cove Data Protection is neither cheap nor expensive compared to other competitors.
What needs improvement with N-able Backup?
The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems. You cannot just search for s...
What is your primary use case for N-able Backup?
Our main use cases for enabling N-able Cove Data Protection include backing up our customers' data on servers hosted in data centers and servers hosted in our own data center, as well as a few onsi...
 

Also Known As

No data available
N-able Backup, SolarWinds Backup, SolarWinds MSP Backup & Recovery, SolarWinds MSP Backup
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio
Computer Depot, Leading Edge Computers, IT Logic Australia
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. N-able Cove Data Protection and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,711 professionals have used our research since 2012.