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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
6.8
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is viewed as a competitive, reasonably priced investment with excellent integration and future roadmap visibility.
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.
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.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus support is reliable and efficient, with users praising quick responses, expertise, and comprehensive resources.
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.
if it gets complicated, the backend support comes in quickly
If I raise a ticket, they get back to me.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers scalable, flexible data management for various businesses, supporting extensive virtual machines and environments efficiently.
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.
IBM Data Protect is the scalable solution, not IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
There are some limitations, such as storage, where I cannot support a large number of employees who need to back up their data.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is stable and reliable, managing large environments efficiently, though occasionally needing specialized expertise.
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 better integration, user-friendly design, enhanced reporting, cyber resilience, and improved backup and virtualization support.
N-able Cove Data Protection needs improvements in dashboard, cloud integration, backup speed, disaster recovery, and support response.
It does not offer horizontal and vertical scaling.
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.
There should be the ability to take out data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format.
N-able Cove Data Protection does not provide a lot of SaaS backup products, which is an area they can improve.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers competitive pricing with various licensing models, often seen as fair compared to alternatives.
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.
In terms of pricing, N-able Cove Data Protection is neither cheap nor expensive compared to other competitors.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus offers fast, scalable, multi-platform backup and recovery with integration, cloud support, and user-friendly 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.
The integration of N-able Cove Data Protection into our existing infrastructure is easy.
The most valuable feature of N-able Cove Data Protection is its ease of use.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
23rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
N-able Cove Data Protection
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
30th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (17th), SaaS Backup (8th), MSP Backup (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 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 N-able Cove Data Protection is 1.3%, up from 1.2% 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.
Per MøllerJacobsen - PeerSpot reviewer
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
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
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 whenever there is a need to restore something.
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 common development with a well-known company in backup solutions.
What do you like most about N-able Backup?
The initial setup of N-able Cove Data Protection was very easy.
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...
 

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: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.