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IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 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 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
Unitrends
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
36th
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 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 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
 

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.
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 most valuable feature of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is the deduplication functionality. The clients moved to this solution originally because of this feature."
"What I like about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is its integration, plus it has very good technical support."
"Some of the features we find very valuable and use a lot, are retention sets."
"A full-featured data protection solution that is reliable and stable."
"The most valuable features are the API features because it allows you to integrate with your Microsoft SQL, your Oracle, and your IBM Db2."
"The solution is scalable."
"The support from IBM is very good."
"Reliability, recovery features, and stability are valuable to me."
"It is a quick and easy way to organize my backups and to keep track of them."
"The ability to back up both physical and virtual appliances under one roof."
"What I found most valuable in Unitrends is its simple user interface. It also works reliably."
"It is an easy system to use. The support, if needed, is always willing to help."
"The predictive analytics are great and the reporting is awesome."
"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."
"Stability-wise, I rate this solution a nine out of ten."
"It is fairly stable."
 

Cons

"I would like more integration with security. We need to show the value of the product in regards to handling security. For example, how it handles current malware or viruses. IBM should be more proactive in this direction."
"The replication feature is not available."
"The backup support for IBM Power Virtualization needs to be added."
"There could be better integration with Spectrum Protect and Spectrum Protect Plus, it should be one solution."
"The Gui interface and usability are not so friendly and easy."
"The solution should allow for backup of iOS snapshots."
"You end up needing to do a lot of troubleshooting to get things to work effectively."
"It requires much more automation features."
"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."
"No appliance update notifications."
"The solution's base operating system needs to be improved."
"There are some questions as to how safely they are storing backup data."
"It would be great to have the job throttle/limit the max number of backups on a single ESXi host."
"The solution’s UI can be improved. I am saying this because I have seen solutions with better UIs."
"Making the seeding process more accessible and easier to understand. Also, make more of the undocumented best practices easier to find."
"The solution’s support and onboarding process needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Clients prefer to buy a perpetual license, but the majority opt for a yearly subscription."
"There are a few options available for purchasing the solutions. Overall, the price of the is high."
"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."
"If you need to extend it, it can be extended acting like a normal Spectrum Protect with a long archive."
"The solution is too expensive."
"The price is lower than that of some competing products."
"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a little expensive."
"When you purchase initially, get into the program which gives replacement hardware for free when you renew your support agreement."
"The cost of Unitrends definitely draws you in. The licensing is all included in the appliance, which is a great incentive."
"You should be aware how much the monthly costs are to use, what the initial costs for hardware are, and what the options to expand are, if needed."
"Initial pricing is competitive. Renewal pricing is steep, so make sure to project costs for the lifetime of the appliance(s)."
"No comment."
"Pricing model constantly changes."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten. The licensing is yearly and it depends on the customers."
"Their licensing depended on the number of CPUs you had."
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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
13%
Retailer
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Non Profit
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 Unitrends?
The most valuable feature of Unitrends for me is the automated feedback
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Unitrends?
Unitrends is an expensive solution. We've negotiated deals where they've given us the $ 62,000 to $ 64,000 appliance for free but charged $ 90,000 for three years of support.
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...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio
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 Spectrum Protect Plus vs. Unitrends and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,687 professionals have used our research since 2012.