IBM Spectrum Protect vs OpenText Data Protector comparison

IBM and OpenText are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.1, while OpenText is ranked #22 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 2.2% mindshare in BRS, compared to OpenText’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

IBM Spectrum Protect

Read 149 IBM Spectrum Protect reviews

3,808 Views
2,925 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

OpenText Data Protector

Read 102 OpenText Data Protector reviews

1,381 Views
837 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect

OpenText Data Protector

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM Spectrum Protect and OpenText Data Protector compete in the enterprise data protection category. IBM Spectrum Protect is favored for its pricing and customer support, while OpenText Data Protector excels in features and user satisfaction.

Features: IBM Spectrum Protect is valued for scalability, reliability, and effective data backup and recovery. OpenText Data Protector offers comprehensive protection, broader support for varied environments, and superior compatibility.

Room for Improvement: IBM Spectrum Protect needs better reporting, enhanced performance management, and streamlined updates. OpenText Data Protector requires improved technical support, simplified updates, and more efficient customer service.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Spectrum Protect is praised for straightforward deployment and responsive customer service. OpenText Data Protector's deployment is more complex, and users face slower support responses.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Protect is cost-effective with a favorable ROI. OpenText Data Protector is more expensive, justified by advanced features, but IBM Spectrum Protect offers better value for money.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Spectrum Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector

April 2025

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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

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

16th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

149

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

OpenText Data Protector

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

22nd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

102

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Data Protector is 0.6%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib

Head of Infrastructure Security (S.A.V.P) at EXIM Bank Ltd

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.

Read full review

Jeroen Vranckaerts

System Engineer - Server & Storage, DBA at Audi Brussels

Though a highly stable tool, it needs to be made easier to use and configure

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a five out of ten. OpenText Data Protector is complex to configure correctly, but the areas concerning the data and compression are good. Once you get the product to work, it works, but it's much too complex to configure and troubleshoot, as it takes a lot of time and energy, making it not so efficient. Once the tool is configured in your environment, it provides good backup and compression features. In my company, we use OpenText Data Protector as a backup for our servers, and we have a team of 20 people to take care of the data backup using the tool. My company doesn't use OpenText Data Protector as a backup for our client's computers. In my company, we have scheduled the process related to backup, which makes the tool run daily around 30 to 40 times.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Performance and recoveries are better. Our clients and customers are happier with the performance of it."

"We apply the new dedupe and compression technology, using maintenance and time to give more time for the backup window and less time for the overhead related to the daily housekeeping."

"The solution is really scalable."

"All other products contain the same features, but when I'm backing up an IBM Power server I feel more comfortable with IBM Spectrum Protect because it's the same vendor."

"Its flexibility is valuable. It is a very flexible solution. There are always more ways than one to do something. It is a software solution, which means you can buy your own hardware and expand it whenever you want. You are not boxed in or locked into something you've bought and outgrown. You can always expand it."

"The platform has valuable stability."

"The amount of data that it protects with very little storage by doing incremental forever is one of its most valuable features."

"The ability to use S3 Data Store as a repository."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

"Backup of SAP/Oracle -- they are more robust than the competition."

"It works excellently only with Oracle."

"It is a traditional backup model. If you talk about file server and the official Windows database, it's a stable product."

"The installation was simple and provided an easy way to install even on Unix servers. It has excellent features like deduplication."

"What I like the most about this solution is that I can change and access the Oracle backup file."

"I like that it supports HPE UNIX servers since many backup solutions do not - this is the main reason why we chose this solution."

"Data Protector's GUI is the most useful feature."

"It is a stable solution. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...The initial setup process for the solution is easy."

More OpenText Data Protector pros

Cons

"When it comes to virtualization in IBM it's not perfect."

"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."

"There could be various client systems and process integration included in the product."

"It does what we need it to do, but it could be better with VM backups. It could be better integrated with virtual machines or VM backups, but that's why they have their Plus out now. Plus version is more geared toward VM backups. The regular version is more for endpoint clients."

"We need better protection from ransomware or the ability to identify ways we can protect ourselves from ransomware. Having backups is one thing, but specifically, we need methods to recover if we have a ransomware attack."

"Stability is very good now. It used to be rocky years ago."

"There needs to be a bit more automation."

"This product should be more user-friendly for newcomers."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

"The solution is not intuitive enough. I think they should work on the user experience and the graphical interface. These can be a lot better."

"In general, you can say that Micro Focus Data Protector is behind in capabilities when compared with other backup solutions, such as Commvault, Symantec, NetBackup, but it is very strong for certain use cases such as array integration. We are using it in production even now. There should be some kind of cloud integration and archiving solutions. I think this is the area they need to focus on."

"OpenText Data Protector is not user-friendly, especially for cloud backup."

"It would be ideal if they could improve their level of support."

"The challenge is that we can't restore a single file from the VM in the data process when we do VM backups. But with Commvault, you can restore a single file even if you have a VM snapshot package. That's one drawback of this tool. When we do VM backups, it should help us browse the VMs to restore a single file instead of doing the complete VM restore."

"OpenText Data Protector is more difficult to use and configure than OpenText VIM. The user-friendliness of OpenText Data Protector has to be increased, and the complexity of the tool needs to be reduced."

"This solution is not scalable."

"The product can be developed by including functionalities like DR, CDP, and SureBackup, which are currently unavailable in the solution."

More OpenText Data Protector cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the pricing a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is not cost-effective, and ten is cost-effective."

"When compared to the cost of other enterprise products, it seems to be in the same range. However, compared to the cost of non-enterprise products, it is really high."

"For my company, the tool is affordable and reasonable...I don't think most people know that when a company has large systems in place, the TCO is a lot lower."

"The product is not cheap."

"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."

"I don't have an idea about the pricing. They send that over to someone else, but I know that one of the issues they had was the licensing costs. I don't think they were happy with how they were charged."

"We have spec'd out our build, and the cost of it can work quite easily today for our future needs."

"License-wise regarding IBM, it's licensed per terabyte. And that is after compression and deduplication."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is around $3,000 to $5,000. The charge additionally for support and to scale."

"The pricing is neither too expensive nor very cheap."

"The solution requires paying for a license."

"The pricing is acceptable for enterprise level companies, but it's not acceptable for small- and medium-sized businesses. Micro Focus Data Protector is not an enterprise level solution, and it should cover small- and medium-sized businesses with acceptable prices."

"Avoid using many LTO drives; when using fewer drives, the price will be extremely good."

"Our licensing is on a capacity basis."

"There is a perpetual license involved in addition to support which needs to be renewed annually."

"Pricing for Micro Focus Data Protector is reasonable."

More OpenText Data Protector pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

University

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect?

IBM Spectrum Protect is stable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect?

It's expensive. I acknowledge the cost associated with it.

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What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?

See all answers

What do you like most about Micro Focus Data Protector?

I haven't experienced any crashes while using the solution...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus Data Protector?

The solution is expensive as it requires purchasing all features without the option to negotiate based on client numbers, unlike Veeam which offers flexibility in pricing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Micro Focus Data Protector?

OpenText Data Protector is not user-friendly, especially for cloud backup. It lacks functions and facilities compared to Veeam, which offers more user-friendliness for virtual machine backups. Ther...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 18% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 18% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

Rubrik vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Protect Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 65% of the time

Veritas NetBackup vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 14% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 9% of the time

Dell Avamar vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Tivoli CDP for Files vs OpenText Data Protector

Compared 6% of the time

More OpenText Data Protector Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect

May 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText Data Protector

April 2025

Download OpenText Data Protector product report

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

Micro Focus Data Protector, Data Protector, OmniBack, HPE Data Protector

Overview

IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) is a data protection platform that gives enterprises a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery. It is the flagship product in the IBM Spectrum Protect (Tivoli Storage Manager) family. It enables reliable, cost effective backups and fast recovery for virtual, physical and cloud environments of all sizes.

IBM

OpenText Data Protector standardizes and consolidates backups across multiple platforms. It provides secure, comprehensive backup protection for business-critical data and applications whether virtual, physical, or online in the cloud.

OpenText

Sample Customers

CERN, Einstein Healthcare, Nyherji, Allianz Australia, TZM, ABT Online, NCT, Kindred Healthcare Inc., Cobalt Iron, TransGrid, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Cash America, Piedmont Healthcare, RWGV, Arkansas Tech University, British Columbia Institute of Technology

GSK Vaccines, Repsol, Vodafone Group, Siemens AG, Medium Enterprise Transportation Services Company

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector

April 2025

Free Report: IBM Spectrum Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. OpenText Data Protector and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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