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IBM Storage Protect vs Microsoft DPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2025

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 Storage Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft DPM
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
35th
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 September 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft DPM is 1.0%, 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 (%)
IBM Storage Protect2.2%
Microsoft DPM1.0%
Other96.8%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The software-defined ability to do data reduction through deduplication and compression, as well as being able to replicate data to a cloud container."
"The ability to migrate between media over a long period of time. My customers are long-time users, and they have benefited from being able to move between tiers. They have been able to do this within the product."
"I have found that the most valuable feature is useful documentation and troubleshooting."
"It helps our customers protect their data, especially with stuff like ransomware, compliance, and regulatory requirements."
"Everyone wants a full backup. It gives them safety and peace of mind, like an insurance policy for that rainy day when they may need to restore a system."
"The most valuable features of the product are data deduplication and disaster recovery."
"Since the technology is reliable, it simplifies the backup process significantly. Now, our focus can primarily be on managing full backups and creating some offline copies."
"The backup of Sybase databases is the most valuable feature in the existing environment. They have got the most documentation out there on the internet for its software protection. The documentation is excellent, and there are a lot of blogs, websites. Because it's still one of the oldest products out there for data protection, there are also lots of people who have a lot of experience in using this solution."
"The most valuable feature is that DPM has an index so individual files can be searched."
"Microsoft DPM is scalable."
"The most valuable feature is the total integration of the System Center solution."
"One of the most effective features of Microsoft DPM is its integration with the entire Microsoft ecosystem."
"I could back up all the stuff we had, even the VMs we have for Hyper V."
"Its capability to give a BMR for all the workstations that I want to connect to."
"The most important feature is that it's easy to use."
"It is almost perfect for Microsoft products. It is not a very powerful tool, but it is okay for small sites and small businesses with Microsoft products. It is easy to use for backup and restore. It is good for backing up Microsoft servers such as Exchange and SharePoint servers."
 

Cons

"It needs BMR (bare machine recovery) solutions for both Windows and Linux systems."
"We should be talking about the capacity of the tape drives. That's the only problem."
"We recently had a situation where we quickly got code, and the number of tapes exceeded the library capacity so we were waiting a while to change. We got a fix for this right away."
"Any feature that is compliant with virtualizing the application should be improved."
"Better integration with other tools and databases is needed."
"The software is very complicated. You have to do a lot of configurations to build a server, and you would need to backup and restore."
"They need to do a better job on Windows, because if you are running Windows, the scalability is more limited than AIX and Linux."
"We cannot take VMware backups for our banking data center environment."
"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."
"The user interface can be improved quite a bit."
"It can back up, yet it lacks features compared to Veeam."
"The user friendliness could be improved."
"Microsoft DPM could improve by adding S3 backup to S3 storage capabilities."
"It would be better if it integrated seamlessly with open source and competitor products. In the next release, I would like to see some data governance frameworks. It should have support features for data integration and data replication like Veeam. Right now, we are also using Veeam for certain scenarios."
"Microsoft DPM could improve if it was available in a public or private cloud."
"The problem lies with the 2019 version, it's the file system they’re using."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM provides an open license policy, which is more like a gentlemen's agreement."
"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."
"The solution is not cheap."
"IBM Spectrum Protect, cost-wise, has way higher pricing than Veeam. By switching over to Veeam, my company saved over $600,000 in USD. The IBM Spectrum Protect pricing is a two on a scale of one to ten. My company paid additional fees for maintenance, apart from the standard licensing fees."
"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."
"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective."
"Use capacity licensing. It's easier and cheaper."
"It can be perceived as expensive since it is designed for enterprise use."
"I think Microsoft DPM pricing is reasonable. The additional costs are related to storage and technical support."
"Microsoft DPM can be considered as an expensive solution for smaller or medium enterprises, but we have been satisfied with the price structure as it is fixed and it offers a variety of useful features"
"Microsoft DPM is a free solution. However, we pay approximately $3,000 annually for support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise94
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Storage Protect?
The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will continue to use in the future.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is generally an expensive tool. However, with good contracts with IBM or its partners, the cost might not be so high. New customers can expect very high prices.
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past. There is a need for additional layers of security to fill the gaps, which is wh...
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

IBM Spectrum Discover
DPM, Data Protection Manager, MS DPM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
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 Storage Protect vs. Microsoft DPM and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,676 professionals have used our research since 2012.