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IBM Spectrum Protect vs NetApp AltaVault 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
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp AltaVault
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
55th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (12th), Disk Based Backup Systems (7th), Cloud Backup (47th), Cloud Storage Gateways (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp AltaVault is 0.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
Naveen Radhwani - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable, fulfils compliance requirements, and enables to manage data backups easily
I use the solution for backup and recovery Our systems have become more stable and scalable after using NetApp AltaVault. The dashboard is useful for managing data backups. The deduplication technology helps me take offline backups efficiently. The workload on the end team has been reduced. It…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find the whole product useful. The backup archive client, snapshot, spectrum for virtual environments are beneficial features."
"Scalability: Our customers are able to grow the product without having to buy additional hardware, so it is very scalable."
"The best functional system I utilize is integrated with the data domain and DIGS backup solution, which makes it easily manageable and comprehensive."
"The main thing is to keep the data safe and in files, keep it on tape ready for a request from a bank, and it is working perfectly with all our hardware."
"This solution has improved our organization through better file and database recovery."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is stable."
"Instead of taking three different backups of your systems, you're taking only one. You're able to crack that open and get what you need. The incident recovery, where it creates the VM and then you're running it, technically you're running it on Spectrum Protect. But then in the background, it's doing the storage motion and moving it off the Spectrum Protect back to your VMware environment. The users don't know the difference."
"The scalability of IBM Spectrum Protect is good."
"The dashboard is useful for managing data backups."
"It's pretty simple. Once you set it, it goes; and then the idea of being able to get it to the cloud very quickly. It's kind of a set-it-forget-it."
"It's so easy to work with."
"Being able to move data seamlessly from one-premise to the cloud (Azure). It works great. The backup solution is perfect for us."
"Most importantly is having that island into that datacenter, and being able to address things in the same console. Thus, it is irrelevant where it's stored."
"You can store backups for a while."
"The solution is very easy to use and it offers great support."
"Its initial setup is easy."
 

Cons

"The solution must protect against ransomware attacks better."
"Most customers still struggle with the reporting piece, especially generating reports. I think it needs some improvements in this area."
"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."
"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."
"The product should be improved to save more space."
"This product should be more user-friendly for newcomers."
"The stability could be improved."
"It needs some software upgrades to fix some of its current bugs."
"It would be nice if the solution was more complete. Many customers are looking for a single solution or silo that they can manage everything from. It would be nice, instead of having different products, if everything a client needed was in one solution."
"The initial setup phase of the tool was difficult."
"There are some bits it could do better. With tighter integration maybe with Veeam, or something like that, it'd be really good."
"The solution needs faster indexing."
"NetApp's own competing products complicate things."
"It's a good product, but it's becoming outdated and moving to their other primary architecture."
"I would like to see more web support."
"More than a 500 volume limit. At the moment, it only supports up to 500 volumes for SnapMirror and that's a problem. We've got 750, so a larger limit for volume replicas for SnapMirror."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have spec'd out our build, and the cost of it can work quite easily today for our future needs."
"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."
"Customers need to pay for licensing in order to use IBM Spectrum Protect. The customers that have been using it for a long time are okay and happy with it. From a cost point of view, it's better for them to renew their licenses than to go through the difficult process of changing a backup product in their environment, and migrate from one product to another."
"It is really expensive. Its price is not good for Latin America. Its price is good for the United States or Europe."
"It is expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive and there is only a standard licensing fee."
"It's quite cost-effective."
"It is a rather expensive program."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution, which comes to around 3,000 USD."
"In one use case, and we have several, to run for a particular customer, the price is about $375,000 a year."
"You could compare it to a Dell EMC or ECS, and I think it's probably a little less costly than that. Within the marketplace, it's a medium cost."
"The price is a bit high."
"The pricing is not too bad, but could be a little better."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Insurance Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum 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...
Is NetApp AltaVault compatible with AWS?
Hello. Yes, it is compatible with AWS but the great thing about it is that it's actually working with so many cloud providers, it may be just for everyone. Besides the Amazon cloud services, NetApp...
Can AltaVault be used for data reduction?
Hello, you can definitely use NetApp AltaVault for reducing your data and giving yourself some more storage. This product offers you deduplication and compression, helping you achieve that. I'm su...
What kind of security does NetApp AltaVault give you?
My organization is very happy with the security that NetApp AltaVault gives us for our data on the cloud. First, it gives us the option for data recovery, which is very good, especially if someone...
 

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
AltaVault
 

Overview

 

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
Blach Construction, NASA, Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes, Seminole County Public Schools and Spot Trading
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. NetApp AltaVault and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
861,803 professionals have used our research since 2012.