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.

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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

"A robust tool which allows us to backup pretty much any environment, virtual or physical."

"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 solution is not complex, it's very easy to configure agents or VM backup and restore. Upgrades from one version to another are very fast and the product is very stable."

"The most valuable feature for data recovery in IBM Spectrum Protect is its database protection capabilities."

"The business value comes from the capability to overcome data losses."

"What I found most valuable in IBM Spectrum Protect is that it allows you to back up physical machines, and its proxy feature lets you back up virtual machines."

"Enterprise-wide type of architecture supports a lot of different platforms."

"The most valuable feature is the backup speed."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

"If you have an idea of what you are doing, it's very flexible and very stable."

"The dashboards in Micro Focus Data Protector are very good. They are similar to the dashboards in Veeam Backup & Replication."

"The command-line interface is user-friendly and well documented in the reference guide."

"What we find most valuable in Micro Focus Data Protector is that it provides Japanese data protection, for example, it protects information such as the full Japanese name, address, etc."

"The reliability of HP Data Protector is the most valuable feature for us."

"The initial setup is very easy."

"The normal file system backup is easy to manage, and our success rate is quite high."

"The most valuable feature of Data Protector is its integration with VMware. A lot of software these days integrates with VMware, and you can run some of these things on virtual machines. You can even have your backup manager running on a virtual machine and use physical managers to move data around. Their VMware integration isn't too bad, but Commvault has that feature, and many other backup products do."

More OpenText Data Protector pros

Cons

"The solution could be more user-friendly and provide better monitoring. The monitoring should be improved first since it is a higher priority."

"The installation process could be simplified."

"It has a lot of areas for improvement. Its reporting for job completion or incompletion can be improved. It should also provide a granular recovery, ease of operation, data life cycle management, and media management. It should support a backup in such a format that in case of a disaster, one can start the virtual machine out of the backup itself. Its reliability can also be better. It is also expensive, and their support is also poor."

"The reporting could be better."

"Perhaps if they could add replication to a second site or third site from the same console, that would be helpful. Currently, we have to connect to another console."

"It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum."

"It lacks reporting and an efficient alert mechanism. The GUI could also be improved."

"For Spectrum Protect Plus, I would like to see more enhanced reporting features and integration with Spectrum Protect."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

"VM backups needs to be improved. They need to make it similar to the way Veeam and Commvault are doing the virtual backups."

"Virtualization."

"The technical support is poor and should be improved."

"Recently, clients have raised concerns about the lack of comprehensive documentation for Data Protector."

"They should design the solution so that it is much easier for deployment and make the UI easy to use."

"Micro Focus Data Protector must improve its overall evolution record. They need to focus on hardware based instant recovery, client recovery, and cloud ability. Now there is no cloud ability."

"It's very expensive compared to Veeam and other similar solutions."

"The technical support was very slow."

More OpenText Data Protector cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."

"We have been at our size for a few years. We are not really looking to battle the licensing costs, as this is our primary system."

"The pricing model of this solution is another difficult area, it's very sophisticated in the way they charge. It's based on PBU, which is a type of processor, how, many processors, and you need to put everything into an equation. However, they have different ways of charging or licensing. One way is a back-end volume or front-end volume, which is quite complicated."

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

"It's very complicated. Licensing is a pain."

"That's no longer my department, but I have some past experience with licensing. It is not cheap. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of licensing. In terms of additional costs, there is management overhead. It is a complex solution and a lot of work goes into managing clients. It has gotten better over the years, but compared to its competitor, it is still heavy on management overhead."

"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."

"We have found that the pricing is high in our country."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

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

"It is more affordable compared to other vendors."

"The license for the solution is very expensive compared to the other products in the market."

"The solution requires paying for a license."

"The licensing cost is too high."

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

"In Data Protector, if you need extra features, you need to buy the agents for these features. Some of the features are Terabytes, some of them are agents. There's some complexity in the pricing and licensing."

"Data Protector's pricing is very competitive and we have no issues in this regard. I would give it an eight out of ten in terms of pricing."

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?

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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

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 11% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 11% 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 66% 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 5% 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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