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IBM Storage Protect vs NetVault Plus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 19, 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
NetVault Plus
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
42nd
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetVault Plus is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Storage Protect2.1%
NetVault Plus0.8%
Other97.1%
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.
Cahit Yolacan - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported reliable file backup operations and maintained compliance with local data policies
The strong point for me is the tape record feature. The backup and recovery capabilities of NetVault Plus are very important for maintaining my business. There's no positive impact that NetVault Plus has brought to my company; I mean, there's no particular benefit I have seen from using it. It's just used in general, and another colleague specifically selected NetVault Plus without any problem in Turkey area; everything is good enough for me. But specifically, with NetVault Plus, I don't see any impact.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Every time we go and try to get a file, we can get it. Restores are quick and the data is always there."
"It is a very mature product."
"When I have to do disaster recoveries, I can do it with this tool."
"One of the main things that I like about IBM is the versioning of the data - meaning that we can have multiple versions of a file or directory of a server."
"The customization and the ability to backup across all platforms are the most valuable features."
"The feature that I have found the most valuable is that IBM Spectrum Protect is highly integrated with IBM ESS. In addition, it allows us to back up our virtual servers directly to take VM snapshots. It runs on Linux as well."
"We optimize our costs of media and storage use, thanks to the Incremental Forever backup. The TDP software provides us many ways to protect our data, so we don't need to use monstrous scripts for doing backups now."
"The product helps us do data protection and restoration for disaster recovery (DR)."
"Its dashboard is quite well done. When you log into the GUI, you can basically see everything you need to know. There is also the possibility to edit the view as you like, which is great."
"Having the web-based interface is important to us because we can access it from any computer in the network, rather than having it installed and available for use only on a specific one."
"Quest NetVault Plus has a high level of stability."
"If a job is pending, the solution communicates it to us through emails."
"Quest NetVault Plus is quite effective for managing backups across multiple systems because we don't need to log in to the backup server to manage it; it's web-based, so from any system in the network, you can log in and manage everything."
"The solution allows us to block off our network and only give access to whatever we want."
"The interface is very user-friendly."
"It has File and SQL backup, which is the main benefit for us."
 

Cons

"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."
"The stability could be improved."
"IBM's support hasn't been so good in the last few years."
"It seems like they are a little behind on the integration to Azure Cloud as well as Amazon."
"We cannot take VMware backups for our banking data center environment."
"Easier configuration of some of the products, e.g., VE comes to mind."
"Some features are outdated as the product does not use the latest technologies. The graphical user interface, known as the operation center, is not very well designed. Additionally, IBM Storage Protect does not work well with virtual environments such as VMware and Hyper-V."
"The solution could be more user-friendly and provide better monitoring. The monitoring should be improved first since it is a higher priority."
"There are command-line limitations. There is not a very strong possibility to work with the command line. The commands that are there are not that powerful, and you need to be very good at scripting, for example, in PowerShell or in Bash in case it is running on Linux systems. You need to combine a lot of commands together, and still, you will not get a great output that is presentable to others. You cannot work with it as easily."
"The stability of the solution is poor."
"There's no positive impact that NetVault Plus has brought to my company; I mean, there's no particular benefit I have seen from using it."
"The product’s SQL backup plugin needs improvement."
"I would like to see the option of cloud-based management."
"There are certain issues with the product that we report to Quest, and we get offered a workaround instead of a fix. There could be better interaction with the development teams, perhaps in terms of transparency."
"The initial setup is a little complex."
"Improvements could be made in the deduplication and data management capabilities. There is also a need for better security measures, as security is critical to ensure backups are safe and free from malware."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."
"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."
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"It's very complicated. Licensing is a pain."
"The solution has a capacity based licensing, front and back-end license."
"The pricing of the solution is high in comparison to other products on the market. For example, IBM and Symantec have less costly options."
"We have spec'd out our build, and the cost of it can work quite easily today for our future needs."
"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."
"When we purchased four licenses, we were given a very good price. However, it is still on the high side when compared to some other vendors."
"The tool is expensive."
"The price of our 12-month contract is approximately $1,500 AUD ($1,100 USD)."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Performing Arts
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
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 Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
 

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 do you like most about Quest NetVault?
NetVault is a great cloud-ready enterprise backup software for hybrid data centers. Here are some of the things I really like about the solution: It is easy to use right out of the box and scales ...
What needs improvement with Quest NetVault?
I don't know of any improvements needed because everything is okay; I have no problems. NetVault Plus doesn't have a support team in my country; having a local contact in Turkey would be very usefu...
What is your primary use case for Quest NetVault?
My primary purpose for using NetVault Plus is file backup, only file backup. We don't need granular backup right now because the betting system operates only in Turkey, and government policy is ver...
 

Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover
NetVault Backup, Quest NetVault, Quest NetVault Backup, BakBone
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
intel, Mars, MERK, Microsoft, Uber, Visa
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Storage Protect vs. NetVault Plus and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
871,408 professionals have used our research since 2012.