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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
43rd
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (27th)
 

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 NetVault Plus is 0.7%, up from 0.6% 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%
NetVault Plus0.7%
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.
Isa Safii - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive data protection and reliable backup capabilities enable smooth disaster recovery operations
The features of Quest NetVault Plus that are most valuable include the ability to pick up and restore to tape servers and external hard disks. It allows us to pick up from devices and then restore to the same devices or external server storage. Additionally, the application supports scanning files for malware before backup operations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM Spectrum Protect is stable."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is a scalable solution."
"Reliability: It has never had a problem with backups or restores. If you store something, it is there."
"IBM Spectrum Protect offers stable software and products."
"The tool's backup engine is very powerful. Previously, our client finished backup with HPE product in 48 hours. IBM Storage Protect completes backup in 8 hours."
"Our customers have come to trust IBM."
"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."
"It is pretty easy to use and maintain."
"It has File and SQL backup, which is the main benefit for us."
"The interface is very user-friendly."
"If a job is pending, the solution communicates it to us through emails."
"The user interface is good."
"The initial setup is straightforward. It's not that complicated. Deployment took maybe about 15 minutes."
"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."
"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."
"Quest NetVault Plus has a high level of stability."
 

Cons

"Anytime you are not very current and call in with an issue, it is hard to get it resolved. It will depend on how far back you go though."
"Sometimes we experience trouble with the backup transfer of the control files."
"Its management part can be better and simplified. It is kind of a beast as compared to Commvault or Veeam, but they are more user-friendly. They are also easier to learn, whereas Spectrum Protect definitely takes time. They should simplify it. Our teams are pretty comfortable with it because we have been using it for a long time, but from the perspective of a new user who is evaluating or using this solution, it is definitely more complex in terms of manageability. Its monitoring could be improved so that it can even monitor the jobs that are scheduled by external schedulers. There are situations where a database team might decide to use their own schedulers, but currently, Spectrum Protect is not able to catch those jobs in the Operation Manager console."
"High availability (HA) is a scalability challenge."
"It would be helpful if the solution included some sort of ransomware protection."
"I find the Level 1 and Level 2 support spend 80% of the time communicating the same information that I have already provided."
"There were scalability issues only in the brand new features which were recently released."
"We did not see any drawbacks to IBM Spectrum Protect before assisting a customer using Windows that wanted to migrate to using UNIX. IBM Spectrum Protect does not offer an option to migrate from other operating systems."
"In the next version, I would like to see support for the MongoDB database. As it is now, there is no component that works with it and we cannot back the data up using NetVault."
"The storage capacity is very low."
"Improvements should come, particularly in compatibility, backup performance, or better troubleshooting."
"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."
"I would like to see the option of cloud-based management."
"The stability of the solution is poor."
"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."
"The initial setup is a little complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its licensing is complicated. It goes by CPUs, and it is pretty expensive as well."
"Licensing IBM Spectrum Protect can be somewhat confusing for new users due to the options available, such as licensing on a capacity or per server basis."
"The solution is not cheap."
"Its licensing is complex, and its price is not really reasonable. It is on the expensive side. IBM, in general, is slightly expensive, but with IBM Spectrum for the virtual environment, they are looking into the aspect of helping customers with the cost and providing a cost-effective solution."
"It is really expensive. Its price is not good for Latin America. Its price is good for the United States or Europe."
"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."
"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."
"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."
"The tool is expensive."
"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 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%
Educational Organization
7%
Performing Arts
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
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 Business6
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?
There's always scope for improvement with any backup software we discuss, whether it's Quest NetVault Plus or Backup Exec, and I don't think any software is 100% foolproof or satisfactory. Improvem...
What is your primary use case for Quest NetVault?
We have customers in the pharma industry. Our customers' main use cases for this backup are file system backup and different databases such as MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle, and bare metal recovery.
 

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.
867,445 professionals have used our research since 2012.