IBM Spectrum Protect vs Veeam Data Platform comparison

IBM and Veeam Software are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.1, while Veeam Software is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. IBM holds a 2.2% mindshare in BRS, compared to Veeam Software’s 16.0% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Veeam Software 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

Veeam Data Platform

Read 423 Veeam Data Platform reviews

29,873 Views
24,720 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect

Veeam Data Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 23, 2025

IBM Spectrum Protect and Veeam Data Platform compete in the data protection sector, each offering unique strengths. Veeam Data Platform stands out in virtualization environments due to its instant recovery and ease of use.

Features:IBM Spectrum Protect is known for its scalability, supporting various platforms through features like incremental-forever backup, deduplication, and Disaster Recovery Manager. Veeam Data Platform excels with instant VM recovery, VMware and Hyper-V integration, and features like SureBackup for data verification.

Room for Improvement:IBM Spectrum Protect needs a more user-friendly interface, enhanced reporting capabilities, and better cloud integration. Veeam Data Platform should enhance tape management, expand support for physical servers, and refine its cloud environment and database integrations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:IBM Spectrum Protect users face challenges with setup complexity and receive mixed technical support feedback. Veeam Data Platform offers easy deployment and an intuitive interface, with highly rated customer service emphasizing responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI:IBM Spectrum Protect's complex licensing can lead to higher costs but offers value for scalability and long-term data retention. Veeam Data Platform provides a more predictable per-socket licensing model, making it cost-effective for small to medium businesses seeking competitive pricing and strong ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform

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

Veeam Data Platform

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

423

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (1st), Virtualization Management Tools (5th), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (1st), Cloud Monitoring Software (11th)

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 Veeam Data Platform is 16.0%, down from 20.2% 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.

Read full review

Edward Hore

L3 Infrastructure Engineer at Specsavers

Reliable with good support but needs a better navigation menu

We use Veeam Data to back up our VMware infrastructure Veeam Data Platform is valuable for its stability and the ability to easily contact support for assistance. The support team provides answers whenever we need them. It is also one of the most scalable backup solutions I've worked with. The…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The platform’s most valuable feature is its ability to verify the recoverability of backups."

"It is good in terms of functionality. My clients are very satisfied with this solution."

"We have a very good team of administrators who know the product perfectly and are able to manage it on a day-to-day basis."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the centralized enterprise backup."

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

"We can freeze and start databases for consistent backups."

"Traditional archiving. One of our revenue streams involves maintaining archives of our customers' data for very long periods of time."

"Technical support is okay. We have not had many issues with them."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

"It is a good solution for backups and reporting."

"Veeam Data Platform is valuable for its stability and the ability to easily contact support for assistance."

"The solution's best features are its ease of use and replication."

"Recovery of backup data is the most valuable feature."

"Veeam is highly scalable. In one scenario, we started with 2,000 users and scaled up to 24,000."

"The solution is a user-friendly interface."

"It is way easier to take backup with Veeam Backup & Replication than the regular ones."

"Good compression when storing data."

More Veeam Data Platform pros

Cons

"We should be talking about the capacity of the tape drives. That's the only problem."

"They can include more cloud-enriching features. I would like IBM Spectrum Protect to have the functionality for backing up a VM directly in Azure. I would like to be able to back up a VM directly in Azure without spinning up a Hyper-V cluster and backing up the virtual server."

"Generally, the implementation of virtualization could be improved. The workflow service and so on are not working properly."

"They should introduce more features for virtualization platforms and backing up IBMs. Backup speeds should also be improved."

"I think Spectrum Protect's interface is not so user-friendly, but the interface is not so friendly. Some of the functions are too complicated. I prefer a simpler solution."

"I would not recommend the tool to others because it is a really complex product."

"We need better protection from ransomware or the ability to identify ways we can protect ourselves from ransomware. Having backups is one thing, but specifically, we need methods to recover if we have a ransomware attack."

"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."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

"Immutability could be improved."

"Backup management features are crucial for ensuring the reliability and automation of backup processes."

"It would be beneficial to have enhanced solutions for database backup, particularly for Oracle databases in the context of SAP systems."

"The pricing model could be improved. It can be made cheaper."

"In terms of what could be improved, when creating a backup job with Veeam, you can create a daily backup, but it doesn't do it within that job. It does not give you the ability to also set the terms for monthly and/or weekly backups. It has to be a separate job. It gets clunky to manage the timeframes where you don't want a daily to run on this day and creating weeklies. And you don't want a daily to run on this day doing monthlies. That is hard to deal with. It would be really nice if you could do it through a single command line or a single interface."

"Veeam Data Platform lacks cyber security tools."

"The product's pricing is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"The stability could be better, specifically in the cloud."

More Veeam Data Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective."

"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive. However, there are a few packages and it is unclear because, for the entry suite they have both options, which are the back-end storage capacity and the front-end storage capacity."

"One can go with either a PVU licensing model or a capacity based licensing model. Either solution does not block the usage, if over used."

"The pricing of the solution is high in comparison to other products on the market. For example, IBM and Symantec have less costly options."

"The licensing is varied. If we have small environments (not many TB being managed) it is best to license by PVUs (depending on the number of cores of the machine). If we manage many TBs we look at licensing by capacity which allows us to use all the agents of the product."

"The license model that they have at IBM, which is due to volume, from a certain volume onward is not the right license model."

"That's a hard estimate. It depends on the licensing, the hardware, and other stuff, but it is fairly expensive. It is generally more expensive than other solutions."

"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive and there is only a standard licensing fee."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

"It's an extremely cost-effective solution."

"I would say that the product is fairly priced."

"The product is expensive."

"I would rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten. The licensing costs are yearly."

"If you have Veeam Backup and Replication with the essential license then this solution is free. If you were to purchase Veeam ONE by itself it is priced cheaper than competitors."

"Veeam is more reasonably priced than some competing products."

"Setup cost and licensing of Veeam are nothing to complain about when compared to similar products for enterprise backup recovery solutions."

"The price of Veeam is much lower than the IBM solution."

More Veeam Data Platform pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user159711

Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 9, 2014

VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto

Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

University

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?

See all answers

Major Differences Between These 4 Backup and Disaster Recovery Solutions?

Comparing the features of the four is not the right approach. You need to develop a list of requirements for backup and DR that are specific to your organization and then compare each of the four ...

See all answers

How do the backup solutions of Veeam and Veritas compare?

Technically, Veeam is best for hyper-v & VMWare replications, snapshots, HA failover, also support for file system backups inside VMs., support for tape library & FC too. But Veritas Netbac...

See all answers

How does Nakivo compare with Veeam Backup & Replication?

Nakivo is my favorite backup software. Below are the main benefits of Nakivo compared to Veeam 1. Low cost. 2. Backup storage with global deduplication (this is the main requirement of a backup sol...

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Comparisons

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 18% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

Rubrik vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Storage Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Protect Competitors

Commvault Cloud vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 6% of the time

Rubrik vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 6% of the time

Acronis Cyber Protect vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Zerto vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 3% of the time

Azure Backup vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 3% of the time

More Veeam Data Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect

April 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

Veeam Data Platform

April 2025

Download Veeam Data Platform product report

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager

Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE

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

Veeam Data Platform ensures comprehensive data resilience by offering secure backups and intelligent data insights, catering to the complexities of modern data management.

Veeam Data Platform empowers businesses with reliable data protection, orchestrated recovery, and streamlined management. Providing peace of mind, it guarantees data is secure, available, and effortlessly recoverable. Organizations benefit from features such as instant recovery, simplified management, and compatibility with virtual environments. While it shines in backup and restore capabilities, it calls for improvements in integration with physical servers and enhanced cyber security features.

What are the key features of Veeam Data Platform?

Instant Recovery: Allows immediate data restoration with minimal downtime.
Simplified Management: Intuitive interfaces for managing data with ease.
Efficient Replication: Supports reliable duplication for high availability.
Seamless VM Backups: Integrates well with virtual environments like VMware and Hyper-V.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Offers robust alerting for proactive data management.

What are the notable benefits of using Veeam Data Platform?

Reliability: Trustworthy backup and restore functionalities.
Scalability: Supports cloud integration for expanding data needs.
Time Efficiency: Fast recovery processes minimizing business impact.
Flexibility: Adapts to diverse data management requirements.
Peace of Mind: Assures persistent data availability and protection.

Organizations in industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing utilize Veeam Data Platform for critical data management, ensuring business continuity and disaster recovery. Employed in securing both virtual and physical workloads, Veeam integrates cloud storage for enhanced scalability and efficiency.

Veeam Software

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

Business & Legal Resources Inc., Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, Alliance Healthcare, Poulin Grain Inc., Linear Technology, Northwestern University, ARKEMA, Sogegross, City of Lynchburg

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform

April 2025

Free Report: IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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