IBM Spectrum Protect vs Veeam Data Platform comparison

IBM and Veeam Software are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.4, 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 15.6% 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 150 IBM Spectrum Protect reviews

3,616 Views
2,660 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Veeam Data Platform

Read 424 Veeam Data Platform reviews

28,183 Views
18,776 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: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform

June 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

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

150

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

424

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (1st), Virtualization Management Tools (3rd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (1st), Cloud Monitoring Software (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 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 Veeam Data Platform is 15.6%, down from 20.1% 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

"IBM Spectrum Protect is a scalable solution."

"It helps our customers protect their data, especially with stuff like ransomware, compliance, and regulatory requirements."

"We work very closely together with IBM using their Support Center, but we have a strong contact in their development teams, and we have dedicated people from IBM working with us."

"In the past, one of the most valuable features, and the biggest advantage, was the incremental forever feature. Not many other backup vendors provided that. In the pre-virtualization environment, it was very robust and simple technology, especially writing to tape."

"It is a very mature product."

"This solution has improved our organization through better file and database recovery."

"Since the technology is reliable, it simplifies the backup process significantly. Now, our focus can primarily be on managing full backups and creating some offline copies."

"The best part of this solution is that it just works."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pros

"I'm pleased with the ability to search for documents; it's very useful."

"Features with the most value are Instant VM Recovery, SQL Explorer and Exchange Explorer."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the recuperation of the weaker machines."

"The solution is quite stable."

"The most valuable data protection features in Veeam are encryption and error handling."

"I enjoy the ability to quickly search for VMs through the Veeam console."

"The most valuable feature is the instant recovery."

"WAN Accelerator helps tremendously with replicating our data because we have a large chunk of data that gets replicated between our two facilities."

More Veeam Data Platform pros

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."

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

"This product should be more user-friendly for newcomers."

"This solution is not mature in terms of disaster recovery and could be improved."

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

"I find the Level 1 and Level 2 support spend 80% of the time communicating the same information that I have already provided."

"It needs some software upgrades to fix some of its current bugs."

"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."

More IBM Spectrum Protect cons

"I think Veeam ONE should be included in the base product instead of as an add-on because customers tend to look for simple solutions that are integrated."

"In future releases, I would like to see the solution provide auto resolution and auto relocation of resources."

"I would like to have them come up with more robust features when it comes to individual endpoint protection."

"Multithreading of health check process: This can take too much time to process on large jobs and/or large VMs."

"If you upgrade too quickly, you may have issues."

"Its native capability for talking to the public cloud needs improvement. Connecting to a public cloud is a little bit more of a challenge when it comes to Veeam than it is with Rubrik or Commvault. There are still some hoops that you got to jump through in order to send Veeam backups out to public cloud repositories. It is not as simple as it is with other products."

"There's a situation where VMs run on different locks. It's running on the VM while having a relationship with nearby solutions running on the same server and storage. This creates a bottleneck that needs to be eliminated."

"The solution's pricing may be expensive compared to other products."

More Veeam Data Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."

"We are paying for support and maintenance on a monthly basis."

"We chose IBM Spectrum Protect, because they actually have something called MSP pricing, which means managed services provider pricing. The pricing was attractive, and it seems to be a platform that IBM is totally investing on in terms of new functions and new capabilities."

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

"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. 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."

"The licensing fees are between $8,000 and $10,000 per year."

"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."

More IBM Spectrum Protect pricing and cost advice

"The product is expensive."

"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."

"The license subscription could be more straightforward."

"It is more cost-effective than some of the other solutions, but a lot of that comes down to the fact that we're a reseller. So, depending upon the deal, we do negotiate different price points for different customers. The price varies depending upon the size of the customer, the size of the deal, and the discounts we can negotiate."

"The pricing and licensing is better than the competitors, but it could be better."

"The price is quite fair."

"Its licensing is very simple. We can make changes very easily."

"I understand from management that the DR component is too expensive."

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

Educational Organization

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 17% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 12% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 10% of the time

IBM Storage Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 7% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM Spectrum Protect

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Protect Competitors

Commvault Cloud vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 7% 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

HPE Zerto Software vs Veeam Data Platform

Compared 4% 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

June 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

Veeam Data Platform

May 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

June 2025

Free Report: IBM Spectrum Protect vs. Veeam Data Platform

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