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IBM Storage Protect vs MSP360 Backup comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 22, 2026

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
6.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
MSP360 Backup
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
58th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (47th), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (33rd), MSP Backup (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 1.7%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MSP360 Backup is 0.9%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Storage Protect1.7%
MSP360 Backup0.9%
Other97.4%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2787573 - PeerSpot reviewer
Interim Head of Infrastructure at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Backup coverage has supported immutable protection and now needs a more modern, intuitive interface
IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy to use and more relatable to younger engineers because its interface design is more similar to Office 365 and the newer controls and labels that we are accustomed to. The difficulty that we now have with IBM Storage Protect is that for this day and age, compared to other products that are out there, it seems complex. If we look back 15 years ago, all enterprise class backup software was complex, so IBM was not any different. However, many of these older systems, such as Commvault, still have the same complaint that they are very complex because they have tried to keep that same interface and the same way it works. This suits them, but it probably needed a complete overhaul to bring it into the ease of use that we have with modern software. However, that upgrade has not been done. IBM Storage Protect has not been upgraded into a modern platform. It still looks a legacy platform.
CONRAD FORREST - PeerSpot reviewer
President at MTS Consulting Group, Inc.
The solution provides the ability to backup all types of cloud drives, is inexpensive, and has decent support
MSP360 Backup provides the backup functionality, but we need to provide the storage component. We can use Azure, AWS, or another provider, but we need to choose the storage provider and create a bucket to store our data. The vendor is making changes to improve the functionality of the service and the separation of storage, but I would like to see more integration and a knowledge base of the tool. Currently trying to understand why the storage is separated and how to implement the storage properly is a challenge. Using the solution incurs additional charges for the device storage and backup which are not included in the service. Unlike other solutions such as Kohl which includes everything at one price. MSP360 Backup can be improved by adding inclusive pricing.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"SPIR is Instant Recovery for Spectrum Protect. It sends snapshots using space efficiently and blocking backups to the Spectrum Protect server. It provisions the snapshot from the backup server to the same or new server near instantly."
"In general, this is a good product; specifically, I like the deduplication and compression features."
"The technical support for Spectrum Protect is very mature. It is very committed to giving a top-notch support experience."
"So far, Spectrum Protector has been the best."
"It is a single point of control and administration for backup and recovery."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is a scalable solution."
"I think that overall it's a good software for backup."
"Replication processes with container storage pools allow reduction of storage space and network bandwidth, using deduplication and compression."
"The most valuable feature for me is that I can see what has been successfully backed up and what has not, which is very valuable because you don't have to check the machines, and the second feature is that you can change backup settings in the portal."
"MSP360 Backup's most valuable feature is its backup interface."
"One massive advantage of this solution, as compared to more enterprise products, is that no firewall changes are needed on the client's premises. For the product to back up from the client's premise to the cloud, it just needs port 8 and port 443, which are anyway always open. This was one of the things that made us decide to go with the product. It is very difficult to justify a firewall change for a small client who doesn't even know what a firewall is and how to maintain a firewall, or doesn't have anybody maintaining their firewall. You then have to maintain the firewall. MSP360 Backup takes away firewall change requirements, VPNs, or channels that are needed for the backup."
"I would recommend the solution; it's a very trustworthy solution."
"The solution is simple to use and easy to configure."
"The initial setup is very easy. It's not overly complex."
"Every user of IT infrastructure needs to have a backup, and this is a good solution to implement because it is so easy and straightforward."
"Block level transfers have significantly reduced the amount of time for transfers over some other solutions"
 

Cons

"The user interface (UI) for the admin is still not good. It is way too complicated to manage the product, as we still need to use command line. IBM launched the Operations Center (OC), but there are still functions lacking, especially since we cannot manage all our scheduled tasks by using the GUI."
"The installation is complex."
"My customers are not always happy with the Level 1 support. Sometimes, it just takes too long for the response to come, which is probably something that needs to be addressed."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"I am not really impressed with the Level 1 support, but once I get past that and go to Level 2, then we will usually get some type of resolution."
"This product should be more user-friendly for newcomers."
"They do not have a unified GUI, they only work on CLI and operations center, which is really complicated for the installation and configuration."
"Technical support for this product is pathetic - whenever we tried to raise support, it took a long time, so we had to resolve the problems on our own, especially in the production environment."
"The graphics are looking a bit old and should be updated."
"The solution's pricing is very high."
"The main improvement is that it should have GDPR compliance. That's the problematic point."
"If I have an incident and I need to restore something very fast, I want to restore a particular virtual machine, maybe in an hour and that is not possible to do with MSP360."
"The restore time could improve. When we had an issue the restore time was lengthy."
"As for what can be improved, some reports could be simplified so that you know how much backup you have done and what your backup details are. That report is available but it is very tough to get. I would like to know "today I have just uploaded 35 MB, tomorrow I have loaded 10 MB so my trend of backup is increasing.""
"Maybe implement an easier interface for basic users. For example, a set-up wizard with all the commonly used features as default."
"The initial setup is a little complex as it has to be done in the office and requires someone to come in and install the solution on your server, then configure the scheduling, backup pushing, and so on."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for a terabyte license to support our backend usage."
"We have found that the pricing is high in our country."
"The most important feature which I wish to be added involves the GUI, the user interface."
"The solution has a capacity based licensing, front and back-end license."
"We have spec'd out our build, and the cost of it can work quite easily today for our future needs."
"We have capacity licensing. We use the front end. The capacity licensing is pretty okay on the licensing price. I used to use the old PVU-based licensing in the early environment, but now we use capacity-based licensing."
"IBM Spectrum Protect can be considered an averagely-priced product."
"The product is not cheap."
"Pricing is reasonable although can be quite a large upfront cost."
"The cost is pretty inexpensive. Around four to five dollars per device, per workstation on each server."
"Its pricing needs improvement."
"It includes a standard licensing fee. Once a year, there is a rebranding fee. The licensing costs are available on the internet for MSP360 Backup. There is a discount structure where if you have over 50 devices, you get a 50% discount. So, my cost is $2 a license per month."
"I rate the price of MSP360 Backup a seven out of ten."
"MSP360 is vastly cheaper than its competitors and has almost all the same features."
"The solution is expensive."
"It provides a good cost savings compared to our previous cloud backup."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Construction Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise95
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
I do not know the current licensing cost for IBM Storage Protect and how we get our support because our licensing model is not quite standard. We do not buy IBM Storage Protect direct from IBM. We ...
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is my primary tool for backup and recovery. We also use it for immutable backups to protect against ransomware. We use IBM Storage Protect for everything on-premises. The benefi...
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Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover
Cloudberry Backup
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
StratX
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Storage Protect vs. MSP360 Backup and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,376 professionals have used our research since 2012.