IBM Storage Protect vs N-able Cove Data Protection comparison

IBM and N-able are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.5, while N-able is ranked #29 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 2.3% mindshare in BRS, compared to N-able’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of N-able users who would recommend it.

IBM Storage Protect

Read 3 IBM Storage Protect reviews

4,197 Views
3,525 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

N-able Cove Data Protection

Read 23 N-able Cove Data Protection reviews

3,743 Views
2,134 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Storage Protect

N-able Cove Data Protection

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2025

N-able Cove Data Protection and IBM Storage Protect compete in the data protection landscape. N-able Cove Data Protection has an upper hand in pricing and support, while IBM Storage Protect has superior features and reliability.

Features: N-able Cove Data Protection provides cloud backup, disaster recovery, and scalability. IBM Storage Protect includes recovery management, archiving features, and support for complex ecosystems.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: N-able Cove Data Protection enables easy cloud deployment with responsive support. IBM Storage Protect involves a complex setup due to extensive features but offers reliable guidance.

Pricing and ROI: N-able Cove Data Protection offers competitive pricing with minimal upfront costs. IBM Storage Protect has higher initial costs but offers long-term value.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Storage Protect vs. N-able Cove Data Protection Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Storage Protect vs. N-able Cove Data Protection

July 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 Storage Protect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

N-able Cove Data Protection

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

29th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Backup (17th), SaaS Backup (8th), MSP Backup (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.3%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N-able Cove Data Protection is 1.3%, up from 1.2% 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

Per MøllerJacobsen

Senior consultant at Azend A/S

Delivers cost-effective data backup with room for search improvements

The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems. You cannot just search for something—you need to know where it was and when it was there to restore it, plus it would be nice to take out data from Microsoft 365 in some portable format, which is currently not an option. I would like to extract the data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format, something like a database or maybe just to take out a PST file or SharePoint and Teams files to the file system. Especially in these times, where we discuss potential risks with the Microsoft cloud for European companies, companies would want to know how to access their data from the backup if they suddenly don't have a tenant. I believe there should be the ability to take out data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format. I know that Cohesity is working on making such a thing. It's not there yet; I asked last week for something for forensics, and the support team said it's not possible yet, but I know from our technical account manager they are working on some solutions.

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

"It is very stable after deployment and will perform in a steady state."

"The scheduled backups ensure we meet the requirements for our business, and we keep backups of certain environments."

"The amount of data that it protects with very little storage by doing incremental forever is one of its most valuable features."

"Our customers have come to trust IBM."

"When I have to do disaster recoveries, I can do it with this tool."

"It is also a product that has been maturing for a long time. This is good because customers need reliability in their enterprise initiatives."

"Every time customers make a change or we have made a change, then they use the product to do a cloning and refreshing. They are happy that they get good performance something changes."

"The D2D2T archive of my PACS data improved after I put Spectrum Protect 8.1.4 into production."

More IBM Storage Protect pros

"The integration of N-able Cove Data Protection into our existing infrastructure is easy."

"It's extremely important that Cove provides cloud-based data protection with backup, disaster recovery, and archiving. That is a necessity for my insurance. As an IT company, my insurance would cost more if my backups were not offsite and off-network."

"The ease of use and the console are great."

"The most valuable feature of N-able Cove Data Protection is its ease of use."

"What I like the most about it's the ease of use and the reliability that it has when copying information to the cloud."

"The most valuable aspect is the added protection of having a cloud-based backup service. It provides redundancy in case of data loss."

"I know I won't have an issue if the data is there. The reliability and the confidence that we have is amazing. It doesn't matter. We've had customers have ransomware. We've had customers that have had corruption. We've had customers that have had employees destroy their data. As long as it's been backed up, I know that I can get it back and I know I have nothing to worry about. Our confidence level is very high."

"The solution has reduced backup times by an immeasurable amount. Its backups are incremental, so you are only backing up data changes based on the last 24 hours or so. If you are also maintaining the stored images, the restores are also only incremental, happening in minutes. Whereas, with a lot of the other solutions that we have looked at, each time it goes to refresh the restore, then it has to build a completely new image. That takes forever. This solution also improves recovery time."

More N-able Cove Data Protection pros

Cons

"Integration with some applications in the healthcare field could be added, as that is a big part of our business."

"We would like to see bare-metal restorers."

"The administration interface should implement more functionalities that exist only in the command line and needs improvement in how some reports are created."

"Needs more support for non-mainstream databases, in particular PostgreSQL, SQL, and MySQL."

"Replication of data could be more user friendly."

"Its price can be better. It is very expensive. Its interface is very old and not user friendly. They can improve its interface. Their support can also be better. My clients are not very satisfied with the support because they are not really quick."

"Sometimes we experience trouble with the backup transfer of the control files."

"I would like to advance reporting and analytics for the platform to see how much data is coming into the platform. how much data is expiring everyday, and what tape savings we are getting through reclamation."

More IBM Storage Protect cons

"I have some issues with the agent failing on workstations. I've had to completely uninstall several of them, delete everything, and start over to get them to work."

"A disaster recovery console would be an improvement for the product."

"Having the licensing available for partners to be able to take advantage of testing without paying would make a big difference."

"Integration with a hybrid cloud is something that I found complicated."

"For the MSP side, they could have more of a "security user" that can go in and only see certain clients. If you give somebody access as a technician, they can see all the clients."

"One area I don't like has to do with the agent that goes on the system... if a system stays offline for some length of time, say for a week or so, I may have to go back in and reinstall the agent to get it back in business. I don't know what's causing that."

"For small amounts of data, recovery is easy, but when it's large amounts of data, it takes forever. So, if they can have a service where they put our data on a hard drive and ship it to us as fast as possible, it would be great. Even if there's a fee associated with it, it's fine."

"This solution is not very good for image restores, mainly just files. The solution also does not allow you to enable or disable backups. Sometimes, our users will connect via mobile device and it will use their data to perform the backup. If they were able to enable and disable the backup, they would not have this issue."

More N-able Cove Data Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Regarding retro-compatibility of the product between versions, your data is always available and the ROI is unquestionable."

"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."

"License-wise regarding IBM, it's licensed per terabyte. And that is after compression and deduplication."

"It is very scalable, but the downside is that it costs money."

"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 solution is not cheap."

"The different license models can give good benefits to the end customer."

More IBM Storage Protect pricing and cost advice

"The only option I would like to see is an adjustable scale. Right now we have 250 seats and we're not using all of them. It would be nice to be able to save that little bit of money by being able to buy just what we need."

"The pricing, for now, is good. The package that they gave us recently is pretty good. It depends on how many clients you have, and you pay for certain terabytes per license. These terabytes, if not used, are pooled together."

"The pricing is affordable. N-able Cove Data Protection has a direct-to-cloud architecture, but it also allows saving backups locally without extra storage costs."

"The pricing of SolarWinds seems to be fair compared to the rest of the industry."

"When you have a device/appliance on the site quite a lot of the other enterprise class backup people insist that you have their appliance, which is frankly offensively expensive. Because when you pry the top off, it's just a standard 19-inch tin box with a standard Intel I5 in it, some RAM, and a hard drive. Then, you go, "Why have they just charged me 5,500 quid for a box, which I could have probably build for under 500." Whereas, with the SolarWinds product, they don't have that. The backup appliances that we have onsite are just plain cooking PCs. We can build our own machines, which is reflected in the price that we can offer a customer."

"The cost is around ten dollars per workstation a month and that includes a certain amount of data."

"The pricing is very competitive and it's well worth the price."

"Cove only takes the data you have on the physical server. I can back that up for long periods of time, and I don't accrue high charges to have the data in the cloud. It stays at one rate. This allows me to forecast payment for the next one or two years and show clients their estimated growth."

More N-able Cove Data Protection pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about N-able Backup?

The initial setup of N-able Cove Data Protection was very easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for N-able Backup?

In terms of pricing, N-able Cove Data Protection is neither cheap nor expensive compared to other competitors.

See all answers

What needs improvement with N-able Backup?

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 14% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 14% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 10% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 9% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Storage Protect Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 13% of the time

Acronis Cyber Protect vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 8% of the time

Synology C2 Backup vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 7% of the time

NinjaOne vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 5% of the time

Boxafe vs N-able Cove Data Protection

Compared 4% of the time

More N-able Cove Data Protection Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Backup and Recovery

July 2025

Download IBM Storage Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

N-able Cove Data Protection

August 2025

Download N-able Cove Data Protection product report

Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover

N-able Backup, SolarWinds Backup, SolarWinds MSP Backup & Recovery, SolarWinds MSP Backup

Overview

IBM Storage Protect offers data protection and management to secure critical business information efficiently. It's designed to be a scalable and flexible solution for data backup, recovery, and archive needs in complex IT environments.

IBM Storage Protect delivers comprehensive data protection by integrating backup, recovery, and archiving functionalities. It supports a range of workloads and infrastructures, from on-premises to cloud environments, facilitating efficient data management. Its platform provides seamless scalability to meet evolving business needs, underpinned by reliable security measures. Organizations leverage its capabilities to ensure business continuity and minimize data loss risks, making it vital in a data-driven world.

What are the key features of IBM Storage Protect?

Advanced Data Protection: Offers robust encryption and data integrity for secure backup processes.
Scalability: Grows with your data demands, supporting large data volumes without compromising performance.
Cloud Integration: Seamlessly integrates with cloud platforms, enhancing backup strategies with hybrid options.
Automated Operations: Simplifies management tasks with automation, reducing manual intervention and errors.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating IBM Storage Protect?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces storage costs by optimizing backup processes and data retention strategies.
Data Safety: Ensures data accessibility and integrity during recovery efforts, building trust in data protection strategies.
Operational Efficiency: Boosts productivity through streamlined and automated backup management workflows.
Compliance Readiness: Helps maintain compliance with data protection regulations by providing thorough reporting and audit trails.

Industries like finance and healthcare implement IBM Storage Protect to safeguard sensitive information against threats. In financial services, it's crucial for maintaining client data confidentiality, while healthcare institutions use it to protect patient records, ensuring both accessibility and compliance with regulations.

IBM

Cove Data Protection, from N-able, is a comprehensive solution designed to safeguard critical business data. It offers a range of features including backup and recovery, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection. With automated backups and flexible scheduling options, it ensures data is protected and easily recoverable.

The solution also includes advanced security measures such as encryption and ransomware detection to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches. Cove Data Protection provides seamless integration with various platforms and offers centralized management for efficient monitoring and control.

With its user-friendly interface and robust capabilities, Cove Data Protection is an ideal choice for businesses seeking reliable data protection.

N-able

Sample Customers

CEMEX

Computer Depot, Leading Edge Computers, IT Logic Australia

Buyer's Guide

IBM Storage Protect vs. N-able Cove Data Protection

July 2025

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