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IBM Storage Protect vs NetApp AltaVault comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 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
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp AltaVault
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
52nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (12th), Disk Based Backup Systems (5th), Cloud Backup (46th), Cloud Storage Gateways (6th)
 

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 NetApp AltaVault is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
Naveen Radhwani - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable, fulfils compliance requirements, and enables to manage data backups easily
I use the solution for backup and recovery Our systems have become more stable and scalable after using NetApp AltaVault. The dashboard is useful for managing data backups. The deduplication technology helps me take offline backups efficiently. The workload on the end team has been reduced. It…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Because of the flexible parameters, everything can be fine-tuned to the customers’ needs in their environment."
"The platform’s most valuable feature is its ability to verify the recoverability of backups."
"The technical support for Spectrum Protect is very mature. It is very committed to giving a top-notch support experience."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is application-aware backups."
"The solution is mostly stable."
"A robust tool which allows us to backup pretty much any environment, virtual or physical."
"IBM Spectrum Protect has excellent integration capability."
"The addition of the retention set feature provides a reduction in storage costs. It also reduces RTO and RPO so that you can respond quickly to your clients and services in case of data loss."
"The deduplication engine. Right now, we're at about 10.5 to 11 times deduplication of our backup data."
"The most valuable feature is the portability of large archived data. You're able to put things on large on-prem, low-cost storage and then augment that with even lower cost storage in the cloud."
"Being able to move data seamlessly from one-premise to the cloud (Azure). It works great. The backup solution is perfect for us."
"The flexibility. Being able to virtualize it, port it wherever I like, test my backups, test my DR capabilities whenever I like without impacting anybody."
"The solution can be used for all Office 365 applications."
"Its initial setup is easy."
"It's so easy to work with."
"The dashboard is useful for managing data backups."
 

Cons

"We would like to see capabilities of long-term archiving and more support for hardware platforms."
"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."
"We are having a balance issue between the reclamation and the backup function. It has to take the space back from the tapes before it can record to those tapes, but sometimes those two processes are overlapping."
"The solution must protect against ransomware attacks better."
"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."
"It has a lot of areas for improvement. Its reporting for job completion or incompletion can be improved. It should also provide a granular recovery, ease of operation, data life cycle management, and media management. It should support a backup in such a format that in case of a disaster, one can start the virtual machine out of the backup itself. Its reliability can also be better. It is also expensive, and their support is also poor."
"It needs agents that take into account more databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)."
"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."
"More capacity with the basic model of the AltaVault would probably help out."
"What could be helpful is different user base authentication so then maybe we could allow different customers to point to a single appliance and they only see the backups and things that they have."
"There are some bits it could do better. With tighter integration maybe with Veeam, or something like that, it'd be really good."
"The initial installation is difficult for my clients who have it on both on-premises and on cloud."
"NetApp's own competing products complicate things."
"The initial setup phase of the tool was difficult."
"More than a 500 volume limit. At the moment, it only supports up to 500 volumes for SnapMirror and that's a problem. We've got 750, so a larger limit for volume replicas for SnapMirror."
"It would be nice if the solution was more complete. Many customers are looking for a single solution or silo that they can manage everything from. It would be nice, instead of having different products, if everything a client needed was in one solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 solution is not cheap."
"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."
"At scale, the consumption license (per TB) is very expensive."
"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."
"The solution's pricing is fair. Price-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."
"The pricing model of this solution is another difficult area, it's very sophisticated in the way they charge. It's based on PBU, which is a type of processor, how, many processors, and you need to put everything into an equation. However, they have different ways of charging or licensing. One way is a back-end volume or front-end volume, which is quite complicated."
"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's quite cost-effective."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution, which comes to around 3,000 USD."
"It is a rather expensive program."
"The pricing is not too bad, but could be a little better."
"The price is a bit high."
"You could compare it to a Dell EMC or ECS, and I think it's probably a little less costly than that. Within the marketplace, it's a medium cost."
"In one use case, and we have several, to run for a particular customer, the price is about $375,000 a year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Insurance Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
7%
 

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.
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...
Is NetApp AltaVault compatible with AWS?
Hello. Yes, it is compatible with AWS but the great thing about it is that it's actually working with so many cloud providers, it may be just for everyone. Besides the Amazon cloud services, NetApp...
Can AltaVault be used for data reduction?
Hello, you can definitely use NetApp AltaVault for reducing your data and giving yourself some more storage. This product offers you deduplication and compression, helping you achieve that. I'm su...
What kind of security does NetApp AltaVault give you?
My organization is very happy with the security that NetApp AltaVault gives us for our data on the cloud. First, it gives us the option for data recovery, which is very good, especially if someone...
 

Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover
AltaVault
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
Blach Construction, NASA, Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes, Seminole County Public Schools and Spot Trading
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Storage Protect vs. NetApp AltaVault and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.