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IBM Storage Protect vs NetVault Plus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 19, 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
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetVault Plus
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
42nd
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetVault Plus is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Storage Protect2.1%
NetVault Plus0.8%
Other97.1%
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.
Cahit Yolacan - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported reliable file backup operations and maintained compliance with local data policies
The strong point for me is the tape record feature. The backup and recovery capabilities of NetVault Plus are very important for maintaining my business. There's no positive impact that NetVault Plus has brought to my company; I mean, there's no particular benefit I have seen from using it. It's just used in general, and another colleague specifically selected NetVault Plus without any problem in Turkey area; everything is good enough for me. But specifically, with NetVault Plus, I don't see any impact.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Good user interface."
"The ability to use S3 Data Store as a repository."
"Our customers have come to trust IBM."
"The feature we have found most valuable is when you want to integrate it with a Tape Library and then do the DRM life cycle. That is when it works the best."
"The tool's backup engine is very powerful. Previously, our client finished backup with HPE product in 48 hours. IBM Storage Protect completes backup in 8 hours."
"Performance and recoveries are better. Our clients and customers are happier with the performance of it."
"Good deduplication and compression features."
"Their GUI has improved quite a bit. It's made the solution a lot simpler and less complex."
"The interface is very user-friendly."
"Quest NetVault Plus is quite effective for managing backups across multiple systems because we don't need to log in to the backup server to manage it; it's web-based, so from any system in the network, you can log in and manage everything."
"The user interface is good."
"The platform helps us with efficient QoreStor deduplication (DD) capabilities and configuration."
"If a job is pending, the solution communicates it to us through emails."
"Its dashboard is quite well done. When you log into the GUI, you can basically see everything you need to know. There is also the possibility to edit the view as you like, which is great."
"Quest NetVault Plus has a high level of stability."
"Having the web-based interface is important to us because we can access it from any computer in the network, rather than having it installed and available for use only on a specific one."
 

Cons

"This product comes up against other products available that are marketed better but the other products that it's in competition with are a single product and this is one of IBM products. If it could be marketed as more for competitors I think that's where it comes short."
"We have had some problems about using storage agents on the X6 environment. It is not quite stable, but it is also not supported in a virtualized environment."
"IBM Spectrum Protect could be improved by making the installation easier. Once it's implemented, it's okay. IBM started lagging behind when things started moving to storage and cloud-based solutions. Even though they've recently released updates that give cloud-based protection, personally, I still believe they are not up to par with the likes of Rubrik. The entire product is a little bit clumsy because they have co-joined two different products, so it's complex. Even from a sales/explaining to people what it does point of view, it's complex. Whereas, if you take more current products, it's a single box solution. You reel it in, you fire it up, you do a couple of points and clicks, and off you go, whereas the IBM system is seriously complex. There's a lot of training involved and it's a massively difficult product to sell at this point in time."
"Enhancements are required for backing up our virtual environment."
"IBM Spectrum Protect does have a lot of the features that we need, but I think they need to improve their backup virtualization and backup for container."
"Probably educating the virtual group who are not as used to the product. Most of our expertise is with AIX servers and virtual server backups."
"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."
"For the database side, it does not have object level recovery."
"There's no positive impact that NetVault Plus has brought to my company; I mean, there's no particular benefit I have seen from using it."
"Improvements could be made in the deduplication and data management capabilities. There is also a need for better security measures, as security is critical to ensure backups are safe and free from malware."
"The interface can be improved. It should be more clear what features are available and make them easy to find."
"There are command-line limitations. There is not a very strong possibility to work with the command line. The commands that are there are not that powerful, and you need to be very good at scripting, for example, in PowerShell or in Bash in case it is running on Linux systems. You need to combine a lot of commands together, and still, you will not get a great output that is presentable to others. You cannot work with it as easily."
"Improvements should come, particularly in compatibility, backup performance, or better troubleshooting."
"The storage capacity is very low."
"There are certain issues with the product that we report to Quest, and we get offered a workaround instead of a fix. There could be better interaction with the development teams, perhaps in terms of transparency."
"In the next version, I would like to see support for the MongoDB database. As it is now, there is no component that works with it and we cannot back the data up using NetVault."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for a terabyte license to support our backend usage."
"It is really expensive. Its price is not good for Latin America. Its price is good for the United States or Europe."
"When compared to the cost of other enterprise products, it seems to be in the same range. However, compared to the cost of non-enterprise products, it is really high."
"The price of IBM Spectrum Protect is expensive and there is only a standard licensing fee."
"Use capacity licensing. It's easier and cheaper."
"Licensing IBM Spectrum Protect can be somewhat confusing for new users due to the options available, such as licensing on a capacity or per server basis."
"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."
"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 price of our 12-month contract is approximately $1,500 AUD ($1,100 USD)."
"The tool is expensive."
"When we purchased four licenses, we were given a very good price. However, it is still on the high side when compared to some other vendors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Performing Arts
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise94
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
 

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...
What do you like most about Quest NetVault?
NetVault is a great cloud-ready enterprise backup software for hybrid data centers. Here are some of the things I really like about the solution: It is easy to use right out of the box and scales ...
What needs improvement with Quest NetVault?
There's always scope for improvement with any backup software we discuss, whether it's Quest NetVault Plus or Backup Exec, and I don't think any software is 100% foolproof or satisfactory. Improvem...
What is your primary use case for Quest NetVault?
We have customers in the pharma industry. Our customers' main use cases for this backup are file system backup and different databases such as MySQL, MS SQL, Oracle, and bare metal recovery.
 

Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover
NetVault Backup, Quest NetVault, Quest NetVault Backup, BakBone
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
intel, Mars, MERK, Microsoft, Uber, Visa
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Storage Protect vs. NetVault Plus and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.