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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
14th
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
39th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (26th)
 

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 NetVault Plus is 0.7%, up from 0.6% 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.
Isa Safii - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive data protection and reliable backup capabilities enable smooth disaster recovery operations
The features of Quest NetVault Plus that are most valuable include the ability to pick up and restore to tape servers and external hard disks. It allows us to pick up from devices and then restore to the same devices or external server storage. Additionally, the application supports scanning files for malware before backup operations.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It saves you a lot of storage."
"It has a lot more capabilities and functions than a lot of other products. Even though it is more complex, the reason is because it gives you a lot more features. This is what I prefer, especially for a long retention."
"It allows us to have one interface."
"One of the features which is most interesting in Spectrum Protect is the ability to scale out to great environments. This is something that not many vendors have on the market."
"It covers all the different operating systems. If you need backup, it can pretty much do everything."
"The most valuable features of Spectrum Protect would be the compression and the deduplication."
"The archiving feature is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"The fact that we can take the backup straight onto tape is the most valuable feature."
"It has File and SQL backup, which is the main benefit for us."
"If a job is pending, the solution communicates it to us through emails."
"The user interface is good."
"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."
"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."
"The solution allows us to block off our network and only give access to whatever we want."
"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."
"The interface is very user-friendly."
 

Cons

"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."
"If you take Spectrum Protect into account, and you have it along with restrictions to Spectrum Archive by means of LTFS, this is also something which should be made better within the overall product's program."
"We need everything cloud. Strong support for cloud services. S3 connectivity, which is mandatory for us in the future along with this integration of Spectrum Copy Data Management or Spectrum Protect services together with these Spectrum Protect Plus functionalities, e.g., hardware, snapshots, and Copy Data Management. They should come together in one solution."
"Their support is lacking. I've talked to their developers and stuff in the last couple of weeks and they reassure me that some people have retired, and they're working on getting that bumped back up. But the support lacks a lot to be desired at this point."
"If IBM could provide a partial module, that would be great."
"The only thing that I would like to have a little more of is insight in reporting. I find that Spectrum Protect needs a lot of monitoring, and I have to actually log into the servers."
"Some features are outdated as the product does not use the latest technologies. The graphical user interface, known as the operation center, is not very well designed. Additionally, IBM Storage Protect does not work well with virtual environments such as VMware and Hyper-V."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The storage capacity is very low."
"I would like to see the option of cloud-based management."
"The stability of the solution is poor."
"The interface can be improved. It should be more clear what features are available and make them easy to find."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Spectrum Protect is not expensive, and it is simple to use."
"It is very scalable, but the downside is that it costs money."
"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."
"We have found that the pricing is high in our country."
"We are paying for support and maintenance on a monthly basis."
"Some of the new advanced features are definitely more into cost savings, e.g., dedupe compression, so doing more with less."
"The license model that they have at IBM, which is due to volume, from a certain volume onward is not the right license model."
"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 price of our 12-month contract is approximately $1,500 AUD ($1,100 USD)."
"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."
"The tool is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Performing Arts
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

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...
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: July 2025.
865,484 professionals have used our research since 2012.