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IBM Storage Protect vs SEP sesam 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
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SEP sesam
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
112th
Average Rating
0.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 1.6%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SEP sesam is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Storage Protect1.6%
SEP sesam0.3%
Other98.1%
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.
TC
Manager, Distribution at NETCB
A comprehensive and well-built solution for disaster recovery and backup
We use SEP sesam for disaster recovery and backup.  We need a solution to handle on-premise and cloud backup, particularly the Microsoft 0ffice365 server.  SEP sesam needs to work on stability.  I have been using the solution for a year.  We have not encountered any downtime while using the…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's an expensive product, but it works really well."
"The deduplication and compression features are the most valuable features."
"One of the benefits they should always look at is the total cost of ownership of any solution."
"The solution actually does a lot; it's really powerful, and the value of Spectrum Protect is it does everything: it does tape and it does disk, it's easy to migrate, you don't need any other software, and it's basically an all-in-one solution, which is its most valuable aspect."
"The product is very stable."
"Reliability: It has never had a problem with backups or restores. If you store something, it is there."
"The scalability of IBM Spectrum Protect is good."
"Technical support is always very good. I have never experienced any support as good as them."
"We need a solution to handle on-premise and cloud backup, particularly the Microsoft 0ffice365 server."
 

Cons

"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."
"They are behind on many things, especially security. They are catching up a little bit now, but the competitors are doing better security-wise. There should be malware detection and prevention and higher security."
"One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past."
"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."
"The product’s recovery process in terms of agent installation needs improvement"
"Easier configuration of some of the products, e.g., VE comes to mind."
"It could use single store. The ability to mark an archive from my backup for long-term retention."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is not a very user-friendly tool."
"SEP sesam needs to work on stability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"License-wise regarding IBM, it's licensed per terabyte. And that is after compression and deduplication."
"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."
"It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market."
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective."
"Spectrum Protect is not a cheap option."
"There may be an advantage to going with IBM in terms of pricing. They have a pay-as-you-grow policy, so there is no need to take one license for the entire datacenter. You can start with small licenses and then grow, and pay, as you use more."
"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."
"SEP sesam offers a perpetual licensing option, which means you don't have to renew your license at a new price every time. I rate the solution's pricing a six and a half out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise95
No data available
 

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
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Veeam Software, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Rubrik and others in Backup and Recovery. Updated: July 2026.
909,563 professionals have used our research since 2012.