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IBM Storage Protect vs Veritas Backup Exec 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
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Veritas Backup Exec
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 Veritas Backup Exec is 1.6%, down from 2.3% 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%
Veritas Backup Exec1.6%
Other96.3%
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.
Pawel Augustyn - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplified interface with good performance but needs monitoring
I need to use PowerStore and Veritas Backup Exec. It is a direct backup to types, and it is supported by my backup. It offers good performance and stability, and it works properly. I am happy with this program. It is still working on aligning with security requirements and data encryption for Amazon or ATAC. It has a lot of functions and security measures, which ensure our backups are secure.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is also a product that has been maturing for a long time. This is good because customers need reliability in their enterprise initiatives."
"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."
"Space efficient data reduction, using progressive incremental forever in combination with deduplication and compression."
"The main feature of this product is a flexible architecture and functionality that allows you to solve problems of any complexity and scale. Most importantly, it is not just a product that simply makes a backup, but it restores and saves a large number of services in critical situations. By the way, it works fine with different types of clouds, supports S3."
"The archiving feature is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"The deduplication and compression features are the most valuable features."
"The most valuable features are the stability and also how it's seamlessly integrated with other IBM offerings."
"Data reduction definitely reduces costs, not only software costs, but from the infrastructure needed."
"The most valuable features of Veritas Backup Exec are the graphical interface, ease of management, and overall ease of use."
"It is responding very well, and its performance is good. It has a lot of options. For backup, you can connect it to a cloud or a physical hard drive. They also provide an API for integration with different platforms and products. However, we have not integrated it with another product."
"I like that Backup Exec integrates with Microsoft Exchange. We can retrieve backups from the email boxes."
"Veritas is simple and easy to deploy. In terms of the presentation and UI, they do their job well."
"This solution works well and has good integration with technologies such as VMware and Hyper-V."
"The price is one of the best."
"Recovery via Active Directory is painless and much easier than the complicated setup procedures of other products."
"The one thing for the last 12 months which has been very good for Veritas was the instance-based license. This means that you're able to license per instance, not only per physical server."
 

Cons

"The licensing isn't very clear. They should work to simply or clarify the cost structure."
"Technical support could be improved."
"Perhaps some better documentation, which I believe was better in the past."
"We recently had a situation where we quickly got code, and the number of tapes exceeded the library capacity so we were waiting a while to change. We got a fix for this right away."
"We are still using TSM Manager for many of our projects to administer our platform because the gap was not resolved with the new Operations Center."
"There were scalability issues only in the brand new features which were recently released."
"They need to reduce the complexity and make the learning curve easier."
"They can include more cloud-enriching features. I would like IBM Spectrum Protect to have the functionality for backing up a VM directly in Azure. I would like to be able to back up a VM directly in Azure without spinning up a Hyper-V cluster and backing up the virtual server."
"Firstly, the GUI for 2014 is mostly confusing, i.e., if you need to add any additional technical features, then it doesn't require a change to the GUI."
"We've experienced some performance issues with Backup Exec. The backup jobs take too long to complete."
"Better integration with non-Microsoft products would be an improvement."
"They could include backup functionality for enterprise environments."
"Its scalability should be improved."
"Veritas Backup Exec could improve the analytics. If there were some more detail in our scan reports it would be beneficial."
"We have to struggle with license deployment every time, so I think they can improve that aspect."
"There is no training provided, and their technicians are unaware of the features available."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"License-wise regarding IBM, it's licensed per terabyte. And that is after compression and deduplication."
"Its licensing is complicated. It goes by CPUs, and it is pretty expensive as well."
"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 is not cheap."
"It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market."
"Going to IBM Tech University Conference saved me from making a major purchase of the wrong thing, which was very helpful."
"IBM Spectrum Protect has a fixed price and includes no additional costs."
"It's very complicated. Licensing is a pain."
"Regarding expense, Backup Exec is generally suitable for small and medium businesses. However, we can customize them based on the workload."
"It's a good price for the product."
"I think it's sold at the right price. It's not expensive. The license is usually for a year."
"Veritas licensing is somewhat expensive. They have to decrease the price."
"I think, at least for the price I've seen, it could be lower compared to other products."
"I rate the price of Veritas Backup Exec a four out of five."
"Its price is a bit high. There is only the standard fee. There is no additional fee."
"There is an evaluation license available to test this solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
 

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 Business35
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise29
 

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...
How do the backup solutions of Veeam and Veritas compare?
Technically, Veeam is best for hyper-v & VMWare replications, snapshots, HA failover, also support for file system backups inside VMs., support for tape library & FC too. But Veritas Netbac...
What do you like most about Veritas Backup Exec?
The most important feature is the variety of backup applications it supports, including ERP systems and most other programs, such as Microsoft.
 

Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover
Backup Exec, Symantec Backup Exec
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
Beta Offshore
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Storage Protect vs. Veritas Backup Exec and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,759 professionals have used our research since 2012.