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IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus vs IDERA SQL Safe Backup comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 23, 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 Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus
Ranking in Event Monitoring
3rd
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IDERA SQL Safe Backup
Ranking in Event Monitoring
19th
Average Rating
5.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (71st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Event Monitoring category, the mindshare of IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus is 7.4%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IDERA SQL Safe Backup is 2.6%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Event Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus7.4%
IDERA SQL Safe Backup2.6%
Other90.0%
Event Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed Salman - PeerSpot reviewer
Performance & Monitoring Supervisor at Saudi Telecom Company
Aids in network performance monitoring and management
I am working as a customer, mainly using IntelliQ and another product, IBM NetCool, Watson AI. These products are used for monitoring network performance and management.  The primary use case involves network performance monitoring, and it is compatible only with IBM DB2 IBM Tivoli NetCool…
SeniorDB3550 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior DBA Lead at a government with 10,001+ employees
It has reduced our backup time, however backups do get skipped
I would like to see the pieces that they have put in the web only to be put into the thick client sitting on the desktop client. They moved a lot of the features to their web-based version of it. Because of the large number of databases that we have along with our backup, their web product can't handle it. So, we can't use it. So, we are missing out on a lot of the new features. The way the filtering goes, if you filter on your view, there is no indication that you have made a selection. Unless you can remember day-to-day that you may have something deselected or selected, your view may be different than you expect, and there is no visual indication of it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"OMNIbus is valuable for its compatibility and performance, as I haven't encountered any performance issues."
"It is an easy-to-use solution."
"This solution is highly scalable; we have hundreds of probes running on more than thousands of devices, gathering millions of alarms and creating thousands of tickets, and yet we have never seen any performance issue."
"It is customer-centric; customers can access the event list from their location or desktop and view the event, with no need to go and connect to any other server and run events to have a view of all the events happening in the environment."
"Very stable tool and good for all types of event integration and automation."
"The most useful functions for monitoring purposes with IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus are that it can be automated in many ways, and most importantly, it can communicate with many network components without requiring any medium connectors."
"It is customer-centric. Customers can access the event list from their location or desktop and view the event. There is no need to go and connect to any other server and run events to have a view of all the events happening in the environment. We get a good response from customers about this feature and the main architecture of NetCool. Its processing is very good. Deduplication and correlation functionalities are good in this solution as compared to other solutions. A big advantage of NetCool is that it also supports multi-layered protocols. We can receive multiple events from different protocols like UDP, HTTP, and those events can be captured in NetCool."
"The most valuable feature is the event management capability."
"The compression, because it drastically reduces the disk space."
"I do like the central management console where you can see a global status for all your backups and manage restores."
"It has reduced our backup time and simplified our backup processes across all the servers."
"It is far better than the native SQL compressed backup utility, and even though we are seeing approximately 1.4 : 1 de-duplication ratio (using compression at Level 3) we've saved so much space that we still have more than 33% free space on our backup appliances."
 

Cons

"I would like for the next release to be more user-friendly and out of date. The next release should focus on the cloud, AI, and ML technologies."
"There should be an easier-to-understand model, more of a flat-structured model rather than different tiers of licenses which complicates licensing."
"Areas that could be better include the fact that the solution is only on-premises, lacks AI capabilities, and support response times could be quicker."
"The solution has limitations in database integration as it cannot integrate with databases other than IBM DB2."
"They could enhance the visibility to give us a unified view of our entire IT infrastructure."
"Its integration could be better. They should provide an easier integration for all the monitoring stuff, and it will make things easier for us. Currently, there is a complexity in integrating it with a vendor application, and we have to use another tool to integrate it with a vendor application. To integrate some applications with NetCool, I need to install an IBM tool on top of it. It would be good if they can provide an API or any kind of interface that we can leverage while developing a new protocol interface or application. We should be able to use an API or interface with NetCool. Its GUI can also be better. As compared to other tools, it is not user friendly, and it is not easy to do stuff through GUI. Whenever we do anything on the GUI, it takes time. They need to focus on the GUI part, especially the dashboard. They should focus on how users can effectively drill down from one box to another. The visual appeal of the dashboard is as important as the data and functionality."
"Based on my experience and my colleagues' feedback, IBM can improve IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus in automation with respect to using AI, as it lacks considerably compared to other tools."
"The web portal and typical event controls are a little outdated."
"I would like to see the pieces that they have put in the web only to be put into the thick client sitting on the desktop client."
"The way the filtering goes, if you filter on your view, there is no indication that you have made a selection."
"Lots of room for improvement. I have never experienced anything as buggy as SQLsafe."
"Make sure you check your backups on a regular basis. Backups do get missed with this tool, for whatever reason."
"For a supposedly mature product, it lacks basic functionality that the built-in Microsoft SQL Server backup/restore programs provide and being told we'll be added to interested party list isn't very satisfying."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You have to have the right level of budget to afford this solution."
"Its license cost is a little bit more than other solutions. Our customers expect a standard market price that is comparative to other products. For each and every NetCool OMNIbus component, we have to purchase a separate license. These components are not free with the product."
"It is a costly solution."
"The product's pricing is a good value. They have a straightforward licensing model."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
12%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Construction Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise7
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus?
I would rate the pricing for IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus as three, where one is a high price and ten is a low price.
What needs improvement with IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus?
Based on my experience and my colleagues' feedback, IBM can improve IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus in automation with respect to using AI, as it lacks considerably compared to other tools. The integrat...
What is your primary use case for IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus?
My current use case for IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus is for monitoring the networks.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus
SQL Safe Backup
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Consolidated Communications, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Capgemini
Woman's Hospital; Sisters of Mercy Hospital System; University Medical Center; MetTel; PPG Industries; 3M; Abbott Laboratories; Comcast; Daimler; GameStop; Hormel Foods; Marriott International; Merck; NCR; United Technologies; City of Lynnwood; Linfosys B.V.; TRI-KES; American Customer Care; Merck & Co., Inc.; Service Corporation International; Fresenius Vascular Care Inc.; Bates White; TechPro Inc.; TW Metals, Inc.; Tulane University; ISO Group; Ameriben Solutions; Instron Corporation; Sentric, Inc.; SPIE; GAS Distribution Company of Thessaloniki and Thessaly SA; American Printing House for the Blind; Paysafe; Freeman Decorating Services, Inc.; Sentric, Inc.; Auburn University; Corporate Communications Group; Sagicor Financial Corporation; Crystal Run Healthcare; Principality Building Society; Experiencias Xcaret; Missoula County; Shellpoint Partners LLC; Solix Inc.; Advicent Solutions, Inc.; Phoenix Newspaper Inc.; Park Place Technologies; Kelly & Associates Insurance Group; Boston Medical Center; Service Corporation International; eResearchTechnology, Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Tivoli NetCool OMNIbus vs. IDERA SQL Safe Backup and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.