Synology DSM vs Zerto comparison

Read 309 Zerto reviews

9,161 Views
4,263 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Synology DSM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Zerto and Synology DSM compete in disaster recovery and data management. Zerto has the upper hand in specialized disaster recovery features, while Synology DSM offers more versatile functionalities.

Features: Zerto provides robust disaster recovery, data replication, and protection with minimal data loss. Synology DSM offers extensive storage management, multimedia capabilities, and a comprehensive suite of apps.

Room for Improvement: Zerto needs better user training and more intuitive management tools. Synology DSM should improve its disaster recovery features, simplify setup processes, and enhance user guidance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zerto's setup is straightforward but requires technical expertise, with customer service needing more proactive support options. Synology DSM's deployment is more complex but efficient once set up, with customer service noted for delayed response times.

Pricing and ROI: Zerto's higher setup costs provide substantial ROI through reliable data protection, making it ideal for critical environments. Synology DSM offers competitive initial pricing and strong ROI through versatile features, especially for small to medium-sized businesses.

To learn more, read our detailed Synology DSM vs. Zerto Report (Updated: April 2025).

Download the complete report

Synology DSM vs. Zerto

April 2025

Helped 853,271 peers since 2012

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

Synology DSM

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

17th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zerto

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

2nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

309

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (2nd), Cloud Backup (3rd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Synology DSM is 1.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zerto is 3.0%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Michael Adejoh

Solutions Manager at Excel Connect Ventures

Reliable and cost-effective

One area where Synology DSM could improve is in enhancing its ability to detect and respond to security threats during backups and replication. Currently, it lacks the capability to automatically stop backups if it detects a virus or suspicious network activity, as some third-party solutions can. Having AI-driven analytics to identify anomalies and halt backups during potential attacks, along with notifications to administrators, would be valuable. Additionally, providing a dashboard for monitoring the backup environment's security would be a beneficial feature. These improvements would help address security concerns and make Synology more competitive in this aspect.

Read full review

Sachin Vinay

Assistant Manager-Networks at Amrita

Leverage disaster recovery with reliable support and cost-effective future-proof features

Zerto is straightforward to implement because it only requires the installation of an agent on the VMs designated for migration. A service, typically a VM, must also be deployed at the disaster recovery location. This entire process is simple and can be completed within three days. Zerto's near-synchronous replication occurs every minute, allowing for highly granular recovery points. This means that even if interruptions or malware disruptions occur within that minute, Zerto can restore to the last known good state, effectively recovering the entire setup to the latest backup. This capability ensures high data security and minimizes potential data loss. One of the main benefits of implementing Zerto is its data compression, which significantly reduces the load on our IPsec VPN. Zerto compresses data by 80 percent before transmitting it across the VPN, minimizing the data transferred between geographically dispersed locations. This compression and subsequent decompression at the destination alleviate the strain on the VPN, preventing overload and ensuring efficient data synchronization. Zerto simplifies malware protection by integrating it into its disaster recovery and synchronization features. This comprehensive approach eliminates the need for separate antivirus setups in virtual machines and applications. It streamlines our security measures and removes the need for additional software or solutions, resulting in an excellent return on investment. Zerto's single-click recovery solution offers exceptional recovery speed. Through the user interface, a single click allows for a complete restoration from the most recent backup within two to three minutes, enabling rapid recovery and minimal downtime. Zerto's Recovery Time Objective is excellent. In the past, if a virtual machine crashed, we would recover it from a snapshot, which could take one to two hours. With Zerto, the recovery process takes only five minutes, and users are typically unaware of any disruption. This allows us to restore everything quickly and efficiently. Zerto has significantly reduced our downtime. When malware affects our data, Zerto immediately notifies us and helps us protect other applications, even those not yet implemented with Zerto. By monitoring these applications, we can quickly identify and address any potential malware spread, minimizing downtime across our systems. Zerto significantly reduces downtime and associated costs during disruptions. Our services are unified, so in the event of a disruption without Zerto, even a half-day disruption would necessitate offline procedures. This would lead to increased manpower, service delays, and substantial financial losses due to interrupted admissions and other critical processes. By unifying service processes, Zerto minimizes the impact of outages. Zerto streamlines our disaster recovery testing across multiple locations by enabling efficient failover testing without disrupting live services. Traditionally, DR testing required downtime of critical systems, but Zerto's replication and failover capabilities allow us to test in parallel with live operations. This non-disruptive approach ensures continuous service availability while validating our DR plan, even in scenarios like malware attacks, by creating a separate testing environment that mirrors the live setup. This comprehensive testing provides confidence in our ability to handle real-world incidents effectively. This saves us over 60 percent of the time. Zerto streamlines system administration tasks by automating many processes, thereby reducing the workload for multiple administrators. This allows them to focus on other university services that require attention and effectively reallocate support resources from automated tasks to those requiring more dedicated management. Zerto is used exclusively for our critical services, providing up to a 70 percent improvement in our IT resilience.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of Synology DSM are its security and connectivity."

"The solution's most valuable feature stems from its ease of use, making it the tool's most interesting part."

"Because of its simplicity and the wide array of features it offers, I would recommend DSM for both tech-savvy individuals and those who prefer a straightforward file-serving solution."

"It offers a variety of software options through its package center, allowing users to customize their NAS device to serve multiple purposes."

"The most valuable aspect is its ability to handle multiple disks."

"Synology DSM is very easy to work and operate."

"The most valuable features are the basic storage, file management, Btrfs file system, and built-in backups that come with the solution."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it serves as a backup for our company's virtual machine."

More Synology DSM pros

"The replication piece with the built-in WAN compression is important because the network circuit that we send our replication traffic across isn't actually behind our normal WAN accelerators. We were able to use Zerto's built-in WAN acceleration to help those workloads compress."

"Implementing this solution has given us sandboxing and the ability to move VMs."

"Live replication and up to the second type of failover are valuable. The fact that we can do test failovers and failbacks is important for our ISO certification."

"The stability is great; there's very little downtime. I don't have to worry that there will be a surprise update to one of the ZVRAs or the host that I have to contend with. We're given plenty of notice to plan ahead for an update. As far as losing service and downtime, we haven't had that happen."

"VMware VM replication over narrow WAN bandwidth."

"We have seen ROI. It reduced the time for failover and failback by 90%."

"The most valuable features of this solution is the ease of use. In the event of a disaster, you don't need a technical person to actually run the software. You can bring anybody in, with the right instructions and credentials, and they can run the solution."

"The constant replication between the primary and the DR site is valuable. Zerto's near-synchronous replication is excellent."

More Zerto pros

Cons

"Synology DSM is a good enough solution for small and medium companies, but I have not seen a big configuration of the solution for a big organization."

"Users may lose their data if they don't configure the solution properly."

"One area where Synology DSM could improve is in enhancing its ability to detect and respond to security threats during backups and replication."

"Synology DSM's user interface is not quite intuitive."

"The platform could be much more cost-effective and flexible for integrating third-party products."

"There's a surveillance application that allows you to connect IP cameras and stream footage to Synology and it is a great feature, but it's not always clear that adding more cameras may require purchasing additional licenses."

"The product's only shortcoming is pricing, as it is an expensive solution."

"Even though Synology provides a backup solution, it does not recognize the VM movement across cluster hosts."

More Synology DSM cons

"There should be an automatic installation in a cluster. When I add a virtual client or ESX source to the cluster, it should automatically install that. There should be automatic installation. Currently, I have to do that manually."

"The overall management plan could improve. If something happens with the VM on the vSphere side, the error codes are pretty weak. If there was a way to click on something within the UI that takes us to a support page or article, that would be very beneficial."

"We would like the LTR function to be able to retain the past 12 months."

"Maybe the reporting for the failover test could be a little better."

"Zerto could improve the product by lowering the cost."

"The amount of storage that it takes up for the journals could use improvement. Outside of that, it's been great."

"I would suggest improving automatic updates. Their software requires updating level by level to keep it current. I was unaware that I was several versions behind, so I needed assistance to guide me to the current version."

"We'd like to be able to migrate data without its operating system or any other functionality and without having to go through a virtual machine or server."

More Zerto cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Synology DSM is a free tool."

"The price of the solution is very good."

"The solution’s pricing is neither cheap nor expensive."

"The licensing part of the solution is free. The hardware is more expensive than the other solutions in the market, but it's okay in the long run."

"It is quite an affordable solution."

"The pricing varies widely, catering to a broad range of needs."

"Synology DSM is a cheap solution."

"It's not the cheapest tool, it's expensive. But it's doing a good job."

"The licensing is a little bit steep, but there is some value that you do get for it as well."

"It's a little bit expensive."

"Pricing is adequate at the standard of the product, but there could be "always" some improvement. We would like to see a consumption model that would charge in a DR scenario, where you're failing over and consuming those resources, instead of a per-protected-node model."

"Zerto's pricing model is cost-prohibitive for small—to medium-sized businesses."

"The pricing is good. It's affordable."

"License-wise, we budgeted $1,000 per VM. The minimum spend on it, in the beginning, can sometimes be a little bit of a headache for people, and they might have to budget creatively to get there, but once you're there, the renewals are worth it."

"This solution is far less expensive than SRM and NetBackup."

More Zerto pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

853,271 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Comparison Review

it_user159711

Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 9, 2014

VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto

Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Synology DSM?

The most valuable features of Synology DSM are its security and connectivity.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Synology DSM?

The solution’s pricing is neither cheap nor expensive.

What needs improvement with Synology DSM?

Users may lose their data if they don't configure the solution properly.

What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?

Ik fluister:VM Host Oracle en DataGuard hebben we per toeval vervangen door Zerto :-) tijdens de Zerto implementatie en VPG werden de Host Data in write-ack Block-Level gerepliceerd. Qua licentie 1...

What do you like most about Zerto?

Its ability to roll back if the VM or the server that you are recovering does not come up right is also valuable. You have the ability to roll back a few seconds or a few minutes. The rollback feat...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?

I ballpark Zerto's pricing at about $1,000 per VM, which I find fair for what it does, but the cost of entry was tough initially due to the minimum number needed to start. I really needed to prove ...

Veeam Data Platform vs Synology DSM

Comparisons

Compared 17% of the time

NetApp SnapCenter vs Synology DSM

Compared 8% of the time

UrBackup vs Synology DSM

Compared 8% of the time

ExaGrid Tiered Backup Storage vs Synology DSM

Compared 5% of the time

SyncBack Pro vs Synology DSM

Compared 5% of the time

More Synology DSM Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs Zerto

Compared 15% of the time

VMware Live Recovery vs Zerto

Compared 12% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Zerto

Compared 10% of the time

Rubrik vs Zerto

Compared 8% of the time

Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines vs Zerto

Compared 6% of the time

More Zerto Competitors

Product Reports

Download Synology DSM product report

Synology DSM

May 2025

Download Zerto product report

May 2025

Also Known As

Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM)

Zerto Virtual Replication

Overview

Synology DSM (DiskStation Manager) is a comprehensive software platform designed for Synology NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. It serves as the operating system for these devices, providing a wide range of features and functionalities.

The primary use case of Synology DSM is to centralize and manage data storage for organizations. It allows businesses to store, access, and share files securely across multiple devices and platforms. With its intuitive user interface, DSM simplifies the management of data, making it easy to create shared folders, set access permissions, and monitor storage usage.

One of the most valuable functionalities of Synology DSM is its robust data protection capabilities. It offers various RAID configurations, including SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID), which ensures data redundancy and safeguards against drive failures. DSM also supports advanced backup and disaster recovery solutions, such as Snapshot Replication and Hyper Backup, enabling organizations to protect their critical data effectively.

Furthermore, Synology DSM provides a wide range of productivity and collaboration tools. It offers applications like Synology Drive, which allows seamless file synchronization across devices, and Synology Office, a web-based suite for document editing and collaboration. DSM also supports various third-party applications, including popular cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive, enabling organizations to integrate their existing workflows seamlessly.

Synology

Zerto is used for disaster recovery, business continuity, data migration, and ransomware recovery, providing continuous data protection and near real-time replication. Valued for ease of use, efficient failover processes, and versatile integration, it enhances organizational efficiency, reduces errors, and boosts productivity.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies