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Veritas Backup Exec vs Veritas NetBackup comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

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

Veritas Backup Exec
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
18th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Veritas NetBackup
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
116
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Veritas Backup Exec is 1.7%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Veritas NetBackup is 3.4%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Q&A Highlights

MP
Jan 23, 2020
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Wesam Qashou - PeerSpot reviewer
A mature backup solution, with many features, and great support
Veritas NetBackup is the first line of defense when disaster strikes. Before performing disaster recovery, we must have a good backup of our image that is also protected from ransomware. This way, we have a golden image that is resilient to ransomware attacks. We saw the benefits of Veritas NetBackup within the first three months.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has good stability. Its interface is very good, responsive, and easy for restoring data. I use it for backup, encryption, and restore operations, and it works. I am using many agents from VM to LMDP. I also use an agent for SQL Server, which has advanced options because it is the Enterprise version."
"The product allows for versatile storage options, enabling users to store data on disk storage, NAS storage, or tape libraries."
"Good open file option feature, SQL agent, and EM agent."
"This solution has a very good technical support department that is very responsive."
"The most valuable features of Veritas Backup Exec are the easy-to-use intuitive GUI. It is very easy to understand. I have never lost data and I have been able to recover all the data I need."
"The most important feature is the variety of backup applications it supports, including ERP systems and most other programs, such as Microsoft."
"The interface easy to use and it is compatible with most backup devices."
"I recommend Veritas Backup Exec to those who want to use it, as the application management is quite simple and the GUI is very straightforward and easy to understand for administrative purposes."
"The Replication Director, Auto Image Replication, Accelerator, Oracle Intelligent Policy, synthetic and VADP backups are the most valuable features."
"The solution is stable."
"Good graphical user interface. It's easy to create policies and to do installs."
"The most valuable feature is that it is basically a replica of our SAND data. We archive the SAND data for recovery, if there is an issue on the fence."
"The solution is easy to scale."
"It saves time for the backup needs of our organization."
"Its most valuable features are flexibility and reliability."
"I think the support is fine. We haven't had issues with it."
 

Cons

"One area that needs improvement is SQL backup. Backup Exec doesn't support higher availability."
"I would like to be able to create a restore task that can be scheduled so that the same restore action will be performed automatically."
"Veritas Backup Exec's support services could be faster."
"The price of this solution is very high."
"It is currently missing the dynamic backup feature for virtual machines, which is available in NetWorker. I can create politics in NetWorker to add virtual machines with specific tags, but I cannot do this in Backup Exec, which is a minus point for me. Currently, a user has to send a request to the Backup administrator to add a machine to the backup, but I should be able to create rules to automatically add a new machine to the backup. This kind of functionality is very important in current times, especially when we are using cloud solutions. I should be able to create more than one stream in a policy and specify how many streams I want to run in parallel in one policy. Currently, I have to manually create more policies to backup more than one virtual machine at the same time. Their support can also be improved in terms of response time."
"There is no training provided, and their technicians are unaware of the features available."
"The pricing of the solution is a bit high."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"What needs to be improved in Veritas NetBackup is its interface, e.g. they should make it more user friendly. Scalability for this product could still be improved, particularly its hardware appliance scalability."
"The product could improve the user-friendliness and comfort of its environment, especially for those unfamiliar with it."
"The biggest additional features needed are more cloud capabilities and security from ransomware."
"The pricing is a bit of a concern. If could be lower."
"I would like to have support enabled for cloud backups."
"It needs support for Kernel-based Virtual Machines (KVMs)."
"The solution costs too much."
"The ease of use needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing depends on the part of the backup you're using. If you have SQL backup, then you must have a SQL license. If you have normal data backup, you would require a license for that."
"It is cheap compared to the other backup technologies. It all depends on the requirements."
"The product's price is reasonable."
"I would like to see a better licensing model. They changed it and it's just horrendous."
"The price of this solution is a bit high."
"This product is priced for smaller customers."
"The solution costs $700 per agent and is expensive compared to other products that offer better stability."
"Veritas comes with an annual licensing fee."
"Veritas NetBackup is more expensive than other backup solutions like Dell Power Protect and Veeam Backup."
"If you have a source size of one terabyte then they will charge for a one terabyte license, although what is actually being stored is much less."
"If you have a complex environment with dozens of different servers and apps, I recommend you look for TB licensing."
"Pricing is pretty costly as compared to the other products but worth investing for the long term and high ROI."
"Most people have felt this solution was somewhat expensive."
"The solution is expensive compared to other alternatives."
"When we consider the quality and value of Veritas NetBackup, it is worth the cost."
"If you want to have more scalability you have to purchase more licenses. The license is annually and there are a lot of different licensing depending on the number of terabytes needed. It is not based on per-user, core, or servers. You can backup anything you want using the purchased terabyte space."
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Answers from the Community

MP
Jan 23, 2020
Jan 23, 2020
Both solutions are perfect and great names in data protection. If you have a small or medium setup then go with Backup Exec and if you have a big setup with the latest workload then go with Net Backup. You can get a TB license for all servers which you want to protect.
2 out of 9 answers
it_user762030 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 20, 2020
We have just recently migrated our backups off of Netbackup due to the cost. I do not remember the licensing, but the whole product was getting too expensive for not only the product but for the management of the product. We had 6 different pieces in the environment due to some configuration designs. So we have moved to a product that we pay so much for the hardware and then a license for the amount of data we ingest through that product. It is one environment management that can handle a large amount of Data Protection.
Bckupdataad67 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 20, 2020
The proper question is not Backupexec or Netbackup but what kind of protection you want to have? We had backup exec for more than 4 years and I can assure you, as a backup administrator, that I had some really hard days related to the proper coverage of servers, applications, and data. Netbackup is the proper choice if you want a serious protection infrastructure but you have to consider the following key facts: -What type of environment do you want to protect? Netbackup works perfectly with VMWare and with mixed environments. I'm not saying that it will not work with other providers but the integration with VMware is one of the greatest pros of this product. -Is the backup time window enough to cover all your resources? With Backupexec I was struggling to have all backup jobs complete in a time frame of 13 hours. With Netbackup and especially in conjunction with their Appliances I was able to add more and more jobs for the very same time frame. -What is your frontend volume? With Netbackup the best solution is to have a Frontend Capacity license. With this license type, there's no need to buy extra licenses for SQL, SharePoint, Exchange, Oracle, etc. It's an all-inclusive license. Furthermore, with the new version 8.2 you don't even have to install agents on servers! The prices may vary but I guess for i.e 20TB capacity the price will be somewhere between 80000 to 100000 euros (1-year maintenance included and assuming a feasible discount). You don't have to pay for an appliance but if you afford it it's highly recommended in order to achieve the best performance and other technologies (i.e AIR, deduplication ratio, etc). I don't really know what is the current status of Backupexec in terms of version, prices, features etc. As a product it's absolutely not comparable to Netbackup On the other hand we have left it behind for good.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What is the best next generation backup tool?
Assuming you have an onprem ecosystem which runs the VMware, physical systems on Win, Linux and Unix and run both traditional DB's and nosql DB's like mongo, then Netbackup (NBU) will be the right ...
What do you like most about Veritas NetBackup?
The most valuable feature of cloud integration is the ability to send data outside of your location. This can be achieved by integrating cloud tier options or other object storage solutions.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Veritas NetBackup?
The product is cost-effective, and I would rate its pricing as an eight out of ten. The pricing model is based on the amount of data transferred, making it manageable for us.
 

Also Known As

Backup Exec, Symantec Backup Exec
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Beta Offshore
Beta Offshore
Find out what your peers are saying about Veritas Backup Exec vs. Veritas NetBackup and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,957 professionals have used our research since 2012.