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Actifio vs Bacula Enterprise 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

Actifio
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
50th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Test Data Management (9th)
Bacula Enterprise
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
25th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (19th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Actifio is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Bacula Enterprise is 1.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Bacula Enterprise1.0%
Actifio0.6%
Other98.4%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Jeff Poulton - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Lead / Informix DBA at a wholesaler/distributor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Has reduced storage requirements for development environments but presents challenges during upgrades and support interactions
The most concerning issue is IBM support. The issue I have with IBM support is that sometimes they don't seem to know their product very well at times. I don't know where the support is coming from, whether it's from IBM or from Google through IBM. I'm not sure who physically does the support. Their knowledge isn't great. Plus, the way we use it is not the focus of Google nowadays. Google, as I understand it, bought the product as an add-on to Google Cloud or whatever as a backup and that's not how we use it. I do see some problems with Actifio, specifically keeping current with operating systems. It can be tricky to upgrade Actifio. It can be a challenge. When we've had to do it, we've had to work with their support people, and some of them are just people reading a sheet of instructions. When those instructions are obviously wrong at times because you can tell if you have half a knowledge of what you're doing, it takes ages for them to go off and find someone to explain what's going wrong. So it can be very laborious.
Davilson  Aguiar - PeerSpot reviewer
Analista Tecnologia Banco de Dados at Centro de Gestão da Tecnologia da Informação
Very cost-effective and well organized with good compression
It could improve its interface or offer a specific screen for the manager of the company. A managerial user who wants more information beyond the operational technician should be able to access it. It could include greater transparency regarding the volume of data trafficked on the network, as well as the expectation of deduplication. A more practical strategy could come with a backup policy model as a suggestion for both large and small companies. A simple suggestion is to visually implement the backup time as far as your physical media.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Very user-friendly and the QSA is very good."
"The solution helps reduce costs."
"The ease of use is most valuable."
"This product is the best that there is today, as it has replication and it has built–in BCP/DR."
"What really stands out in Actifio is that it can provide us full copies of the database without having full copies of the database."
"Actifio has the right vision of data management, ease of use, and embrace of the cloud."
"Some of the most valuable features are that you can use the backup for a test environment, with the rapid recovery done using just a few clicks."
"They will assist me in achieving whatever budget issue the client may be having."
"The most valuable features are the special plugins such as SAP HANA databases, Microsoft SQL, and various types of virtualization."
"The most valuable feature is the support for Linux servers."
"We have been using it for several years and we are very satisfied with how easy it is to configure and set up and run backups."
"Technical support is excellent in my opinion."
"Bacula is very solid, very stable, and very scalable."
"The solution has extensive documentation and a very active community."
"The most valuable feature is its ease of use; it works great and it provides you with several standard tools to restore your backup, even after a big failure."
"Bacula is pretty stable."
 

Cons

"Areas that need improvement would be the support for recovery in the physical environment."
"The initial setup is complex."
"When we've had to upgrade Actifio, we've had to work with their support people, and some of them are just people reading a sheet of instructions."
"Lacks the option to price backup costs within the solution itself."
"There are quite a few ways the product can be improved, actually."
"Google has stopped supporting the on-premise version of the tool."
"The solution doesn't support AIX software or in the cloud, and we have a lot of servers running on AIX and Oracle."
"Actifio is not putting much development into their deduplication technology anymore."
"Relying solely on a desktop is a bit frustrating as its GUI isn't exactly responsive."
"A more user-friendly interface (GUI) can be developed."
"It could improve its interface or offer a specific screen for the manager of the company."
"The initial setup could be a bit easier."
"Easier setup and configuration, perhaps including a GUI, would be an improvement."
"Many features have been converted to commercial licensing, which restricts their availability."
"We are looking for a unique interface that can rule both enterprise and open source editions. Such a thing does not yet exist."
"The interface needs to be easier for adding new devices to be managed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Actifio is cheaper than other tools."
"Support is very good. They send out a VM link and help you fix any issues."
"Pricing is on a case by case basis."
"This is an open-source solution."
"We have a perpetual license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Construction Company
13%
Retailer
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
University
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Actifio?
The most concerning issue is IBM support. The issue I have with IBM support is that sometimes they don't seem to know their product very well at times. I don't know where the support is coming from...
What is your primary use case for Actifio?
The main use case for me with Actifio is to provide databases to our development teams. We utilize snapshots or images to manage multiple copies of our production database efficiently without using...
What advice do you have for others considering Actifio?
I do not work with the point-in-time recovery feature in Actifio. Our database has that capability. We don't use Actifio as a backup per se. In terms of Actifio's impact on reducing downtime for pr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Bacula Enterprise?
Bacula is more expensive than various other solutions. It’s almost completely commercial now. Products like Veeam software are much more expensive.
What needs improvement with Bacula Enterprise?
Many features have been converted to commercial licensing, which restricts their availability.
What is your primary use case for Bacula Enterprise?
The last scenario in which I used Bacula was for a customer who needed some open-source tool which could support encryption at that time. We managed to convince the customer to use Bacula to deploy...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

IBM, Waste Industries, Nasdaq, Verizon, Sharp, Rosetta Stone, Dakine, JBS Australia, Texas Wesleyan University, Cintra, People's Choice Credit Union, Lotto NZ, Electric Insurance, Tyler Technologies, Intility, Corporate One Federal Credit Union, Bryant University, pc/nametag, Isagenix, Sungard Availability Services, Databank, Electrocraft, Lifescript, Westfleisch, Interstate National Corporation, RestorePoint, Net3, Access Community Health Network, Newmarket International, Rezolve Group Inc., Piri Reis University, MC Assembly, Grass-Merkur, dbMotion, Christian Broadcasting Network, Bezeq, Abilene Christian University, CNW Group, Softcat, Migliori, City of South Portland, NaviSite, News-Press & Gazette, Comtec, Equity Insurance, Admirals Bank, Assistra, Dassault, Henry Davis York Lawyers, SAI Global, Audax Group, DSM, Triad Retail Media, Euronet Worldwide, Palm Beach County School District, iGate, Emerald Queen Casino
NASA, SwissCom, Navisite, Turner Studios, Bank Austria, Caixa Bank, SdV Plurimedia, Leibniz University Hannover, Zeta Global, Tricore, NetLog, Siemens, LocaWeb, wbsGo, itesys, Queens School of Computing, Escrypt.
Find out what your peers are saying about Actifio vs. Bacula Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.