BackupAssist vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus comparison

BackupAssist and IBM are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. BackupAssist is ranked #71, while IBM is ranked #47 with an average rating of 7.0. BackupAssist holds a 0.5% mindshare in BRS, compared to IBM’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of BackupAssist users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of IBM users who would recommend it.

BackupAssist

Read 5 BackupAssist reviews

806 Views
766 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Read 33 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus reviews

1,914 Views
1,895 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

BackupAssist

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

BackupAssist and IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are both data backup solutions. BackupAssist leads in pricing and support, while IBM Spectrum Protect Plus shines in features, justifying its higher cost.

Features: BackupAssist users value versatile backup options, ease of use, and reliable disaster recovery. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus users highlight data recovery flexibility, robust scalability, and advanced automation.

Room for Improvement: BackupAssist needs better cloud integration, more automation features, and enhanced user interface design. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve its reporting tools, simplify configuration, and streamline user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: BackupAssist is praised for straightforward installation and reliable customer service. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, though comprehensive, requires a longer setup period but offers thorough support.

Pricing and ROI: BackupAssist offers reasonable setup costs and good ROI for small to medium-sized businesses. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, with higher setup costs, provides substantial ROI through enterprise-level features, justifying its higher price for larger organizations with complex needs.

To learn more, read our detailed BackupAssist vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

December 2025

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Helped 881,082 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

BackupAssist

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

71st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

MSP Backup (16th)

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

47th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of BackupAssist is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus	1.0%
BackupAssist	0.5%
Other	98.5%

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

RichardMukarakate

Director at Gemini Systems

Provides ransomware protection, does good reporting, and is close to perfect for our use case

The main challenge that I have had with it was no line of support, but I've anyway taken away the Linux machine that I was using. So, I don't need that anymore. I'm migrating my Exchange to the cloud. So, I probably will stop using the exchange backup side of it sometime next year, but the rest of the virtual machines that I have on-premises are very well covered by it. To be able to back up my online Exchange, I know there is a backup in the cloud, but I prefer to have something physical with something on my premises as well. It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it.

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reviewer1656648

Senior System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Offers reliable recovery and backup but needs better ransomware protection

With ransomware protection and cyber protection, more improvement is possible. IBM provides these through a third party, so enhancement is needed. There's significant room for improvement. They are not yet where I want them to be. It does not offer horizontal and vertical scaling. These are areas IBM can improve.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can configure the notifications themselves so that the right people get the notifications. This is very helpful. It allows key stakeholders to know if backups have happened and to remind each other to check the backups if something is not right."

"I have found that the backups are usually very successful."

"I get my reports. It is generally very reliable. Unless there is a major change, it doesn't stop backing up. I've got my server room set up with everything connected to the same power, and I never have power issues or failures of backups because a sub-site has gone off."

"The most valuable features of BackupAssist are ease of use, configure is simple, and more importantly, ease of recovery. If you needed to do a complete system recovery or another recovery it is straightforward."

"The most valuable features are the API features because it allows you to integrate with your Microsoft SQL, your Oracle, and your IBM Db2."

"The support from IBM is very good."

"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that the product works and helps with restoration areas whenever there is a need to restore something."

"A full-featured data protection solution that is reliable and stable."

"The most valuable feature of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is the deduplication functionality. The clients moved to this solution originally because of this feature."

"The solution is scalable and can be fitted for any customer."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the integration with Oracle."

"Large-scale recoveries are very straightforward."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pros

Cons

"It stopped doing my backups after I did the last update on it."

"In the future I would like to see more support for Linux."

"Many solutions become stagnant over time. However, BackupAssist has been consistent in updates but they must continue to innovate and improve to avoid stagnation."

"The solution needs a dashboard or some form of central control from which you can manage all backups."

"Many solutions become stagnant over time. However, BackupAssist has been consistent in updates but they must continue to innovate and improve to avoid stagnation."

"The security must be improved."

"It requires much more automation features."

"The Gui interface and usability are not so friendly and easy."

"I would like integration into where the VMware guys can do their own restores."

"There's significant room for improvement. They are not yet where I want them to be."

"The software's technical support could improve its response time for different time zones."

"Not particularly user friendly."

"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve by adding SAP Rena."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of the solution is reasonable and there are add-on options that can be purchased. I have used other solutions that are a lot more expensive that are not as good. The ability to get support is very simple and very reasonable from a cost standpoint."

"The product pricing here in Zimbabwe is good, I cannot complain."

"It's on a yearly basis, but I'm not the one who does the licensing on that. I don't have any figures, but it's on a yearly basis, and I believe it's reasonable."

"There's a yearly licensing cost. The costs might be around $2000 USD annually."

"There is an annual license required to use IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. The cost of the license could improve, it is expensive."

"There are a few options available for purchasing the solutions. Overall, the price of the is high."

"Unlike some other solutions, such as Veritas NetBackup where you have to pay for different licenses to use different features, there is a single license that allows you to use all of the features."

"The solution is too expensive."

"The price is perpetual, but the maintenance cost is annual. That is, we pay once for the product and pay annually for the maintenance and support. The price was much cheaper than what we would have had to pay for EMC or Veritas. The pricing is competitive, and I would rate it at four out of five."

"The price is lower than that of some competing products."

"The price offering from IBM is coming down because it is based on number of VM machines. So, IBM is coming to the market to show the added value of the product."

"If you need to extend it, it can be extended acting like a normal Spectrum Protect with a long archive."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	17

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?

Pricing is good; it is reasonable and more reasonable than any other vendors.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?

Technical support could be improved significantly. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could be made more lightweight and user-friendly in terms of GUI features to make it closer to a perfect score.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?

I have been using it for our own organization.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 21% of the time

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs BackupAssist

Compared 15% of the time

BDRShield vs BackupAssist

Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 24% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 10% of the time

Rubrik vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 7% of the time

Atempo Live Navigator vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 6% of the time

Carbonite Server vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist

January 2026

Download BackupAssist product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

January 2026

Download IBM Spectrum Protect Plus product report

Overview

BackupAssist is a comprehensive backup and recovery software designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a wide range of features to ensure data protection and minimize downtime in case of system failures or disasters. With BackupAssist, users can easily create and manage backups for their critical data, applications, and systems.

One of the key features of BackupAssist is its support for multiple backup types, including full, incremental, and differential backups. This flexibility allows users to choose the backup strategy that best suits their needs and optimize storage space and backup time. Additionally, BackupAssist supports both local and remote backups, enabling users to store their backups on external drives, network shares, or cloud storage services.

BackupAssist also provides advanced features for application-specific backups, such as Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, and Hyper-V. These features ensure that critical business applications are backed up correctly and can be quickly restored in case of data loss or system failures. Moreover, BackupAssist offers granular recovery options, allowing users to restore individual files, folders, or even specific application items.

To further enhance data protection, BackupAssist includes features like encryption, compression, and verification. Encryption ensures that backups are securely stored and can only be accessed by authorized users. Compression reduces the backup size, optimizing storage space and reducing backup time. Verification checks the integrity of backups, ensuring that they can be successfully restored when needed.

BackupAssist also offers a range of disaster recovery options, including bare-metal recovery and virtual machine backups. Bare-metal recovery allows users to restore their entire system to new or existing hardware, minimizing downtime in case of hardware failures or system crashes. Virtual machine backups enable users to protect their virtualized environments, ensuring business continuity in virtualized infrastructures.

BackupAssist

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a data protection and availability solution for virtual environments that can be deployed in minutes and protect your environment within an hour. It simplifies data protection, whether data is hosted in physical, virtual, software-defined or cloud environments. It can be implemented as a stand-alone solution or integrate with your IBM Spectrum Protect environment to off-load copies for long term storage and data governance with scale and efficiency.

IBM

Sample Customers

Monash University, NASA, NYU, Pfizer, RAF Association, Rockwell Colins, University of Arizona, US Department of State, Volvo

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio

Buyer's Guide

BackupAssist vs. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

December 2025

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