Dell Avamar vs Synology DSM comparison

Dell Technologies and Synology are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. Dell Technologies is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3, while Synology is ranked #17 with an average rating of 9.0. Dell Technologies holds a 3.2% mindshare in BRS, compared to Synology’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Synology users who would recommend it.

Dell Avamar

Read 89 Dell Avamar reviews

5,560 Views
3,962 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Synology DSM

Read 10 Synology DSM reviews

2,188 Views
1,657 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Dell Avamar

Synology DSM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Dell Avamar and Synology DSM are both prominent data protection solutions. Dell Avamar seems to have the upper hand due to its superior data deduplication capability and cost-efficiency, despite Synology DSM's robust integration and customization flexibilities.

Features: Users value Dell Avamar's efficient data deduplication, ease of data retrieval, and reasonable setup costs. Synology DSM is favored for its integration with various cloud services, extensive customization options, and long-term value through extensive features.

Room for Improvement: Dell Avamar reviews suggest improvements in performance speed, user learning curve, and initial setup. Synology DSM users point out the need for enhanced customer service, backup reliability, and easier deployment.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Dell Avamar is praised for its straightforward deployment but criticized for slow initial setup. Synology DSM has mixed reviews on deployment, with some users finding it complicated. Customer service is seen as adequate for Dell Avamar, whereas Synology DSM users express the need for improvement.

Pricing and ROI: Dell Avamar users typically report reasonable setup costs and quick ROI due to its effective deduplication. Synology DSM might have higher initial costs but is seen as providing good long-term value through its extensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell Avamar vs. Synology DSM Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. Synology DSM

June 2025

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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

Dell Avamar

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

7th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (5th)

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

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell Avamar is 3.2%, down from 3.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Synology DSM is 1.9%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Ayodeji Oyewole

Managing Director at Atlantic factorial

Reliable with good backups but has occasional failures

I use Dell Avamar primarily for backup and recovery The most valuable feature for me is the backup functionality. It gives large enterprises the comfort of knowing their workloads are being backed up. There are instances where backups fail on certain applications, which is an area that could be…

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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

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Stable and scalable backup and recovery software, with good technical support."

"Effective in protecting the virtualization system and end points."

"The stability is okay."

"The solution is very stable."

"Dell EMC Avamar has many valuable features. It's very stable and it's easy to manage."

"Quick incremental backups and product replication are the two highlights of the product. Once you capture a full backup, incrementals are pretty quick. It is fairly efficient from that perspective."

"The product is very powerful and offers very good performance."

"It's stable and offers good performance."

More Dell Avamar pros

"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."

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

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

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

"The product performs well. It is easy to use and implement."

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

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

More Synology DSM pros

Cons

"Compared with Cohesity or Rubrik, which have some continuous data protection for backup and replication, this solution tends to lack in this area."

"What would make Dell Avamar better is if it can do faster backups because right now, PowerProtect Data Manager is better in this area with its new UI and a new way to implement backups. Customers nowadays also expect more up-to-date solutions, and this is another area for improvement in Dell Avamar. It's not as up-to-date, so I'm counting on PowerProtect Data Manager, but customers who have Dell Avamar don't want to switch because you don't have as many backup problems in Dell Avamar compared to other solutions. What I'd like to see in the next release of Dell Avamar is an updated UI and a different way to manage backups because currently, backup management is a bit heavy for customers using Dell Avamar."

"The product could be improved by simplifying the components available."

"A benefit would be support for either Azure Cool Storage or AWS Glacier."

"It's an expensive solution."

"It would be helpful if there was cloud support."

"We'd like to see something that could also work with Unix servers and physical servers to have a unified solution that works with everything."

"Backup image browse times should be faster."

More Dell Avamar cons

"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."

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

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

"The only bothersome aspect is that the device is aging."

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

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

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

More Synology DSM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dell Avamar is a moderately priced solution."

"When it comes to competition the price is not what is important, it's not the problem."

"I rate the pricing a seven out of ten because it is expensive."

"Dell's pricing structure is not overly expensive."

"The cost is high."

"Licensing was generally on a per VM or terabyte basis. They changed their licensing model a couple of times and turned it into socket-based licensing, which is an improvement in their licensing model."

"Avamar's pricing is quite competitive compared to other vendors."

"On a scale of one to five, I would rate the pricing policy of Dell Avamar as five. The solution has a very good price, and a lot of improvements were done to it."

More Dell Avamar pricing and cost advice

"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."

"The price of the solution is very good."

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

"Synology DSM is a cheap solution."

"Synology DSM is a free tool."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between Dell EMC Avamar and Dell EMC NetWorker?

From the very beginning, Dell EMC NetWorker considers users and those who might potentially become users. In terms of both pricing and setup, this product offers an experience that is significantly...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell EMC Avamar?

The cost is very significant, and it could be lower.

See all answers

What do you like most about Dell Avamar?

Easy to configure and highly reliable for backup.

See all answers

What do you like most about Synology DSM?

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

See all answers

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

The solution’s pricing is neither cheap nor expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Synology DSM?

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

See all answers

Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs Dell Avamar

Compared 34% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Dell Avamar

Compared 15% of the time

Dell NetWorker vs Dell Avamar

Compared 9% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs Dell Avamar

Compared 6% of the time

Azure Backup vs Dell Avamar

Compared 2% of the time

More Dell Avamar Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs Synology DSM

Compared 15% of the time

UrBackup vs Synology DSM

Compared 9% of the time

NetApp SnapCenter vs Synology DSM

Compared 8% of the time

GoodSync vs Synology DSM

Compared 6% of the time

EaseUS Todo vs Synology DSM

Compared 3% of the time

More Synology DSM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar

June 2025

Download Dell Avamar product report

Buyer's Guide

Synology DSM

June 2025

Download Synology DSM product report

Also Known As

Avamar

Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM)

Overview

Dell Avamar data protection software delivers flexible and efficient backup and recovery operations that can scale from daily backup protection for endpoints to high-performance protection for large enterprises with diverse applications and workloads. With application consistent recovery, automation and fast backup and restores, Avamar can help you meet your SLAs and optimize your backup and recovery processes

If you are deploying all or part of your backup environment to the cloud, Avamar enables you to make the most of your cloud investment, enabling replication, disaster recovery and long-term retention for customers using AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud.

Avamar is available as part of Dell Data Protection Suite, which offers comprehensive data protection software applications and tools. Avamar is delivered as software and as a virtual edition.

Dell Technologies

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

Sample Customers

Dodge County, St Laurence's College, FieldCore (a GE Company), Comanche County Memorial Hospital, Getronics, Lewisville Independent School District, EnvisionRxOptions, Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Dell Avamar vs. Synology DSM

June 2025

Free Report: Dell Avamar vs. Synology DSM

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