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Dell NetWorker vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.0
Dell NetWorker delivers cost savings, enhanced recovery, and efficiency, proving invaluable for business continuity and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
4.0
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers cost-effective performance but doesn't outperform Cohesity or Veeam in financial returns for all users.
I would recommend Dell PowerProtect Data Manager to other organizations because it is cost-effective and delivers good performance compared to alternative solutions.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
I do find that with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, the ROI is good when compared to other Dell products, but when compared to others in the current market, such as Cohesity or Veeam, it is not as good.
Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
Dell NetWorker customer service is praised for quick assistance but criticized for delays and variable expertise, especially regionally.
Sentiment score
6.1
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager support is generally good but uneven, with room for improvement in responsiveness and local accessibility.
Technical support from Dell is excellent.
Solution Architect at Apollo Telecom
quick responses whenever we log a complaint
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
They are very responsive and helpful.
System Engineer at NCCPL
Dell provides reliable support for PowerProtect Data Manager, with 24/7 availability and a qualified support team.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
My experience with the technical support team of Dell is that they are actually great.
Ops Specialist: System Engineer Backup at BCX
Delays in feedback and scheduling can affect interactions, but generally, support provides good solutions once engaged.
System Engineer at Konvergenz
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Dell NetWorker offers scalability but faces challenges in VMware connections, storage, licensing, and large-scale stability for some users.
Sentiment score
6.5
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is scalable with licensing flexibility but faces cloud scalability and disaster recovery limitations.
While the solution is scalable, the cost involved in upgrading or enhancing the solution can be significant.
Solution Architect at Apollo Telecom
Dell NetWorker is very scalable and flexible, deserving a high rating for its scalability.
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at Safaricom Ethiopia plc
It is scalable enough for our environment.
System Engineer at NCCPL
Its capability to back up existing environments can be improved, particularly when it comes to disaster recovery in the cloud.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
As per the documentation, that is an easy process, whether you need to scale up or scale out.
Ops Specialist: System Engineer Backup at BCX
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager performs well from a scalability perspective and is functioning properly with our current implementation.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Dell NetWorker exhibits stability, rated high by users, improving with updates, while older versions faced occasional challenges.
Sentiment score
8.3
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is stable and efficient, though some experience connection issues and minor bugs during upgrades.
The stability of Dell NetWorker is excellent.
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
In terms of stability, I would say it is about 80% stable now.
Senior Specialist Backup/Storage at National Bank of Kuwait
Dell NetWorker is stable.
System Engineer at NCCPL
It is extremely reliable and I have never experienced a crash.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Making sure the system is properly understood before deployment and handling upgrades efficiently would improve stability.
System Engineer at Konvergenz
I would assess the stability and reliability of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager as quite stable; there are no issues with the workloads I am using.
Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Dell NetWorker users seek improved interfaces, cloud integration, and security, citing deployment challenges and a need for modern enhancements.
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager needs integration, compatibility enhancements, improved UI, better support, and advanced features for modern infrastructures.
The interface on the Java application makes it difficult, whereas the web interface is simple to use.
Cloud Infrastructure Engineer at Safaricom Ethiopia plc
It is complex, and compared to solutions like Tivoli, Veritas, Veeam, and others, its look and feel are not up to par.
Solution Architect at Apollo Telecom
To connect to a server, it's necessary to install a client on the server, which is challenging.
System Engineer at NCCPL
I would like to see improvements that include bare metal restore capabilities and enhanced data restore features in Dell PowerProtect Data Manager.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Enhancements for microservices and container backups would be beneficial, enabling a more consolidated management platform for modern architectures.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
The main issue that needs improvement is the support system.
System Engineer at Konvergenz
 

Setup Cost

Dell NetWorker offers complex licensing, with varied pricing; included in bundles, often costly but comprehensive and flexible for sectors.
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers competitive, flexible pricing options, seen as cost-effective despite some viewing it as slightly expensive.
The licensing cost is somewhat expensive.
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is cost-effective, as it is licensed per socket rather than by workload.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Overall, pricing does not significantly impact our decision.
Business Development Manager at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
compared to some other products, it is a bit more costly.
Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Dell NetWorker provides robust backup solutions with automation, deduplication, scalability, and wide compatibility for various environments and systems.
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers flexible, user-friendly, and secure data protection for container and virtual environments with strong integration capabilities.
I find NetWorker valuable for its wide range of automation features, including replication and data processing systems.
Solution Architect at Apollo Telecom
Dell NetWorker is versatile, allowing server backups and IBM tape library backups.
System Engineer at NCCPL
The new deduplication feature helps significantly with data compression and saves disk space by using pointers for repeated data, improving backup speed.
Sr. Area Technical Manager at tata elxsi
It provides a seamless backup solution integrated with a dashboard full of capabilities, enhancing recovery point objectives and recovery time objectives.
Senior System Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
It satisfies my customers' scalability needs and provides interactive features, allowing efficient integration.
System Engineer at Konvergenz
Compared to other products such as Veritas, Dell offers more competitive pricing while other vendors charge significantly more.
Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell NetWorker
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
10th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
86
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell NetWorker is 1.6%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is 2.4%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell NetWorker1.6%
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager2.4%
Other96.0%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

RaedHassan - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Specialist Backup/Storage at National Bank of Kuwait
Has supported flexible multi-platform backups and improved over time
Regarding the effectiveness of Dell NetWorker in terms of role-based access controls, I have experience with it, but I find it somewhat lacking in flexibility as it offers limited features, and I would rate it around seven out of ten. It is not that there is something wrong with the role-based access controls in Dell NetWorker, but it lacks many permissions or roles to assign, providing options only for administrator or user. To improve Dell NetWorker for the next release, I recommend enhancing flexibility in the policy, allowing selection of multiple options within the same policy, and addressing issues like the DNS lookup dependency to make it more controllable from Dell NetWorker itself rather than relying on other applications. Looking forward, I would like to see improved policy features and a more enhanced GUI, as it is still slow.
Jerome Edwards - PeerSpot reviewer
Ops Specialist: System Engineer Backup at BCX
Backup platform has provided faster, reliable RMAN protection for critical databases
I apologize, but I'm not in a position to answer what areas of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager I would like to see improved or enhanced. There is still a lot of features that we haven't tried yet. I can't say whether I can answer that because we basically don't experiment as often as we should on PPDM. I won't be able to answer that. Based on my use cases with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, I would like to see alerts improved, as streamlining the alerts could help. The alerts are becoming an issue because we don't always get notified of certain things via the alerts.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise9
 

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...
What do you like most about Dell NetWorker?
The feature that offers the greatest benefits in ensuring data integrity is its backup capability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell NetWorker?
Regarding the pricing of Dell NetWorker, it depends on the deal or negotiation we have with the vendor, making it reasonable, although I cannot make a definitive decision without knowing the specif...
What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?
One notable feature is its robust backup support for Kubernetes and container environments. Additionally, PPDM stands out for its ease of deployment and management compared to other backup solution...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?
I think the license for Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is the same as other backup software.
What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?
Regarding data recovery improvements in Dell PowerProtect Data Manager, there are challenges with data sets larger than one terabyte that are not related to VM. While VM recovery functions adequate...
 

Also Known As

NetWorker
PowerProtect, Dell EMC PowerProtect
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Republic Bank, Westgate Resorts, Macquire Cloud Services, Shriners, Panatonni, Qatar Islamic Bank, Eurosport
National Bank of Greece, USC Australia, PCS Publishing, Dell Digital IT, Rushmore Electric, Melanson Health, Arrow Electronics
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell NetWorker vs. Dell PowerProtect Data Manager and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.