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Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs ExaGrid EX Series comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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 PowerProtect Data Domain
Ranking in Deduplication Software
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Disk Based Backup Systems (1st)
ExaGrid EX Series
Ranking in Deduplication Software
8th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is 20.5%, down from 27.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ExaGrid EX Series is 5.0%, down from 7.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Deduplication Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerProtect Data Domain20.5%
ExaGrid EX Series5.0%
Other74.5%
Deduplication Software
 

Featured Reviews

Branko Cirovic - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Engineer at Comtrade Group
Provides seamless backup integration and long-term reliability for enterprise data protection
The price is quite high; this product is not considered cheap. Additionally, if you use higher availability boxes, they also come at a premium price. However, they provide business continuity, which is the main reason why companies invest in this solution. Tape is slow; when restoring several virtual machines or databases amounting to several terabytes, Dell PowerProtect Data Domain represents the fastest and most reliable solution, ensuring great integration with backup software. If a customer has limited budget constraints, they may opt for cheaper external storage comprised of just a bunch of disks and utilize it for backup, as backup is not a business-critical service. However, I see great value in Dell PowerProtect Data Domain because it is fully automated, features great integration with backup software, and provides good value for money. I would rate software support as a ten, while I would give hardware support a seven. I never give any product a perfect score; I think Dell PowerProtect Data Domain deserves a nine. The only minor problems are the certificate issue and the price. These certificate issues are quite rare and mainly arise when we forget to restart and upgrade the box for several years.
DG
Information Technology advisor at Lotus Consulting
Improvements in data storage efficiency and customer support experience
ExaGrid EX Series and Veeam was easy to set up, and it worked seamlessly. It was very simple to use. We rarely needed to touch the ExaGrid boxes, except for upgrades. With the systems engineer from ExaGrid, and with our common knowledge of backup software, it was very easy to use. The performance was good, the interface was good, and the GUI was good. When ExaGrid introduced the air gapped feature, it was almost complete. Almost every hardware vendor has an air gapped feature, but they were significantly ahead of other vendors. The air gapped and immutable storage are very nice features. The price compared to other competitors was good with better features. It is not a cheap product, but compared to the features, it is a good competitor.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It makes working with backup solutions very easy."
"Dell PowerProtect DD’s most valuable feature is data deduplication."
"The features of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain that I like the most are the immutability, speed, and deduplication, which saves us a lot of money on storage costs."
"I believe that for backup and deduplication, this is the top product."
"Dell EMC PowerProtect DD is highly stable and reliable."
"The integration of Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) with leading backup applications within the infrastructure is very good."
"We personally enjoy the feature of the data protection there with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain."
"The solution has been awesome over the last ten years, offering stability and reliability, which I recommend for stable storage."
"The equipment is pretty solid."
"One of the main features is the landing zone, it is a particular space where the information is not duplicated."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use and data deduplication. It's extremely easy to use and does a very good job of data deduplication and compression."
"One of the most valuable aspects of the ExaGrid EX Series is the support."
"The most valuable features of the solution are deduplication and landing zone."
"ExaGrid has improved my organization in the way that we get reliable backups with very little administration."
"The solution easily integrates with the backup targets, such as Veeam."
"The tool has improved backup and recovery times. One of the key features contributing to this improvement is the landing zone and deduplication retention zone. When data is in the landing zone, the process is fast, ensuring smooth backup and recovery operations at high speeds. However, the process becomes slower for long-term backups moved to the retention zone due to fragmentation. So, if the data is older than a few days, the speed may be limited, especially for non-deduplicated data in the landing zone."
 

Cons

"DD Boost."
"The price of Dell EMC PowerProtect DD could improve, it is expensive."
"Looking at Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain), there is a need for improvement, especially in terms of protection from cyber resiliency, cyber recovery, or man-in-the-middle attacks."
"One of the areas we are looking at is interconnects for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain."
"Regarding the price of the product, it is very expensive."
"I have not observed any significant time savings, resource savings, or efficiency improvements with Dell PowerProtect Data Domain."
"To improve Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, I would suggest making it cheaper."
"One area for improvement regarding Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is the support. We are in Pakistan and there is no physical support available on the software side."
"The one place where we are sometimes losing the opportunity with ExaGrid is that a few customers still require a fiber channel connectivity, which is not always possible."
"When speaking about a scale-out, you want to have better equipment. You cannot just add a disc to the foreign equipment. You have to buy another one and put it together, like parallel."
"I would like for them to develop direct cloud integration with a third-party cloud. Direct integration with AWS and other cloud providers."
"The support is not that fast to deal with our concerns. It is next day support, they could improve on the speed."
"The product's documentation can be made more precise."
"The solution could improve by switching to a flash-type solution rather than the spinning drives that they currently use. However, we have not had any failure with the spinning drives. The flash-type drives are more up-to-date and are something that is in their roadmap."
"The tool reduces storage footprint. However, clients are now storing data for longer durations with increasing requirements to retain backups for longer periods, particularly as a defense against ransomware attacks. As a result, the retention zone with duplicated data is experiencing more demand, leading to space constraints. This necessitates using higher-end, more expensive models to address the issue."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is on the high side."
"This is one of the more expensive backup solutions on the market."
"The cheaper device costs around $70,000."
"On a scale where one represents high price, and ten represents low price, I rate the solution a five, which means that the solution is of medium pricing."
"In Naira it was twenty-five or twenty-seven million (approximately $75,000 USD) for the implementation and maintenance cost for three years."
"It is expensive, but the performance and deduplication cover for the cost."
"We usually buy products at the end year, and the license is included."
"The product is expensive."
"In comparison to other solutions, it's affordable. They're all too expensive."
"The previous solutions I have used both included the Backup Software and the Appliance making it hard to compare to this solution. However, overall the solution is reasonably priced for the features you receive. ExaGrid EX Series is priced better than HP, Dell, and possibly Commvault which I have compared in the past."
"The current agreement has 21 terabytes of free space and it cost approximately $35,000."
"My company had to pay 1,60,000 EUR for the system we use, and the payment was made just once for the system and five years of full support."
"I rate ExaGrid EX Series' pricing eight to nine out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business40
Midsize Enterprise27
Large Enterprise48
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
My main use case for Dell PowerProtect Data Domain is backup. We utilize it to back up all of our data from our credit card domain application.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is adequate; Dell is not the cheapest, but it is also not the most expensive.
What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
To improve Dell PowerProtect Data Domain, I would suggest that we take a look at how we also store AI data as needed.
What needs improvement with ExaGrid EX Series?
Everything can always be better, so I would give it a nine.
What is your primary use case for ExaGrid EX Series?
We used ExaGrid EX Series as a landing zone for Veeam software. Initially they did not have immutable storage, but when they released that feature, we implemented it. We used it with Veeam software...
What advice do you have for others considering ExaGrid EX Series?
I was a customer. My overall rating for ExaGrid EX Series is 9 out of 10.
 

Also Known As

DataDomain, Dell EMC Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain
EX Series
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The US Army, City of Houston, Lloyds TSB, TiVo, Teck, Ingram Entertainment, The New York Mets
NCI Group, North Attleborough Public School, North Kingstown School Department, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Rathbone Brothers PLC, Rio Hondo College, Ruder Finn, Sarah Lawrence College
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs. ExaGrid EX Series and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.