Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs HPE Zerto Software comparison

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs. HPE Zerto Software

December 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:

ROI

Sentiment score

4.7

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers cost-effective performance but doesn't outperform Cohesity or Veeam in financial returns for all users.

Sentiment score

7.0

HPE Zerto Software enhances efficiency and reduces costs through improved disaster recovery, data protection, and minimal downtime.

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.

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager report

Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Before, it was a huge cost. It was several thousand dollars to do a DR test, whereas now, I click a button.

Thomas Sipf

CTO at Erisa Administrative Services, Inc.

It saves us a lot of time and gives us the ability to perform other DR plans for other systems.

reviewer2728620

System Engineer at a wholesaler/distributor with 1,001-5,000 employees

It's not only in the cloud; it's DR as a service, which means that the recovery operations are performed by a dedicated team specializing in this area.

Itsik Ohana

Founder & CEO at Itix Cyber Ltd

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE Zerto Software report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

5.9

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager support is generally good but uneven, with room for improvement in responsiveness and local accessibility.

Sentiment score

7.5

HPE Zerto Software's customer service is highly praised for responsiveness, with strong ratings reflecting overall user satisfaction.

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

Delays in feedback and scheduling can affect interactions, but generally, support provides good solutions once engaged.

System Engineer at Konvergenz

Organizations considering Dell PowerProtect Data Manager should be aware that customer support responsiveness could be improved.

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager report

Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

I have never had an issue that was not resolved, and I have never been in a situation where they did not respond.

reviewer762012

Sr. Systems Engineer at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would give them a rating of ten because it represents the highest level of support based on the technical knowledge of the support team, response time, and effectiveness of the provided resolutions.

reviewer1599558

Disaster Recovery Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

When I open a ticket, I usually get a call within an hour or two.

David Comer

Systems Engineering Manager at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE Zerto Software report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.5

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is scalable with licensing flexibility but faces cloud scalability and disaster recovery limitations.

Sentiment score

7.5

HPE Zerto Software efficiently scales, integrates with cloud platforms, and manages workloads, despite licensing and bandwidth challenges.

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

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager performs well from a scalability perspective and is functioning properly with our current implementation.

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager report

Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.

Alan Barrett

Head of IT at TWM SOLICITORS LLP

Customers need to follow good engineering practices for optimal product use.

Proby Patel

Tech Lead, Storage and Data Protection at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

By adding more hosts and installing VRAs on each, tasks can be efficiently managed.

reviewer2641974

Senior Systems Engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE Zerto Software report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.3

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is stable and efficient, though some experience connection issues and minor bugs during upgrades.

Sentiment score

8.0

HPE Zerto Software is highly stable, with minimal issues reported, effective performance, and responsive support, rated nine out of ten.

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.

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager report

Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

I promptly delete the malfunctioning elements and set them up again to resume replication, ensuring stability.

Jagadeesh Ethiraj

Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

The ease of use was so good with Zerto that they were able to migrate things much quicker.

reviewer2691450

Inside Sales Representative at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

It is very reliable.

David Comer

Systems Engineering Manager at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE Zerto Software report

Room For Improvement

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager needs integration, compatibility enhancements, improved UI, better support, and advanced features for modern infrastructures.

HPE Zerto users seek improved documentation, support, automation, integration, and pricing, with enhanced cloud services, backups, and reporting.

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.

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager report

System Engineer at Konvergenz

If I have 350 objects that I am protecting, I would like Zerto to be able to fire them up in one order, rather than having to manually bring them up in a sequence.

David Riberdy

Enterprise data management supervisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees

If the host has a lot of VMs on it, there may not always be enough time to relocate all of the VMs from a protection group standpoint to other hosts before the replication appliance that Zerto uses to manage that powers itself down.

David Comer

Systems Engineering Manager at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

If HPE Zerto Software has it built-in where we're going to vCenter and you click on it, it will build the VPG and indicate configuration requirements, that would be amazing.

reviewer2729427

Senior Converged Infrastructure Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE Zerto Software report

Setup Cost

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers competitive, flexible pricing options, seen as cost-effective despite some viewing it as slightly expensive.

HPE Zerto Software offers flexible, transparent pricing with scalable licenses, valued for robust disaster recovery despite perceived high costs.

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.

AnindyaSinha

Business Development Manager at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees

compared to some other products, it is a bit more costly.

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager report

Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

If you want a good-quality tool that is robust and does a good job for you, you have to pay a higher price to get that, and Zerto is no different.

JeffSmith12

IT Manager at American Pioneer Federal Credit Union

However, it can become quite expensive when you start looking at the number of workloads you have in the environment and what you would like to do.

reviewer2645856

Cloud and Infrastructure Services Manager at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Zerto is easier to set up and use, and it's less expensive.

Bill Dudgeon

Professional Services Engineer at US Signal

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE Zerto Software report

Valuable Features

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager offers flexible, user-friendly, and secure data protection for container and virtual environments with strong integration capabilities.

HPE Zerto offers real-time backup, fast recovery, and seamless VMware integration, enhancing disaster recovery and minimizing downtime effectively.

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.

For more quotes and insights, download the Dell PowerProtect Data Manager report

Backup Administrator at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Zerto offers excellent technical support with responsive and helpful experts.

Sachin Vinay

Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

If we were attacked, I could revert to a backup from five seconds before the attack, and no one would know we were attacked.

reviewer2641974

Senior Systems Engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

The replication time and the minor amount of time it takes to sync a new server outside of any of my huge 40-terabyte boxes is ridiculously quick.

reviewer762012

Sr. Systems Engineer at a legal firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the HPE Zerto Software report

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

11th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Deduplication Software (6th)

HPE Zerto Software

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

2nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

343

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (1st), Cloud Backup (3rd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is 2.6%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HPE Zerto Software is 2.1%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
HPE Zerto Software	2.1%
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager	2.6%
Other	95.3%

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Streamlined VM protection has improved recovery speed and strengthened data security

Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

The specific features and functionalities I find most beneficial in Dell PowerProtect Data Manager include good integration with other Dell products, such as Dell Data Domain, which makes it a very good use case for environments that already have Dell Data Domain or any other Dell products. My impression of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager's dashboard interface is that it is good, easy to use, and quite interactive, so there are no major issues there. The deduplication feature of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager has allowed me to reduce or save some 15% of storage compared to what I was using earlier.

Read full review

David Riberdy

Enterprise data management supervisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees

An all-in-one and cost-efficient solution that does what it promises

Zerto is very easy to use. Installation is about half an hour, and then it starts protecting the data and VMs. It is not very cumbersome. The UI is built very well. It is fairly self-explanatory. To be able to stand up a product you have never seen in half an hour and get it functioning and protecting speaks to how good the UI and workflow are. Zerto has near-synchronous replication. As a change is made on site A, it gets copied across the network to site B. We are five or six seconds behind production. If I have a heavily used system and I use traditional backups, I could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 23 hours behind. With Zerto, I am single-digit seconds behind. That works well for us. Our disaster recovery test, which used to span an entire week, now takes two days. We used to recover our servers in the first two or three days with a backup product and then test for two days before tearing it all down. Now, we spend half a day on new servers and ensuring things work with networking, etc. We test the next day, and we are done in two days. Across the entire company, we are able to save significant man-hours by shortening the test from a week to two days. We are now doing smaller tests once a month and larger tests once a year. Zerto has reduced our DR testing time by 60% to 70%. We are also able to do more disaster recovery testing. Previously, we were doing it once a year, whereas now, we are doing smaller tests once a month and our large tests once a year. In recovery point objectives, we are single-digit seconds behind. In terms of RTOs, I can recover 350 VMs in 30 minutes. It takes less than several seconds to restore a single VM. From days to 30 minutes for 350 compared to 100 VMs is an incredible time-saving in terms of RTOs and RPOs for us.

Read full review

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Comparison Review

it_user159711

Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 9, 2014

VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto

Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	90
Midsize Enterprise	86
Large Enterprise	196

Questions from the Community

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...

What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?

Ik fluister:VM Host Oracle en DataGuard hebben we per toeval vervangen door Zerto :-) tijdens de Zerto implementatie en VPG werden de Host Data in write-ack Block-Level gerepliceerd. Qua licentie 1...

What do you like most about Zerto?

Its ability to roll back if the VM or the server that you are recovering does not come up right is also valuable. You have the ability to roll back a few seconds or a few minutes. The rollback feat...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?

From a pricing perspective, HPE Zerto Software is expensive in comparison to other products on the market, but I think it is an easier sell because it works so well and it is so easy to set up a de...

Dell Avamar vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Comparisons

Compared 25% of the time

Dell NetWorker vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 13% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 10% of the time

Dell PowerProtect Data Domain vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 8% of the time

Azure Backup vs Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

Compared 1% of the time

More Dell PowerProtect Data Manager Competitors

Veeam Data Platform vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 14% of the time

VMware Live Recovery vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 6% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 5% of the time

Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 5% of the time

Rubrik vs HPE Zerto Software

Compared 5% of the time

More HPE Zerto Software Competitors

Product Reports

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager

January 2026

Download Dell PowerProtect Data Manager product report

Download HPE Zerto Software product report

HPE Zerto Software

January 2026

Also Known As

PowerProtect, Dell EMC PowerProtect

Zerto Virtual Replication

Overview

Dell PowerProtect Data Manager provides efficient backup and recovery for hybrid and multicloud environments. It consolidates VMware, Kubernetes, database, and file system protection through a singular interface.

PowerProtect Data Manager is a software-defined platform that integrates modern backup and recovery capabilities, focusing on enhancing performance metrics like RPO and RTO. It supports operations through automated discovery, policy-driven protection, and intelligent analytics while offering cloud mobility and robust cyber recovery mechanisms. Its architecture is designed to address complex data management needs while providing flexibility, backup efficiency, and capacity management. With capabilities spanning on-premise and cloud options, it delivers a comprehensive approach for data protection.

What key features make Dell PowerProtect Data Manager stand out?

High Deduplication: Optimizes storage by reducing data footprint.
Kubernetes Support: Ensures seamless integration with containerized environments.
Data Domain Integration: Enhances recovery metrics and performance.
Advanced Access Controls: Strengthens security measures.
Scalable Architecture: Adapts to growing enterprise needs.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Ease of Deployment: Simplifies initial setup and configuration processes.
User-Friendly Interface: Facilitates an intuitive user experience.
Flexibility in Deployment: Supports both cloud and on-premise environments.
Efficient Data Reduction: Saves storage costs and optimizes resources.
Secure Data Management: Provides peace of mind with robust security features.

Organizations in telecom and enterprise sectors employ Dell PowerProtect Data Manager for backing up and securing data in virtual and cloud-native environments. It supports continuous data protection for VMware and Kubernetes and plays a crucial role in ensuring container stability in platforms like OpenShift. Its native application integrations and disaster recovery through incremental backups make it suitable for larger businesses seeking a reliable data management partner.

Dell Technologies

Zerto is used for disaster recovery, business continuity, data migration, and ransomware recovery, providing continuous data protection and near real-time replication. Valued for ease of use, efficient failover processes, and versatile integration, it enhances organizational efficiency, reduces errors, and boosts productivity.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

National Bank of Greece, USC Australia, PCS Publishing, Dell Digital IT, Rushmore Electric, Melanson Health, Arrow Electronics

United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies