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Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs IBM Storage Protect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2025

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 Manager
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (6th)
IBM Storage Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is 4.3%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.3%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

MinaMagdy1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive integration and user-friendly dashboard enhance data protection workflows
PowerProtect Data Manager lacks the tape-out functionality, which is important for organizations relying on it for offsite backup. While PowerProtect Data Manager offers a workaround, it's not always accepted, notably by sectors like banking. Additionally, I would like PowerProtect Data Manager to provide microservices and container backup for modern applications.
Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell PowerProtect Data Manager helps to reduce the amount of data being transferred and stored."
"The most valuable features of the solution are flexibility and data protection."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"The solution's initial setup is straightforward."
"I would say flexibility is the most important feature of the product. The performance and speed are the best on the market."
"Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager is user-friendly and easy to use. it does what it needs to do."
"The solution adequately handles data storage."
"The management part of Dell PowerProtect Data Manager has improved significantly."
"The best part of this solution is that it just works."
"The components of IBM Spectrum Protect explain how the data is protected. The administration is very easy, and the vertical migration is intuitive."
"The ability to use S3 Data Store as a repository."
"The most valuable features are the stability and also how it's seamlessly integrated with other IBM offerings."
"The solution is very stable. It is one of the most important features that we look for in a product before putting it into the market and when establishing a strategy with our customers."
"In the past, one of the most valuable features, and the biggest advantage, was the incremental forever feature. Not many other backup vendors provided that. In the pre-virtualization environment, it was very robust and simple technology, especially writing to tape."
"It is a really scalable solution. We can scale it up. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten."
"Replication processes with container storage pools allow reduction of storage space and network bandwidth, using deduplication and compression."
 

Cons

"They should include a feature similar to S3 bucket."
"PPDM requires further development. It is primarily integrated with DevOps systems."
"The solution should enhance its user interface and make it more flexible."
"A lot of improvement is required in Dell's first level of support."
"As a new product, there are some things that still need to improve a bit as it matures."
"The tool's scalability has certain shortcomings, making it an area where improvements are required."
"Management is difficult and it is hard to determine when things aren't working properly."
"The main issue that needs improvement is the support system. When I raise a ticket, it sometimes takes a while to get a response."
"We are having a balance issue between the reclamation and the backup function. It has to take the space back from the tapes before it can record to those tapes, but sometimes those two processes are overlapping."
"The deduplication must be perfect, and thus should be improved."
"The user interface needs to be improved."
"Technical support could be improved."
"I would like to see monitoring within the platform: monitoring for storage pools and monitoring for the server's health (e.g., CPU and memory)."
"It has a lot of areas for improvement. Its reporting for job completion or incompletion can be improved. It should also provide a granular recovery, ease of operation, data life cycle management, and media management. It should support a backup in such a format that in case of a disaster, one can start the virtual machine out of the backup itself. Its reliability can also be better. It is also expensive, and their support is also poor."
"The solution should have better integration with VMware and with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus."
"There is room for improvement in IBM Spectrum Protect, especially regarding its support for virtual environment backups."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dell PowerProtect Data Manager is not an expensive solution."
"The product is offered at a very competitive price in the market."
"The solution is more affordable than other vendors."
"We offer monthly or yearly subscriptions. The price could be cheaper."
"The solution is not less expensive than competitors but pricing deals are available."
"The licensing costs and pricing model are based on capacity and the license is easy to upgrade."
"The price of Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager is reasonable."
"The platform is neither highly priced nor inexpensive. I rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"Customers need to pay for licensing in order to use IBM Spectrum Protect. The customers that have been using it for a long time are okay and happy with it. From a cost point of view, it's better for them to renew their licenses than to go through the difficult process of changing a backup product in their environment, and migrate from one product to another."
"The licensing fees are on a yearly basis, which for us it is about R400,000 (approximately $27,000 USD)."
"It is fairly reasonable as compared to other solutions in the market."
"Technical support is pretty good. It is doing fine, but you pay for it."
"IBM Spectrum Protect, cost-wise, has way higher pricing than Veeam. By switching over to Veeam, my company saved over $600,000 in USD. The IBM Spectrum Protect pricing is a two on a scale of one to ten. My company paid additional fees for maintenance, apart from the standard licensing fees."
"We have spec'd out our build, and the cost of it can work quite easily today for our future needs."
"IBM Spectrum Protect has a fixed price and includes no additional costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
Overall, pricing does not significantly impact our decision. The main concern is the solution itself, presales activities, and positioning it in the right place. Commercial aspects are secondary to...
What needs improvement with Dell PowerProtect Data Manager?
The marketing strategy is lagging behind competitors such as CommVault. Dell needs to improve its market presence and communication with customers and solution providers.
What do you like most about IBM Storage Protect?
The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will continue to use in the future.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is generally an expensive tool. However, with good contracts with IBM or its partners, the cost might not be so high. New customers can expect very high prices.
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past. There is a need for additional layers of security to fill the gaps, which is wh...
 

Also Known As

PowerProtect, Dell EMC PowerProtect
IBM Spectrum Discover
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Bank of Greece, USC Australia, PCS Publishing, Dell Digital IT, Rushmore Electric, Melanson Health, Arrow Electronics
CEMEX
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerProtect Data Manager vs. IBM Storage Protect and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.