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Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs Unitrends comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 DD (Data ...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (1st), Disk Based Backup Systems (1st)
Unitrends
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
Backup and Recovery (33rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) and Unitrends aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is designed for Deduplication Software and holds a mindshare of 27.2%, down 29.0% compared to last year.
Unitrends, on the other hand, focuses on Backup and Recovery, holds 0.5% mindshare, up 0.5% since last year.
Deduplication Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)27.2%
HPE StoreOnce18.5%
Dell PowerProtect Data Manager14.1%
Other40.199999999999996%
Deduplication Software
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Unitrends0.5%
Veeam Data Platform11.4%
Commvault Cloud6.0%
Other82.1%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Faisal_Zia - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers efficient data management with robust features and reliable performance
Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) can be improved in terms of price. While Dell is providing a proper device, other solutions, such as Symantec, can replicate their data through any NAS storage. Although their deduplication and compression might not be as effective, they can still accomplish the task. Medium-level and SME-level businesses can easily utilize this feature, but Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is a relatively expensive solution to propose to customers.
Todd Guthrie - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution can be used to back up servers and Hyper-V cluster nodes, but its support is super expensive
I wouldn't rate Unitrends a ten out of ten because we had some hard drive failures in the appliance. Typically, when you have OneDrive, you can get it replaced. For some particular reason, the situation caused the entire system to crash. We had to reinstall the CentOS operating system on it, and we lost all our backups. They said there was no way to retain it, and it was pretty devastating and concerning that a drive failure would cause the loss of all the data on the appliance. It was extremely disappointing, and we had to start from scratch after three years worth of backup data. I rate Unitrends a nine out of ten for stability.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the different features. We work closely with Dell on different products and features, which is why we use them all."
"Its pricing is not overly expensive."
"This solution has a feature called Domain Boost, which allows for source deduplication and compression."
"The most valuable features are the deduplication and compression and the Data Domain Boost."
"I find the data to be most valuable."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the integrated deduplication function."
"Dell PowerProtect DD is a stable solution."
"The most valuable features of PowerProtect DD are the immutable storage and the AI scanning."
"The ability to back up both physical and virtual appliances under one roof."
"Iinstant recovery (allows a spin-up of your image as a VM on the appliance)."
"It is an easy system to use. The support, if needed, is always willing to help."
"The predictive analytics are great and the reporting is awesome."
"Replication to Forever Cloud."
"They have great support."
"The simple and fast restore routine."
"It is a quick and easy way to organize my backups and to keep track of them."
 

Cons

"The pricing should be adjusted. Customers continuously talk about the price. They know it is a good solution and they really need the type of storage the solution offers, but it costs somewhere around $100,000 and up. It's not cheap, but it's very important for data vendors."
"If we lose the admin password, Dell always asks for separate charges."
"There is an inconsistency in support quality for Dell PowerProtect DD"
"The initial setup is complex."
"I would like to see integration with public cloud."
"The Dell PowerProtect DD architecture offers several significant features. One is DD Boost, which is utilized at both the source and destination sites for application processing."
"Dell PowerProtect DD should come out with its own system so we do not have to use Data Domain. For example, something similar to what Symantec has done."
"We have had deduplication and replication issues. When we used another backup software we noticed that it didn't have the same issues."
"There are a few quirks where the GUI, agent, and back-end are not precisely meshed."
"It would be great to have the job throttle/limit the max number of backups on a single ESXi host."
"It seems like Unitrends moved away from enterprise customer engagement and moved more towards the managed service provider market."
"If the interface could be less complex, it is would be great."
"​​Follow up for the DRaaS service setup. I'm still waiting to schedule a DRaaS test after upgrading several months ago."
"The solution’s support and onboarding process needs to be improved."
"There's a lot that can be made better. For example, it could be more scalable."
"The amount of updates which are being released. Updates should be limited to two or three a year, focusing more on quality instead of a rushed bug release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cheaper device costs around $70,000."
"The cost is expensive."
"Its price is reasonable."
"The approximate license cost for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is around 5,00,000."
"Users have to pay a capacity-based licensing fee for the solution."
"Pricing for this product could still be improved, though several years ago, its price was very high. When buying an IDPA product such as Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain), you don't have to buy anything else, because you'll have an integrated solution: a data domain appliance plus software."
"The price is really high compared to other vendors. The licensing cost is huge. Normal, mid-tier companies or small-scale companies wouldn't be able to afford it easily."
"The pricing is cost-effective for the solution"
"Based on a scale of one to ten, with one being low and ten being high, I would rate the pricing of this solution as a three. Also, there are no additional costs involved in the standard licensing of the solution."
"Unitrends is an expensive solution."
"You should be aware how much the monthly costs are to use, what the initial costs for hardware are, and what the options to expand are, if needed."
"We found that the cost of Unitrends was about the same as the Dell DR6300. We liked the fact that the Unitrends appliance was all-in-one."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten. The licensing is yearly and it depends on the customers."
"Pricing model constantly changes."
"With respect to cost, my advice is to get what you need."
"No comment."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Retailer
16%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Educational Organization
11%
Non Profit
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise32
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
The typical use case for Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) is for backup purposes; it is disk-based backup, which provides fast backup capabilities. Additionally, data can be replicated from site ...
What do you like most about Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain)?
The product, a disk backup solution, improves our data application tasks. We used tape libraries with Dev drives in legacy architectures, resulting in slow backups compared to modern drives like NV...
What do you like most about Unitrends?
The most valuable feature of Unitrends for me is the automated feedback
What needs improvement with Unitrends?
In terms of improvement, the UI, especially in the recovery section, is unclear about which repository it uses—I had to hover over to find that information. Figuring out the scripting part wasn't s...
What is your primary use case for Unitrends?
I use Unitrends to back up my VMware virtual machines and files, ensuring redundancy for both disks and protection against ransomware. I have implemented an air gap strategy by keeping some backups...
 

Also Known As

DataDomain, Dell EMC Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The US Army, City of Houston, Lloyds TSB, TiVo, Teck, Ingram Entertainment, The New York Mets
NHL Players Association, Salvation Army, Sligro Food Group, Mason General Hospital, Tec Group, Saldab IT, Baker Tilly, Clinton Savings Bank, Ennit Magna Bank, Manukau Institute of Technology
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NetApp and others in Deduplication Software. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.